Who Are the Least?

Two weeks ago, I basked in the joy of newly born baby goats at my sister’s home. Six of them. Three mamas: Kari had one, Sassy two, and Ella three. They were warm and snuggly, perky, wobbly little babies. Full of life and innocence. Snuggling them in the pasture with the warm sun beating down on a cold Georgia January day was a moment of perfection.

Today we buried the triplets. Together. In a box. In the hard, cold Georgia clay.

Their necks were broken. Not a scratch on them. One by one, they were shaken to death by my sister’s two foster dogs. One left for dead only to pounce another.

The gate to the back field had been left unsecured at some point in time. No one really knows when or for how long, but the dogs definitely waited until both my sister and her husband were gone to make their move. A neighbor intervened, or I’m quite sure all six babies would be dead.

Ruthless. A cruel, carnal visual of our fallen world. They weren’t killed for food, but for sport. I suppose one could argue the dogs were trying to play with the babies, but you’d think after they killed one, they’d realize their mistake. They targeted the weakest, most innocent, and least protected of the bunch—a mother with three littles and no horns. Kari had dog hair in her horns proving she defended her only. Sassy’s twins were the oldest, strongest, and fastest of the six. The dogs targeted the weakest and least defended.

It's a grim, picture-perfect analogy of Satan and how he works in this fallen world. Targeting the weak, the innocent, and the least protected. Ravaging their lives for pure sport. Breaking their necks just to stop their hearts from beating, only to move on to the next. He doesn’t feel remorse, only conquest (John 10:10, 1 Peter 5:8).

It begs the question, who are the weak, innocent, and least defended among us?

That person who just recently committed their life to Christ (Hebrews 5:11-14). The person who is grieving a major loss of a loved one (Psalm 147:3). The person searching for answers to life’s hardest questions (Luke 19:10). The spiritually, physically, and/or emotionally unhealthy people in your life (Mark 7:20-23). Every child breathing on this planet (Matthew 18:6). Anyone facing grief of any kind (Psalm 34:18). All of these and many more are weak, possibly very innocent in their understanding, and in need of protection (Romans 15:1)

How do you help protect them? By surrounding them, which means you can’t do it alone (Hebrews 12:1). Surround with words of encouragement, acts of care, and loving presence. You show up (Proverbs 17:17). You pray without ceasing. You ask others to pray with you (1 Thessalonians 5:17). You acknowledge the God who created them has them completely covered (Psalm 139:5), yet He invites you to show up and join with Him in being His hands and feet to the least of us (Matthew 25:31-40).

But don’t just surround others, surround yourself. Guard your heart, friends (Proverbs 4:23). The gate to the innocent babies wasn’t a wide, open invitation. It was simply a matter of the chain keeping it securely shut being left unsecured. And this happens to the best of us! All. The. Time. We rarely leave wide open doors for the devil to walk through. We look at that website just a minute or two longer than we should. We smile at the handsome man or beautiful woman with slightly impure heart motives. We choose to skip our time with the Lord for some extra sleep, a TV show, a chore, or even ministry work. We leave the chain securing our hearts in place. We are a child of God, after all. The chain appears to be doing its job, but it’s just a show because it’s not. It’s loose, and it leaves your heart and mind in danger of attack.

Jesus provided 24hr access to Himself and His power through the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8). As a child of God, you are surrounded by chains of protection, hedges, fences, guardrails keeping the enemy out while providing you an abundant life within. When the Holy Spirit urges you to reinforce some loose areas in your life, do you listen? Do you actually take the necessary steps to secure your heart and mind, or do you simply leave your protection sitting there for show, useless to actually protect you? Like God’s Word collecting dust on a shelf. Like the good intentions of prayer that never become reality. Like promising yourself once again, this is the week I’ll go to church or attend that Bible study. Too often, in too many small ways, we leave our hearts and minds unsecured and open to attack.

Picking up those innocent, slightly warm babies and placing them together in a box was a stark reminder of the ultimate plan of the enemy—death. Soul death. Eternal death. And if he can’t have you for all eternity, he wants to fill this one life with as much death as possible. Death of dreams, death of plans, death of loved ones, death of ideals, death of community, death of unity. Death, death, and more death. He wants to break our necks and stop our hearts beating for Christ.

I’m grateful I serve a resurrected God. A God who makes all things new in His time (Isaiah 43:18-19). A God who restores, renews, refreshes, and revives (2 Corinthians 4:16-17). He raises dead things to life (John 11:25-26). Death here on earth can be a deeply stirring and motivating experience toward a life of redemptive power on display. The choice remains with each of us—does death paralyze and freeze us in time, or does it spur us on with a more single-minded focus toward what matters most? The choice is ours.

If nothing else, the baby goats’ morbid reality is a stark reminder of how real Satan actually is and the threat he poses. We are not to fear him, but we should not forget how real he is—how powerful he is, and if fearing what he can do to our hearts and to those we love spurs us forward to protect, to surround ourselves, with Jesus, then to God be the glory.