The Horse Leech
Proverbs 30:15 The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give..
This is a message about spiritual leeches that attempt to suck the spiritual life out of you.
Illus: Administratium
The heaviest element known to science was recently discovered.
The element, tentatively named Administratium, has no protons or electrons and thus has an atomic number of 0. However, it does have 1 neutron, 125 assistant neutrons, 75 vice neutrons and 111 assistant vice neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together in the nucleus by a force that involves the continuous exchange of meson like particles called morons.
Since it has no electrons, Administratium is inert. However, it can be detected chemically as it impedes every reaction with which it comes in contact. According to the discoverers, a tiny amount of Administratium caused one reaction to take over 4 days to complete when it would normally occur in less than 1 second.
Administratium has a normal half-life of approximately 3 years. At this time it doesn’t actually decay but instead undergoes reorganization in which assistant neutrons, vice neutrons, and assistant vice neutrons exchange places. Some studies have shown that the atomic mass actually increased after each reorganization.
Researchers at other laboratories indicated that Administratium occurs naturally in the atmosphere. It tends to concentrate at certain points such as universities, government agencies, large corporations, and schools. The element can be found in the newest, best-appointed and best-maintained buildings.
Scientists point out that Administratium is known to be toxic at any level of concentration and can easily destroy any productive reactions where it is allowed to accumulate. Attempts are being made to determine how Administratium can be controlled to prevent irreversible damage, but results are not promising.
Administratium is a funny way at looking at a very serious subject: how things are slowed down. For us today we are talking about spiritual leeches that slow down our spiritual mobility.
A leech is a blood sucker. A disgusting parasite that attempts to suck the life out of you. For the bible tells us, "life is in the blood." The two main methods of removing leeches are fire and salt. The spiritual parallel to removing spiritual leeches is only too obvious.
Spiritual leeches come in all shapes and sizes. Their goal: to rob you of your ability to effectively serve the Lord, to rob you of your anointing. They are too smart to do it all at once, that would be too noticeable and would draw an immediate and angry prayer filled response from you. No..., their means are much more subtle. They burrow in your "flesh" and steal a little life at a time, until one day we rise up like Samson, Judges 16:20 "And she said, The Philistines [be] upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him." He wist not that the Lord was departed from him, his power to serve was gone and it happened so stealthily he never knew it took place.
Leeches are long distance runners, short term goals are eschewed, their sights are set on the slow kill. Like barnacles one by one they multiply and firmly attach themselves to you, until one day you either capsize or have to head in for DRY-DOCK for an extended period of downtime, while those little rascals are painfully scraped away. (Spiritualize and elaborate on dry-dock)
A wise captain can always tell when those pests have built themselves up, he rides lower in the water and speed is lost. He can tell something is dragging on him.
Even so there are also tell tale signs of spiritual leeches and barnacles. Sermon preparation is a chore and not a love for the preacher, devotions are dead and cold for the layman, prayer time is excused away by barnacle laden Christians.
Samson went into dry-dock, in the pit grinding meal, his eyes gouged out. Spiritual sight, and hearing are some of the first casualties of leech activity. The only difference between Samson and many Christians is at least he knew and admitted his condition! His anointing didn’t leave the first time he played with the harlot, no, so she dug her nails in deeper and tried to wrench from him not only his character and integrity, but his very soul.
In Hebrews 12:1 it says, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,". In this text is a clear and cogent warning about leeches: let us lay aside every weight. We find in Galations 5:7 another admonition about barnacles and leeches: Galatians 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? Paul is saying, you used to be able to run with vigor, now you have slowed down to a crawl. Looks like leeches have attacked, pull them off!
Until now, I have been very general in my remarks, let me speak frankly of areas I have seen leeches at work in peoples lives.
1. The leech of the eyes.
Job 31:1 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
A young brother spoke to me once how he was abstaining from watching television, everything except the evening news. A commercial came on that he recognized had defiled his spirit. 30 seconds was all it took for the devil to defile him! How much more are those barnacle laden who watch hours a day! It was like a can of garbage got poured on him. Ceremonial defilement in the Old Testament usually required a period of time where the defiled one could not enter into Divine service or the tabernacle. Is there not a spiritual parallel that defilement by the eyes requires a period of time for restoration and cleansing? I am not speaking of forgiveness, but of being in the place where God can use you effectively, that you are not laid low with weights that beset and hinder. Television is an anointing robber and we know it all too well. To be defiled is to be rendered unfit for a season for divine service. Television is a leech in many ways. A leech of time, a leech that defiles, a leech that distills worldly values. Fire and salt are the only known cure.
2. The leech of boast.
Matthew 6:16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Sins of the mouth can suck the spiritual power right out of you. Pastor’s are specially vulnerable to this. They tell how many they had in service last Sunday, and what "I," preached on. Almost seeming to say the message came from them and not God. For the layman the danger is to emphasize their role in something God did. "I prayed for them," or to tell others they have fasted - Jesus says in so doing you lose your reward. The reward of fasting is the extra spiritual power it gives.
3. Other leeches we could mention:
The leech of being a man pleaser as opposed to a God pleaser.
The leech of working too much overtime.
The leech of too much golf (or any form of recreation)
The leech of prayerlessness.
The leech of anger. (Anger at others incapacitates your ability to minister to them.)
And so on....
This dilemma of leeches leads us to a scriptural question: Mark 9:50 "Salt [is] good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it?" Most Christians have the belief that if salt loses its saltiness it is doomed for Christ Himself said: "it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." (Mt. 5:13) Yes, it is doomed, but there is a scriptural solution to the problem. Salt cannot be renewed, but new salt can be created! David prayed: "Create in me a clean heart," not resalt the one I have. We don’t need to resalt ourselves, what we need sometimes is the recreation of salt within ourselves. We need the purging of leaven, the removing of weights, and the cessation of those things that rob us of spiritual power.
Close: Are you aware that leeches have been at work in your life? As we close in prayer we invite you to come to the altar and ask God for Him to remove them, and to recreate salt in you.
