Satan’s Strategy for Your Life #7: Waiting for Weakness
“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”—1 Peter 5:8
I was watching a television special some time ago about lions on the Discovery Channel. What was particularly fascinating about them was the way they hunt. They take their time, patiently lurking amid the grass, silently stalking their prey, waiting for the right moment to pounce. They don’t attack directly, but wait for the precise moment when their prey displays a weakness, or gets separated from the rest of the herd. And when the moment is right, he attacks!
Satan doesn’t come to play, maim, or hurt, he looks for someone to devour. Angered that God could exhibit such love, grace, mercy, and peace to us, Satan wants to destroy us and wreck our spiritual life. He wants nothing less than our total destruction. Rarely does he launch a full-frontal attack. He waits patiently for the moment when we are overwhelmed—tired, frustrated, at odds with our spouse, discouraged by work, bothered by our kids, dejected by school, or late at night when our guard is down and we are alone in front of the computer. He may come to us when we are traveling and alone in our hotel room. He is brutal, ruthless, vicious, and has no mercy. It doesn’t matter where we are—home, work, school, or church—Satan can and will attack.
He comes at us when we least expect it. He may come on our day off, or when we have a significant amount of free time. And there is no tactic that he will not employ in order to get us to sin and turn away from God. Sometimes he comes at us on the other side of some great spiritual victory. I know for myself, once I have felt the presence of God when preaching a sermon, and seen His hand at work in people’s lives, my guard drops. And thoughts of what I did instead of God’s greatness start to take over. Then Satan attacks.
Our enemy knows us well, having had the opportunity to watch the human race since the Garden of Eden. He knows when we are weak and most susceptible. We must be on guard! As Jesus said, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”—Matthew 26:41. We need to stay alert to his possible schemes.
As believers, when temptation comes, we must remember that, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it”—1 Corinthians 10:13. God will give us a way out!
Paul wrote to the Corinthians commanding them to “Flee from sexual immorality”—1 Corinthians 6:18. Paul understood that we will be faced with temptation, but He also understood that God gives us a way out. If we need to open the door and run away from temptation, then so be it. Joseph did it and so can we (Genesis 39:13). God will provide a way of escape, but we must take it! We need not give in to Satan’s devices, but “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”—James 4:7.
God has given us a way of escape, we can resist the temptation to sin, and then flee as Joseph did when temptation is staring us in the face! We have been given a divine promise that when we submit to God, Satan will flee! May we trust in the Lord our God, knowing that He has provided every resource necessary to keep us from Satan and our flesh. We are not fighting for victory, but fighting from the position of victory that has been accomplished by Christ on the cross. May we live life in the knowledge that the end result has been determined, God wins and we are victorious with Him. Amen.
I was watching a television special some time ago about lions on the Discovery Channel. What was particularly fascinating about them was the way they hunt. They take their time, patiently lurking amid the grass, silently stalking their prey, waiting for the right moment to pounce. They don’t attack directly, but wait for the precise moment when their prey displays a weakness, or gets separated from the rest of the herd. And when the moment is right, he attacks!
Satan doesn’t come to play, maim, or hurt, he looks for someone to devour. Angered that God could exhibit such love, grace, mercy, and peace to us, Satan wants to destroy us and wreck our spiritual life. He wants nothing less than our total destruction. Rarely does he launch a full-frontal attack. He waits patiently for the moment when we are overwhelmed—tired, frustrated, at odds with our spouse, discouraged by work, bothered by our kids, dejected by school, or late at night when our guard is down and we are alone in front of the computer. He may come to us when we are traveling and alone in our hotel room. He is brutal, ruthless, vicious, and has no mercy. It doesn’t matter where we are—home, work, school, or church—Satan can and will attack.
He comes at us when we least expect it. He may come on our day off, or when we have a significant amount of free time. And there is no tactic that he will not employ in order to get us to sin and turn away from God. Sometimes he comes at us on the other side of some great spiritual victory. I know for myself, once I have felt the presence of God when preaching a sermon, and seen His hand at work in people’s lives, my guard drops. And thoughts of what I did instead of God’s greatness start to take over. Then Satan attacks.
Our enemy knows us well, having had the opportunity to watch the human race since the Garden of Eden. He knows when we are weak and most susceptible. We must be on guard! As Jesus said, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”—Matthew 26:41. We need to stay alert to his possible schemes.
As believers, when temptation comes, we must remember that, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it”—1 Corinthians 10:13. God will give us a way out!
Paul wrote to the Corinthians commanding them to “Flee from sexual immorality”—1 Corinthians 6:18. Paul understood that we will be faced with temptation, but He also understood that God gives us a way out. If we need to open the door and run away from temptation, then so be it. Joseph did it and so can we (Genesis 39:13). God will provide a way of escape, but we must take it! We need not give in to Satan’s devices, but “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”—James 4:7.
God has given us a way of escape, we can resist the temptation to sin, and then flee as Joseph did when temptation is staring us in the face! We have been given a divine promise that when we submit to God, Satan will flee! May we trust in the Lord our God, knowing that He has provided every resource necessary to keep us from Satan and our flesh. We are not fighting for victory, but fighting from the position of victory that has been accomplished by Christ on the cross. May we live life in the knowledge that the end result has been determined, God wins and we are victorious with Him. Amen.
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