Our devotion this week, Satan’s Go-To Temptation Against You, was written by J.D. Greear can be found online here.
Satan’s Go-to Tactic
When Satan tempted Jesus, he began by saying, “If you are the Son of God” (Matthew 4:3).
Wait —“If”? Just a few verses earlier, when Jesus was baptized, God the Father had declared from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Satan, you see, rarely starts with lies; he starts with dangerous questions. “If this is really true . . . ”
Satan’s go-to tactic in our lives is to break the hold the word of God has on us. So, he takes what God has declared and casts doubt on it. Satan puts question marks in your life where God has put periods.
Sometimes he’ll move from questioning God’s truth to outright denial. But many times, the question itself is enough. We find ourselves with Adam and Eve: doubting. Does God really have my best interests at heart? The warmth of our affection for him soon cools, and we are left longing for the comforts sinful indulgence will bring.
Often, however, more effective than denial or doubt is simple distraction. After all, Satan is happiest when we are not thinking about the word of God at all. C.S. Lewis depicts this well in The Screwtape Letters. The older demon, Screwtape, is writing to a younger demon-in-training, describing a critical temptation he was involved in. His victim was reading a book that prompted him to think about God. “Before I knew where I was,” Screwtape says, “I saw my twenty years’ work beginning to totter.” So, what did he do?
He didn’t launch into an attack on God’s existence. He didn’t bring up lustful temptations. He simply reminded his victim that it was almost time for lunch. And by the time this poor sap was on his way out the door, Lewis said, he had completely forgotten about God. Often, Lewis notes, distraction is a more effective technique than denial.
What is one thing that seems to pull your attention away from God? Be mindful of where your thoughts tend to go throughout the day, and pray that God would direct you back to Himself.
