What’s Gnawing at You?

“Debbie, have you seen the trees out front?”, Keith asked. “It looks like they’re dying.” In the process of hand watering our trees, he’d noticed bark missing on the upper trunks. Concerned about what kind of pest might be attacking the trees, Keith began checking into it. A friend mentioned it might be a porcupine. Late that night after I was snug in bed, Keith got a spotlight and went to check on the trees. At midnight, the gnawer moved in for his nightly feast, climbed one of the trees, and began gnawing at the bark. After spotting him, Keith took action with a .22 rifle.

The next morning when I woke, Keith told me that it had been a porcupine. Following Keith to the front yard, I looked at the tree trunks where the night feaster had stripped the bark and noticed for the first time what Keith had observed days earlier, shredded bark at the base of the trees. Then Keith took me to see where he had laid the porcupine to “rest in peace.”

“That porcupine would have gnawed the tree to death if you hadn’t stopped him,” I told my husband, grateful that he had been observant. Then, God spoke to my heart about how things can “gnaw” at us and the importance of paying attention rather than ignoring what’s “eating” at us.

Night and Daytime Gnawers

Other People. Is there someone you don’t like? Are they “driving you up the wall”? As school begins, I’ve thought about how my children always wondered who their teacher would be and if their friends would be in their class. Seldom did we go through a whole school year that there wouldn’t be something I would notice was “gnawing” at me. It might be a teacher who gave what I considered to be too much homework or the “click” of students that looked down on those who weren’t like them.

Tapes in Our Minds Others Have Said. Sometimes the worst gnawers are “tapes” of what others have told us about ourselves. A parent may have repeatedly told you, “You’re no good.” Or, “You’ll never amount to anything.” A spouse may have nagged us, “You never make enough money.” Or he may have criticized us, “I don’t know why I married you.”

Tapes in Our Minds We Say About Ourselves. We can often be our worst daytime gnawer. We have perceptions about ourselves, lives, and families, and compare that with how we perceive others are. “Why can’t my spouse be like him/her?” “I’ll never be as good a Christian as I’m supposed to be.” “I’m a failure as a parent, spouse, friend.” “I’m fat, ugly, of no good.” Of course the worst night time gnawer is, “Everyone would be better off without me.”

Action Steps When Something is Gnawing at You

First, spotlight the gnawer. In other words, pay attention if you’re agitated in spirit, mind, or emotion. Don’t ignore it. Take the gnawing thought to God’s throne room where there’s plenty of Light and ask Him what you’re thinking is true, honorable, and right. Ask Him if it’s lovely and of good repute? Consider if there is any excellence in the thought or anything worthy of praise in what you’re thinking? If not, “lay it to rest.” Get rid of it once and for all. Release the negative thought or tape to Jesus who died and was buried for our sins and others. Leave the negative buried and walk in newness of life with Jesus. Philippians 4:7-9

Second, recognize that perceived enemies and thoughts that bring harm to relationships or bring you down are sometimes due to what the Bible calls “world forces of darkness; spiritual forces of wickedness.” (Ephesians 6:12) The Bible is clear when it tells us that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places,” Ephesians 6:12. So when you can’t stand the drug culture, the gangs, the bullies, all the negative and harm that you see going on in our world, look beyond the damage on the “tree”. Turn your spotlight on the darkness that is bringing out the night creature that is doing the harm. It’s not that the child is a bad child. It’s that there are world forces of darkness that want to enslave our children to drugs, alcohol, sport sex, and ruin them. Our responsibility is to pray! We may not have children in school any more, but we can pray for the teachers, coaches, principles, and aids. We can pray for the children and teens. We can pray for the parents and day care workers. We can love others and stand with our spotlight.

I would never have noticed our trees until they were so severely damaged that they were beyond restoration. It took my husband’s watchful eye to see what I ignored in my very own front yard. What’s going on in your “front yard”? Are you letting it gnaw at you and others? Or, are you doing something about it?

Heavenly Father, there is so much evil in this world. In addition, I come up with my own wrong thoughts. Help me dispel the darkness in my heart, mind, and emotions in prayers as I shed your light on my thoughts. Help me be faithful to pray for others whom the enemy is gnawing at. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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