Many Enemies

Earlier today, I watched an animated film version of a story about a group of rabbits that face innumerable dangers in their search for a good home. It is suggested, in both the movie and in the book on which it was based, that rabbits have many enemies, and it seems as though the world itself were trying to kill them. If we were speaking of spiritual peril, the same could almost be said for us. The world has become a place of dangerously low standards. We are surrounded by evil influences and those who yield to them. In that sense, we have as many enemies as the rabbits did in the story.

In the story, Watership Down by Richard Adams, the rabbits had to be quick and clever to survive, and even then, there was a good deal of divine intervention. In our story, swift responses and wise plans can help us resist and escape personal temptations. As Frith said to the first rabbit (in the film version, at least), "If [your enemies] catch you, they will kill you. But they'll have to catch you first." Temptations to commit sin are all around us and they can destroy us if they catch us, but with wisdom and with God's help, we can escape them.

Yet, we can take advantage of strengths rabbits don't have. Avoiding and escaping temptation aren't our only options, which is lucky, because sometimes they aren't options. Alternatively, or rather Additionally, we can stand our ground. When we can't escape temptation, we can resist it. Unlike rabbits, we can fight most of our enemies and win. Of course, divine aid often plays a role in our spiritual battles, as it does with helping us avoid and escape temptation, but God frequently lets us exercise our own strength and succeed with our own abilities.

Though our tactics are in some ways different than those of the rabbits in Watership Down, there are also similarities in our conditions and what we can do about them. Sometimes, there's nothing we can do about our situations except escape or endure them. Sometimes, we have the power and cunning to change our conditions. Regardless of whether we fight our enemies or merely escape them, we have plenty of spiritual enemies to fight and escape. Whether through strength or wisdom or swiftness or cunning, we can defeat the many enemies we face in this life, or at least prevent them from destroying us.