Trusting in the Lord

The devil is a sly old fox. I’d like to catch him, and put him in a box. Lock the lid and throw away the key, for all those tricks he’s played on me. I’m glad I got salvation. I’m glad I got salvation. I’m glad I got salvation. I’m trusting in the Lord.

Now theologically, I’m not sure how that little children’s song holds up against the great hymns of Charles Wesley or Fanny Crosby, but it does start with the premise of acknowledging our enemy and concludes with a declaration of trust in our Lord. And that’s good enough for me.

I feel like there have been times during this journey that the devil himself was sitting on my shoulder whispering the most palatable and plausible lies ever told. Here I was, trying desperately to hear the voice of God (a still, small voice) and all the while being romanced by a master deceiver. He made everything so believable, so easy to accept as truth. It’s not as if I liked what he was saying. He was not telling me things that would make me feel better or good about myself. No, just the opposite. He was telling me things that were easy for someone with shattered self-esteem to latch onto as truth. Mean, vicious things that felt so very true, I assumed they proceeded out of the lips of logic. Hateful things. Spiteful things. They wormed inside my head and heart, cycling round and round, gnawing at my conscience, clawing at my sanity, dizzying me with their perceived consequences, nauseating me with the weight of their potential reality. His favorite lie to tell, and my favorite one to believe: You’ve messed things up so bad, not even God could fix it now. Over and over he spoke it to me. Over and over I endured it. I tried to deny it, but over and over it came into every thought. Over and over it clung to every bit of rational I could muster. Over and over I was flooded with examples of people who had made irreparable choices, even Biblical examples. I fought it. I denied it. I grieved over it. But over and over it came, wave upon wave until I nearly drowned in it.

1Peter gives us the following warning: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Devour is a serious word. He doesn’t just want to pacify you, subdue you, maim you, or bench you. He wants to devour you, to destroy you. He wants to eat you alive. 

So how do you battle a lie? You confront it with the truth. Jesus said, “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Free from the shackles of the enemy’s lies. Free from the bondage of the enemy’s deceptions. Glorious, wonderful freedom! The truth is, God has the strength and the power to make something beautiful out of my life. I can never mess up so bad that God can’t redeem me. God is bigger than any mistake. He is bigger than any bad choice. He is big enough to form the universe, and big enough to run my life…if I let Him. So here’s another truth that I’m finding particularly helpful: Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. That’s a promise from God. He has to flee when we resist him. Not if he wants to. Not if he feels like it. Not if it’s convenient and he’s tired of tormenting us. No. It’s a promise from God. He HAS to flee when we resist him. Praise the Lord! He HAS to flee. In the name of Jesus Christ, I have been set free. I don’t have to believe the lies of the enemy any more. According to God’s promises, I can send the devil on the run. Because I’ve got salvation. And I’m trusting in the Lord.