Vultures

Every morning I drive down a main road that was cut through the middle of a conservation area. The sad part of this road is that there is still a large amount of wildlife (including deer) that insist on crossing this busy road to get from one side of the landscape to the other. A result of this passage is most of the animals do not make it.

The vultures love this road. They actually sit up in the trees all day long waiting for something to be killed. If they are hungry, they know that they will not be hungry for long.

This caught my eye one day as I was traveling and it sent me to Google vultures when I got to my computer. They really are amazing birds and it is said by many that they are very misunderstood. But not looking at them to become an advocate for their position in the food chain, I found the facts about them so interesting as it relates to us in our spiritual walk.

Vultures do not work very hard at getting their food. It is said if they cannot break the skin on the dead animal, they will just sit and wait for a bigger animal to come along and do it for them. They are not affected by any bacteria and can even tolerate anthrax. They can eat the oldest, nastiest, and diseased animal and be absolutely fine! They eat until they are gorged with food! They overeat to the point that they will just sit in a daze until it is digested and they are able to move again. They only attack sick, near-dead or dead animals and do not go after the ones that are healthy and strong. They anticipate which animals that will be. It is said that vultures would line battlefields and just wait.

The thought came to my mind that in our spiritual walk, there are vultures. Each person has their own vultures that line the trees of their life waiting. It might be addictions, guilt, worry, pride and the list could go on. It is when we are sick, tired, angry or physically exhausted that these vultures attack. We know when we are vulnerable and it is during these times that we must realize that we need to take care of ourselves physically, emotionally and spiritually or we can fall victim to the attack.

Each of these vultures do not have any interest in making us a better person, but are so selfish that they will not stop until they completely devour us to the point that there is nothing left. Only we have God, who is ready to drive them away when we look to Him.

Job 15:22-23

He despairs of escaping the darkness;

he is marked for the sword.
He wanders about—food for vultures;

he knows the day of darkness is at hand.