Unveiling the Disguise

The Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. _{2 Thessalonians 3:3}

Do you always recognise the attack of the enemy? He can be more subtle that you might think, slowly chipping away at your armour, almost unseen. Something happens and although you feel slightly irritated by it, you brush it off. A while later it happens again and it starts to annoy you, niggling at the corners of your mind. Maybe now you pray about it, shake it off and move on. You think you are done with it, but lo and behold it raises its head again and now you are starting to get stressed. The irritation is back and it’s affecting your mood, which you carry into other situations. One small thing has now snowballed and by the time you recognise the face of the enemy, the avalanche is in full flow.

God sees Satan for what he really is – evil. He also sees us for what we are – vulnerable. This is why the Lord Jesus taught us to pray, ‘lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’ Temptation is not just about being lured into bad or harmful situations, it also involves being tempted to deal with any given situation on our own. This is what the enemy wants, for he knows we are not equipped to deal with him successfully when we go it alone.

This is the danger of an enemy with many faces. If something works, he’ll try it again, if not he will simply change tactics and use a different disguise. The stronger you appear, the harder he will try. His mission? To steal your joy and your peace; to drain your life of hope and kill your faith. Maybe that sounds extreme to you, but why would the Lord need to guard you unless it was something that could cause you extreme harm? Jesus knew this all too well, which is why he prayed to the Father, saying, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one” (John17:15).

The Father is faithful to the Son, and the Lord is faithful to his own. Being established in God and in his word counters our weakness with his strength. His faithfulness is our safeguard which is always firmly in place, but our armour is only effective when we are faithful to Him.