Are we being Hunted?

Ezekiel 13: 18 and say, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the women who sew magic bands upon all wrists, and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature, in the hunt for souls! Will you hunt down souls belonging to my people and keep your own souls alive? 19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, by your lying to my people, who listen to lies. 20 “Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against your magic bands with which you hunt the souls like birds, and I will tear them from your arms, and I will let the souls whom you hunt go free, the souls like birds.

The hunt for Red October is clearly my favorite movie of all times. It is a classic cold war thriller, were the US (the good guys) is pitted against the USSR (the bad guys) . The plot of the movie finds both sides hunting a Russian general who is seeking exile with his submarine and officers in the US. Rameus, the Russian general, knows that the submarine that he is commanding was built to bring mass destruction and death to the world, and so he is trying to receive safe harbor in the US in exchange for delivering the first strike sub. As both sides hunt The Red October, it is clear that both sides have different intentions for it when they catch it. The Russians want to blow it up to keep their secrets and eliminate the defecting Russians. The Americans want to grant peaceful exile and familiarize themselves with the technology so that they will not be overwhelmed by its advanced capabilities. Two hunters, one sub, and only one side would catch them first. Luckily it was the US and they received peace and not elimination.

I am struck by the language of Ezekiel 13. God is announcing judgement on evil women who hunt the souls of his people, with worldly distractions. God is in turn sending out Ezekiel hunting them with His offer of repentance and healing. The people in Ezekiel's day were in the same spot as the submarine, the Red October. They were being hunted by two opposing forces and only one would capture their hearts for eternity.

Do we realize that the same thing is happening to us today? Do we believe 1 Peter 5:8, that the devil is hunting us, our wives, families and friends? I don't know about you, but I feel that clearly. I see that and sense that pretty much every day as the world is tough. God, in His grace, is hunting us with the sacrificial Love displayed in the cross. The devil hunts us with temptations to do the devil's favorite things: try to be God ourselves and covertly alter the sovereign word of God.

So where does that leave us? If we have been captured by the Love of the cross, we should do what
Jesus does and hunt others with his love. This starts at home, and it should be done with the intensity that there is another force that is stalking our families, and it has a different end result in mind than we do. It wants to alienate them from you and God. Time is of the essence.