This weekend I listened online to a great sermon by Steve Lawson who was speaking to ministers at a Shepherd's Conference sponsored by John MacArthur's church in California. The text was Job 1 - always a favorite with me. One of the more amazing insights that Lawson shared was that there are "...only three places in the Bible where we hear the actual voice of Satan recorded." Can you remember the three?The first is in Genesis 3 when Satan speaks to Eve:
"Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?' And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.' But the serpent said to the woman, 'You shall not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'"
The second occurrence is in Job 1, when God asked Satan if he had considered Job who was "blameless and upright." Satan responds:
"Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face."
Is there a pattern here? Lawson rightly points out that in the first episode, Satan is informing Eve that God is not being good to her. In the Job passage, Satan is informing God that He is too good to His servant, Job. Satan will use any shrewd and scheming lie to further his agenda of causing division between God and His people.
Even the Lord's adversary knows that the love and goodness of God is the key to everything. Satan will try to twist the truth first one way and then another to serve his own strange purposes. Whatever else you may find confusing in this world, you should keep this firmly in your mind: God loves you, and the fact that He loves you is very, very good.
(The third episode, by the way, is in Matthew and Luke when Satan tempts Jesus in the wilderness.)
I don't know why I am amazed but I am often amazed when God shows one of his Shepherds a trend. such as the one you speak to here,in the scriptures. In the third episode, Satan again twists God's word to try to keep Jesus from loving us and His Father as He was called to do. Jesus KNEW his Father and could see right through the lies even in his VERY physically and mentally (because you can't go without food for 40 days without both being affected) weakened state. How much more should we have the word of Christ dwell richly within us so that we too can see the lies clearly.
ReplyDeleteThank you Candy. More food for my thoughts.
~JJM