Flee! by Randy Rowley 5/11/15 ©
ByOn a Friday in early May, Five friends and I headed to Charles Batts’s Ranch, which is part of the Y.O. Ranch, near Junction for a weekend FCS self-guided hog hunt. After we arrived, we set up camp, checked the feeders and stands, baited a stand, cooked dinner, ate, and headed to our chosen stands.
None of us saw any pigs on the first night, but that changed the following morning. About 5:45 AM, while it was still very dark, a probable 200+ pound boar came out from behind a large cedar tree right next to the bow stand Tim Price and I were sitting in. The boar moved cautiously and slowly. It stopped for a few seconds and looked around. It then slowly turned around and looked in the direction from which he had come. He gave us the impression he was the lead pig for a herd and was about to tell the others the coast was clear.
I could have taken him easily, as he was only around eight yards from the bow stand, and I had my full-choked Browning Gold Hunter 12 gauge shotgun with a 3-inch chamber stuffed with 00 buckshot stuck out of the window and shouldered. But I waited because Tim’s rifle was leaning in the corner next to him, and I’d hoped we’d both have an opportunity to take a pig. Plus, we hadn’t discussed what we’d do if only one pig showed up.
Suddenly, he bolted like he’d been shot from a cannon, back the way he’d come. I fired but probably shot behind him as the cedar tree prevented me from swinging ahead of him, and there was no blood or squeals.
Why he bolted was a mystery, as he couldn’t see us in the dark stand, we were as quiet as the grave, and the wind was blowing his scent into us. Our theory is he must have smelled Tim’s scent in the grass when he walked to the feeder, which was 20 yards from the stand, earlier to turn on my www.texasboars.com battery-operated red feeder light.
Preachers and teachers don’t often discuss the topic of fleeing temptation. Instead, they preach and teach to resist the tempter, Satan, as James and Paul firmly commanded us to do. James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Ephesians 6:13 (NLT) says, “Use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm.”
But there’re three situations Paul urged not to resist Satan. Instead, he admonishes us to flee – run away. The situations we must run from are sexual immorality, idolatry (putting anything in our lives above God), and the love of money. 1 Corinthians 6:18a says, “Flee from sexual immorality.” 2 Timothy 2:22a says, “Flee the evil desires of youth.” “The evil desires of youth” means sexual immorality.” 1 Corinthians 10:14 says, “Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.” 1 Timothy 6:11a says, “But you, man of God, flee from all this.” “All this” means the love of money.
Paul didn’t tell the Corinthians and Timothy to fight sexual immorality, idolatry, and the love of money when they were stronger and could take another crack at it. Instead, he told them to do the opposite – take flight.
Fleeing from sexual immorality is difficult for us men as we are aroused primarily by our sense of sight. And, unfortunately, there are plenty of beautiful, scantily-clad women for us to look at and be tempted by in every institution in America, including, sadly, our churches and other bodies of believers. I have sometimes had to turn my head while worshiping in my church to avoid looking at women dressed more suitably for nightclubs than houses of worship.
Genesis 39:6-12 – the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, is an excellent example of choosing to flee. Joseph was a Hebrew slave who Potiphar (his master) had put in charge of his household and everything he owned. Potiphar’s wife lusted after Joseph and tried to seduce him, but he spurned her advances. One day, Joseph went into Potiphar’s house to attend to his duties and found himself alone with Potiphar’s wife. She again tried to seduce him, and he responded by fleeing.
Fleeing from idolatry is a tough row to hoe for most Christians. We tend to idolize so many things – our spouses, children, homes, trucks, boats, guns, etc. We idolize because we won’t surrender to Jesus to be our Lord and demand to be the captains of our ships. We’re fine with Jesus being our Savior but are reluctant to trust him to be our Lord. The problem is we can’t have one without the other. They’re a package deal. Either we accept him as our Savior and our Lord or not at all. When we don’t relinquish control of our lives to God, we leave no room for God to be God.
We’re just like the Israelites. Judges 21:25 (NLT) says, “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” But there are penalties for doing what is right in our own eyes. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” Solomon was not discussing physical death; instead, he talked about spiritual death – separation from God for all eternity.
When we’re the captains of our ships, haven’t died to ourselves, and do what’s right in our own eyes, then we have no room for God. Instead of captaining our ship, we are to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT).) Unfortunately, most of us have to fail miserably and fall on our faces a few times before we repent and “let go and let God.”
Fleeing from the love of money is also tough for most Christians because, as the saying goes, “Money makes the world go round.” We must have money to meet our needs. Many of us have a problem with money because it’s hard to distinguish between needs and wants. It’s easy for us to have an attitude of “we live to make money” instead of “we need money to live.”
1 Timothy 6:10 (ISV) says, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, in their eagerness to get rich, have wandered away from the faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.” Money itself isn’t “a root of all kinds of evil” – instead, it’s loving money more than God that’s “a root of all kinds of evil.” We must flee loving money more than God.
Just as that boar survived by getting the heck out of Dodge when he sensed danger, we must be just as fast in fleeing sexual immorality, idolatry, and loving money more than God.