Rubber Knives

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity”

(II Timothy 1:7)

When I was a girl, my best friend lived around the corner and down the street from me in a big grey house with her mother, father, and brother.  There was also an apartment attached to the big grey house.  That was where my friend’s grandfather lived.  A tall thin aging man with a stern stare, he never smiled or spoke a word.  However, he did have a penchant for chasing children with a rubber knife.  Yes, a rubber knife.  All the children in the neighborhood dreaded the old man.  He chased my brother clear down the street one time.  After that, my brother never returned to the big grey house. 

So, you can understand my reluctance to go and play at my friend’s house.  That was sad, because her father had built the perfect little doll house in their backyard.  One with a small table and two chairs, just the right little abode for two small girls to take their dolls and have pretend tea parties.  My friend begged me to come to her doll house.  I was reluctant because of grandpa and his rubber knife.  Finally, my better judgment succumbed to her pleadings, and one sunny day with fear and trepidation, tightly gripping my Betsy Wetsy doll, I headed to my friend’s big grey house.  She was waiting for me at the edge of her property to escort me back to the doll house.  We had almost reached the small doll house when grandpa emerged.  His cold stare made my heart sink down into my shoe somewhere.  I froze.  He froze.  But then my little friend spoke up and to this day I remember what she said, “Now grandpa, this is my friend, and she has come to play with me.  And mommy said you are to leave her alone.”  I guess grandpa was as afraid of mommy as I was of him, because with that, grandpa turned tail and went back into his apartment.  From that point on, I never had a problem going to have tea parties with my friend and our dolls.  The boundary had been set for grandpa.  Mommy had spoken!

As we enter a new year, we have no idea what it will hold for us.  Only God has knowledge of that.  But I can guarantee that Satan will have many rubber knives in it to intimidate us with.  Rubber knives that attempt to frighten us.  Rubber knives that could send us into a panic.  Rubber knives that will keep us awake at night wondering “what if.”  You know the kind of rubber knives I’m talking about, because we all have been menaced by them. 

What we need to keep in mind is the fact that Satan’s knives are not real.  That is because we have a God who protects us from all of Satan’s rubber knives.  No matter what we face in 2025, as a child of the King, God has set boundaries around us and Satan cannot cross them.

I don’t know how many children my friend’s grandpa chased with his rubber knife.  The rumor mill said there were many, and so the big grey house was a place to avoid for many neighborhood children.  But not for me.  My friend’s mother had set a wall of protection around me.  Just like the Lord has set a wall of protection around his own. 

So don’t fear Satan’s rubber knives in 2025   Go and enjoy all the tea parties you want.  God’s protection and boundaries surround us.  Our Father has spoken! 

                                                                                  Darlene