Unshackled Moments ~ September 22, 2017 ~ Butterflies And Unicorns

Butterflies and unicorns are often shown together in fantasy pictures and scenes, as though the two species coexist as the best of friends, frolicking together through the days.

But then, unicorns are usually shown as beautiful, gentle magical beings that would make our lives better somehow if we could only get a glimpse of one, even more so if we could somehow catch or befriend one. It's interesting to me how ideas change and the cautionary becomes the desired in our stories, minds and hearts.

The mythical beast we see in our minds when we read the word unicorn doesn't exist, but there is so much reference to such a creature, unicorn, not gentle and magical horned horse, that we can be assured that there is something that started it all, a real creature. The unicorn even shows up in the Bible, although many translations forgo the Hebrew unicorn for the English wild oxen. And the unicorn of the Bible, and the unicorns of ancient texts in general for that matter, where not gentle and kind and the sort of beast one would wish to cuddle with.

Pliny, the Roman naturalist, described the beast in a fairly fantastical manner if we piece it together in our minds. But if it is drawn by someone trying to use the different animal descriptions as references rather than puzzle pieces it looks a lot like this. And this looks a lot like what one might come up with from a description of the single-horned Indian rhino if an actual rhino hadn't been seen before by the person doing the imagining. Considering that the Romans had been going into India and bringing back tales of fantastic beasts during the time of Pliny and that the Indian rhino does have a single horn, feet like an elephant and a tail much like that of a wild boar, it is likely the beast, if not the same beast of the Bible, he described as a unicorn.

Still, I think I tend to agree with Matthew Poole, a Bible commentator who said the unicorn referred to in Numbers 23:22, Deuteronomy 33:17 Job 39:9-10, Psalm 22:21, Psalm 92:10, and Isaiah 34:7 was a strong, and fierce, and untamable wild beast; though the learned are not agreed about the kind of it....it is not worth while to trouble the unlearned reader with such disputes. In other words, it was a fierce beast, whatever it was, wild ox or rhino or something altogether different and exactly what it was and looked like isn't the point and not worth distracting from the truth the scriptures are trying to show us.

Speaking of a point....OK, I'll get to mine. What I began thinking this morning after reading Psalm 22:1....

[Save me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the unicorns]

is how wrong our idea of the nature of the unicorn is compared to what the ancients claimed. Even in the 7th century unicorns were being described as very strong animals that pierce everything they attack. The unicorn of scripture and ancient texts is dangerous, strong and deadly. The stories of that beast somehow got twisted and turned over the years into what we have today, a harmless pal of My Little Pony, But here in Psalm 22, the unicorn is paired with the lion as something we need to be saved or delivered from, bringing to mind for me that the enemy is described as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. It is not a creature to be sought out and played with but rather to be avoided or destroyed.

Another creature that is often used symbolically is that butterfly often pictured with the gentle unicorn of myth. Butterflies often are used to illustrate new life and transformation. I like that image, the reminder of something that is the same creature and yet totally different from the caterpillar it began as. That is us, we who have been made new by the work of Christ. There is a moment we began, and that can be traced without a break in being to this very moment and who we are. At the same time, we became like the butterfly in that there is a point where we spiritually rose from the cocoon of the grave with Christ and became a completely different creature.

The lies of the old caterpillar within us, of society around us, and the world in general minimize the danger of that which God said if we eat of it, we shall surely die. God says that which is not loving Him and loving others, that which is outside of His will, is sin and leads to death. It is the dangerous and fierce unicorn that destroys and pierces and kills and which we butterflies need to be delivered from. But our old natures and the world chime in as the serpent in the garden and say no, you won't die if you indulge in self, if you try to be your own god, if you live as though your will is the way and better than God's will for you. See, the unicorn is not dangerous and scaly like a rhino. It's beautiful and gentle like a horse. Play with it. Frolic and do not be afraid. This time it will be different. This time the beast that nearly killed you before won't. One time, one more hit, one drink.....just this once it will be OK to look to something other than Jesus as the answer to your need will be OK.

But it's not OK. It really does lead to death to go our own way. Not because God is mean, but because unicorns are dangerous. God said there are things out there that seem like the answer and seem like a good idea at the time but bring a mess and destruction and misery and death. He says I love you and care for you, so I will be your refuge from those things and your strength against them if you will let me be. Today, let us not fall for the lie that butterflies and unicorns are friends and should frolic together, but let us be quick to believe that what Daddy warned will bring destruction into our life really will and that He is our protection from the dangers around and within.

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