Halloween: Resisting Satan, Part 2
Note: I’ve developed this two-part mini-series from Chapter 7 of my book, Soul Physicians. Read Part 1 to learn how to defeat Satan’s seducing strategy number one—Enticing Us to Distrust God’s Good Heart.
Seducing Strategy Number Two: Enticing Us to Trust Our Own Heart
Doubting God inevitably leads to trusting self. Imagine what might have happened had Adam and Eve cried to God between Genesis 3:6 and 3:7. In Genesis 3:6 they eat the forbidden fruit and their fall is complete. In Genesis 3:7 they realize their nakedness and cover their shame on their own. I imagine a God-dependent response looking something like this.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized that they were naked. Standing exposed as failed and flawed male and female, naked before him with whom they have to deal.
Then the naked man and the naked woman heard the song of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, as he always had for fellowship. And they stayed.
Adam cried out to God, “I am unworthy to be called your son, for I have sinned against you in my self-sufficiency. I have failed to be the courageous man you designed and called me to be. I have been a coward rather than a protector. Make me like one of your animals, for I am soul-less.”
Eve cried out to God, “I am unworthy to be called your daughter, for I have sinned against you in my self-sufficiency. I have failed to be the completing woman you designed and called me to be. I have poisoned rather than nourished. Make me like one of your animals, for I am soul-less.”
Instead, the LORD God slew the precious animals he had handcrafted. He shed blood. Carefully, tenderly, with tears streaming down his face, he hand-crafted robes of righteousness for his son and daughter.
Then he ran to them, threw his arms around them, and kissed them repeatedly. Father said to his angelic servants, “Quick, bring the best robes that I have hand-crafted and put them on my son and my daughter. Put wedding rings on their fingers and sandals of peace on their feet. Bring the fatted calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine and this daughter of mine were dead and they are alive again.” So they began to celebrate!
Grace means never having to cover my sin. But Adam and Eve, having doubted God’s goodness, do not focus on his grace. Instead of depending upon God, they depend upon self. Being naked and afraid, they hide. They turn their backs on and run from God. They work, sewing fig leaves together to make coverings for themselves. They attempt to make themselves acceptable by trying to beautify their ugliness.
In the flesh we use every strategy at our disposal, every scheme we can imagine, to not need God’s grace. What fig leaves do we sew to cover our shame? What view of God does such shame and hiding suggest?
Trick, No Treat
Satan conspires to trick us into viewing God as Javert. In Victor Hugo’s classic work Les Miserables, Jean Val Jean is imprisoned for sixteen years for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s starving family. Javert is his self-righteous, legalistic prison guard. Upon his release, Jean Val Jean is unable to find work. Destitute, he spends a night in the tiny home of a Catholic Bishop who treats him with respect and provides him with a meal. During the night, Val Jean steals the Bishop’s silver candlesticks.
The next day the French police drag Val Jean back to the Bishop’s home. “We found this thief with your possessions!”
“Jean Val Jean, you left without taking the other gifts I had offered you,” the Bishop replies as he hands Jean additional valuables. Val Jean is shocked, and changed—changed by grace. He begins to live a life of grace, caring for others. Eventually he becomes the owner of a factory and then the mayor of a French town.
But Javert hunts him down. At every turn he reminds him of his past. At one point he shouts repeatedly, “24601!” the prison uniform number Jean Val Jean had worn for over a decade-and-a-half. Val Jean is less than human. A number only. Javert exposes Jean Val Jean’s past to the townspeople and attempts to arrest him for parole violation. Shamed, Jean Val Jean runs. Taking matters into his own hands, he does not trust Javert, nor should he.
Satan desires us to imagine God as the spitting image of Javert. If Satan is successful, then, of course, we will run. We will take matters into our own hands. Whenever we mistrust God’s good heart, we always trust our own fallen hearts.
Join the Conversation
Now that you know Satan’s two primary seducing strategies, how can you connect to Christ’s resurrection power to defeat each of these temptations?
