A few days ago my son started telling me that the monarch butterfly is poisonous. I know where he might have learned that but was sure he only had part of the story. I realize now that is was God’s precursor to what I saw today.
I was on a brisk walk and saw a bird chasing a very small yellow butterfly. They were both skimming across the tops of the blades of grass. The bird was medium sized; not a small canary but not a large black crow (we have a lot of crows around here.) The butterfly was quite small, I have little sticky notes that size, about 1/2 the size of a regular business card. So, I’m sure the bird seemed HUGE to the butterfly. The bird was chasing the butterfly and finally caught it, took it to the perch of a high wrought iron fence that surrounds a children’s play structure and SPIT the butterfly out. I could see the butterfly vigilantly, wildly, frantically fluttering for freedom when suddenly the bird just spit him out! At first I thought about Jesus chasing us this way, as we flit along and He trails after us in hot pursuit until he catches …but then THIS bird spit the butterfly out.
So, I thought it more akin to Satan chasing us. The bird was NOT THAT big, not that ominous looking like these crows. It was an nice enough looking bird and though it wasn’t THAT big it truly must have looked ENORMOUS to that little butterfly. We’ve all heard the whole Christian turning into a new creation like the butterfly analogy. We often think of Satan being obviously and freakishly scary looking or ugly. Not often enough do we consider him to appear like a vicious wolf in soft sheep’s clothing. Satan might actually look like something somewhat attractive and innocent. And so my mind went toward this encounter being more of a representation of Satan chasing us. We flee. Frantically weaving in and out and trying to hide from him in this world. We fly up and reach to heaven where we know we will be protected and **SNATCH!!** SATAN snatches us up in his grip any way he can! But with just one little wound as a drip of our innards ooze out onto his tongue he spits us out for the bitterness and sting that WE produce in HIS mouth! Yes, we fall to the ground wounded, yes, the wound MIGHT be a fatal one, but I pray Satan is so revolted by the taste of me that he spits me out once he gets me in his grips.
