In a couple of hours I will be at my most vulnerable spot: the dentist chair! Keeping one’s mouth open while one is being tortured isn’t easy, especially when it’s a root canal!  But hey, you can’t really complain about it, especially since you can’t utter a word anyway, with all those hands in your mouth!

Giraffes are vulnerable as well.  Although they have excellent eyesight and can view the surroundings for miles on end, thanks to their height, they have two predators that seem to like the giraffe’s hard flesh: lions and leopards.

These animals are generally no match for giraffes however, as a kick from a giraffe’s leg can literally kill a lion, and a giraffe can run 31-37 mph!  Besides, due to their height, they are difficult to bring down!

There is one spot, however, where they become vulnerable, and it isn’t the dentist chair.  Their teeth are healthier than most of ours!  And this is a place where giraffes have no choice but to frequent often: The water-hole!

As giraffes have to struggle to spread their front legs wide and lower their heads to drink, their focus can no longer be on their surroundings and their numerous dangers.  Giraffes are so conscious of their vulnerability that they will scan their surroundings carefully, but not all dangers are noticeable, especially if a predator is hiding!  But once their heads are down and their front legs spread wide, a lion or leopard can attack them and bring them down with hardly a fight.

No kicking or running is possible, as the wide-spread position locks the giraffe’s front legs into place.  Moreover, putting its head up very quickly will make the giraffe dizzy and fill it with confusion!

How true this is for all of us if we stop focusing on what really matters, we become easy prey for the evil one, and before we know it we are spiritually devoured! 

This is why the apostle Paul urges us to: “Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed — that exhilarating finish in and with God — he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!” (Heb 12:2-3 The Message)

Focus seems to matter in this life!  On whom will you focus?

Rob Chaffart

(To view the entire “Nairobi, Here I Come!” devotional series, please click here.)