Back when I worked as a teenaged lifeguard at a Christian conference center, the lifeguards often spent the morning cleaning the pool and running various errands in preparation for opening the pool in the afternoon.
Normally there were four or five of us, and it was fairly common for us to split the different tasks in a given morning. Rather than unlock and then lock the gate again every time one of us entered or left the pool area, we commonly replaced the lock in the gate and set it so it looked like it was locked when it actually wasn’t. It was important, though, that if there was ever a time when all of us left the pool area, the last one out secured the lock for real.
One morning I left the pool area to head to the resort’s main office for something. As I walked into the foyer of the dining room on my way to the office, I passed a couple of guys who were talking to the dining room hostess. One of the guys was very tall (probably in the 6’5”-6’6” range) and probably at least 240 pounds. She was on the shorter side, which made the guy’s size more pronounced.
As I was walking past, the guy was asking something like “is it okay if we go swimming in the pool before we come in the dining room to eat?” The way he asked it, he made it seem like he was thinking down the road to later in the day/week; the pool was only open in the afternoon and it was fairly common for people to hang out in the pool until it closed, then go right from there in wet swim trunks to the dining room for dinner. He seemed more courteous than most by asking. There was something more to it, though. There was something subtle about the way he asked it that made it sound a little off. She had no problem with the swim trunks thing since a lot of people did it anyway, so she shrugged and said “sure.”
I continued to the office to do whatever I was going to do, then not long after I headed back toward the pool. As I came around the corner, I saw these two guys swimming in the water, and there were no lifeguards around to stop them (or help them out if the need arose). I had no idea where the guards had gone, but right now they were nowhere to be seen. There in the gate, though, was a lock that wasn’t fastened.
I forget what I said, but I made it abundantly clear they had to get out. They gently protested, saying they had received permission from a staff member to go for a swim. Technically, that was true, kind of, but that staff member didn’t actually understand what was being asked, nor did she have the authority to grant their request. It was only coincidental that I happened to witness this exchange that I understood what they were talking about. Now it made sense that they asked in a manner that could be interpreted a couple different ways.
I was pretty peeved about this. It felt like there was intentional deception involved. I wasn’t laid back about kicking them out, I was pretty to-the-point. I stood by the gate the whole time, with it wide open while they got out of the water and collected their things. Then as they drew near the gate, the size of the big dude once again became apparent. I was probably 16 or 17 years old, around 6’3”, and about 180 pounds. I wasn’t a little guy, but if this dude decided he didn’t want to comply, there wasn’t a whole lot I could’ve done about it. As they passed me, the big guy stopped very close to me and just kind of stared me down for a moment. It’s not often I have to look up at somebody. Then he took a step closer, so our faces were only inches apart. If this guy wanted to throw down, he could’ve throttled me. Something about his demeanor told me he was just trying to get me to back down. I sure hoped my judgment was right. I didn’t flinch, blink, or step back. After a very anxious few moments on my end, he walked out of the pool area.
You’d better believe that gate was locked within the next 30 seconds.
In a way, this guy reminds me of Satan. By every measure Satan has the capacity to harm you and the advantage he needs to do it…size, power, speed, drive…but he’s limited in the sense that he has to seek permission to cause you physical harm.
One thing he does NOT need permission for is to mess with you. He can harass you. He can snipe at you. He can do lots of stuff to make you have a really bad day, and he can do it repeatedly, in an effort to get you to back down, to get discouraged, to quit whatever you’re doing for the Lord’s sake. He can intimidate you to no end if you permit it, but if you belong to Christ, you can confidently stand your ground and not flinch when those intimidations come.
If you’re following God’s lead and doing things contributing to His kingdom, you’re making yourself a target in the realm of spiritual warfare. Don’t let it get you down. View it as encouragement that you’re doing something important enough to be considered dangerous to the powers of darkness. After all, why would the bad guys waste time harassing someone who’s not a threat to them?
God, it’s so easy to fixate on only the things I can see and hear. Help me remember there’s more than what I can see, and that if I’m living for You, You’re in my corner and are helping pave the way for where You want me to go. Help me recognize and be an encouragement to others that might be experiencing some of that intimidation and harassment. I ask in Your name, Amen.