While I was away last week, I found that God was talking to
me about the different struggles in my life.
What I realized was is that a lot of what I struggle with is what other
struggle with too.
In most of our lives, we have at least one elephant in the
room. That one thing in our life that is
interfering with everything else but no one really wants to address. For various reasons, it remains there. It could be a family conflict, a job
situation, or a destructive relationship, but it stays there and it is just a
matter of time before something provokes it.
One of the fun things about working at a zoo is that you get
to know the animals, not just from a textbook perspective, but from a personal
standpoint. So when people talk about
“the elephant in the room”, I know what it is like from a personal
standpoint. So here are 10 things that I
know about the elephant in the room…
1. They are huge:
When we have an elephant in front of us, they block our view of
everything else. They are the biggest
land animal in the world, and they make better doors than windows so to
speak! In our spiritual life, the
elephant will stop us from achieving God’s best for us because they block our
view.
2. They can paralyze you with fear: When something that big and intimidating is
in front of us, the last thing that you want to do is draw its attention. Instead, we sit quietly trying to be
invisible and hope that it goes away.
With the spiritual elephant, we might be quiet about a sin and not
confess it because we don’t want to look bad.
Or sometimes, we just want a break and want to avoid the ire of Satan,
so we stay quiet and hope that he doesn’t notice us. The thing is, the elephant is very well aware
our presence, whether we want it to or not.
3. They are strong:
I can remember one time an elephant grabbed my arm. It was not a pleasant feeling because I knew
that I would become her rag doll! Good
thing is that she didn’t throw me around, but the thought was still there. Just like the real elephant, the spiritual
elephant is strong and can have its way in our life sometime. Whether it’s sin, an unhealthy situation,
greed, or whatever, the spiritual elephant will have it’s way in our lives at
times.
4. They consume a lot: Elephants eat A LOT. Isn’t that the way certain situations can
seem? No matter how much attention we
give it, it will always demand more. Sin
is like that. Abusive relationships are
like that. Unhealthy jobs are like
that. But again, we often times don’t mention
it or avoid talking about it because of the benefits. But in the end, we have to look and see how
much it is costing us.
5. They have an amazing memory and are extremely
smart: Elephants remember almost
anything, and they are much brighter than they appear. That being said, the spiritual elephant will
like to bring up past failures.
Why? Because it remembers
everything. Especially what we don’t
want to remember. As for the
intelligence, it knows how to push our buttons.
Sometimes they might try to convince you that they are there to help,
but the are being deceptive. Even though
most real elephants use their intelligent for good, spiritual elephants will
find ways to keep us on the defensive.
But the good news is, we can go on the offensive!
6. They can be intimidated: Remember me mentioning when I got grabbed by
the elephant? If you wondered how I got
out of that mess, all I did was turn and yell at her. Recently, I had a huge issue in which I was
at my wits end. I found myself praying
against a spirit in a loud voice and reminding it that I am a son of Christ,
and that it has to know its place and leave.
It did, and it is funny how so many things cleared up in the next few
days. I am going to continue to pray
against that evil and I am not going to be arrogant enough to think that I
cured it once and for all, but I learned that it can be moved. They do come back though, so remain vigilant.
(Luke 11:24-26)
7. They can be tamed: Did you ever notice how Asian Elephants are
used in circuses and in manual labor over in Asia? Did you ever wonder how these massive beasts get
trained? I did. The fact is that they are hardwired that
way. They are relatively easy to
train. I do not know from experience,
but the truth is that they can be trained and they are used. Just like real elephants, spiritual elephants
can be controlled too (Mark 16:17). They
do not have dominion over us, we have dominion over them .
8. You can’t move them alone: If you think that you can take on an elephant
by yourself and get them to move, think again.
You need a team of people. Just
like a massive real elephant, I need people praying for me and keeping me
accountable with my elephant. The moment
I try to do it alone, I am in trouble (Proverbs 20:18).
9. They were led in the room in the first place,
that means they can be led out:
Sometimes people wonder why bad things happen in the spiritual
realm. The truth is, often times people
invite evil into their house. If not
them, sometimes it is someone else that does.
Similarly, random elephants do not suddenly appear in our life, someone
will lead them into the room. But again,
just as they have been led in, you can lead them out. So that should give anyone hope, because they
can go out the same that they came in.
10. It
is a lot of work to move them, but it is worth it: If you have not figured it out, anything good
in life requires work and sacrifice. If
something is free or too easy to obtain, I usually have to wonder why. That being said, elephants can be large and
ornery, that is why they require effort.
But once they are removed, you can see better, feel better, and smell
better!
That’s probably enough info for one day. Sometimes I wonder why I worked at the Zoo
for so long and acquired all the random tidbits that I did. So I hope that you were able to get something
out of this!
As I have been reflecting on the past few years of my life,
I found that I had my share of elephants that were causing drama in my
life. They stopped me from doing quite a
few good things, but I learned that I had to start pushing them out. They may not like it, but often times they
don’t realize that they will be much happier outside of my room… and needless
to say, I will be much happier as well!
In conclusion, I am praying for all of you that read this
that you will be able to locate those elephants in your life that are scaring
the right people out of your room, messing up your room, or manhandling
you. I believe that God can help you
through that, and if you ever need prayer or help, feel free to ask. That’s what I am here for! Thank you again for reading this, and may
your life be elephant free!!
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