Ignorance Is Bliss
James Coyle spent his first night at the Italian front wrapped up in half a pup tent, trying to shield himself from a driving rain. The next morning he lined up with others at a chow truck for breakfast. When two German aircraft appeared and began strafing a nearby unit, everyone around Coyle scattered for shelter. He described what he did next:
I scooted and slid down to the chow truck, climbed up on it, and asked the cook, “Is it OK to get some coffee?” The cook said, “Take the whole d____truck. I’m getting out of here!” I can’t tell you how delicious the pancakes smothered with blueberry and strawberry jam tasted as I sipped my coffee and watched the enemy planes.238
There is a well-known paraphrase of a famous Kipling poem,239 “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs… maybe you don’t understand the situation!” Here we see a novice displaying a nonchalance foreign to the battle-hardened veterans around him.
As a new Christian I have frequently made the same mistake in my attitude toward evil. When something goes wrong in my life, I usually suspect my own weaknesses and failures, ignoring the fact that there is an enemy in the world who knows me and is seeking to undo my efforts. Victory over this powerful force is more than a matter of self-improvement and takes more than self-will. It takes complete reliance on the power of our Lord and Savior. Ignorance of the presence of evil is not bliss.
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
—1 Peter 5:89