Who is the least creative, least remarkable, least inventive person you can think of…I’ll save you some time. Satan. Satan is.
Solomon wrote “there is nothing new under the sun” in response to his ponderings about the repetitive and seeming meaninglessness of life – because aside from God’s creative power and inspiration, it’s always going to be business as usual and any of our efforts will eventually cycle into routine and meaningless pursuits outside of the newness and redemption that God brings.
God on the other hand – infinitely creative, original, awesome so much so that not only does God create the fascinating diversity of nature like this…
He is intimately involved in our lives allowing for our personalities, blessing us with intelligence and creativity and giving us a never-ending supply of love attentive to our needs in the most effective ways possible.
His ways are not our ways – they are higher and more profound
His mercies are new every morning – they don’t wear out and repeat boringly
He supplies out of the abundance of his riches – which never end
Above all we could ask or imagine, God is making a way, providing, supplying, preparing, creating…
Are you with me?
Ok.
To the extent that God almighty, the creator of the universe is ingenious in new ways to love and draw us together Satan is cliché in his unoriginal tactics…and yet, over and again, we fall for them.
Like that fun uncle who gets you with his, “Hey, what’s that on your shirt…” (boops your chin) Maybe you had an uncle like this…maybe you are that uncle who says,
“Is that a giraffe…steals your fry.” or “Shirt’s on fire…now it’s out!”
Ha. Ha. Ha.
Only Satan isn’t fun and his schemes aren’t just a silly distraction. If we can be aware of Satan’s schemes we’re less likely to fall. If we are mindful that we have an enemy who is like a roaring lion and is set against us so hard that we need to be armed as if we were going into battle – then we can see defeat and distraction and difficulty for what it often times is – a scheme of Satan.
Nehemiah – the prophet God called to rebuild Jerusalem’s wall – faced challenges the moment he set his heart to obey God’s command. He faced difficulty before he even got to the city.
Then, after he reached Jerusalem, enemies rose up to oppose everything he did. Which might feel surprising…I mean after all, wasn’t Nehemiah on a very clear mission inspired and blessed by God? And yet Nehemiah and the entire project – a noble, god-honoring project was tripped up repeatedly.
Like Nehemiah, we are confronted by the enemy of justice and peace when God’s plan is for love, community – and lasting peace. But Satan comes with the same old tactics…
Peter said he’s like, “like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,” (1 Peter 5:8b RSV).
Hard to miss. It’s rooted in fear. And it’s effective.
God calls us to “be alert and of sober mind,” watching out for the schemes of the devil who “prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The devil wants to devour our lives, keeping us from the BLESSING OF DELIGHTING IN HIM.
First of all, Satan wants you fearful.
Fear is not the absence of faith, it is the misplacement of it. The devil doesn’t want to rob us of our faith, he wants our faith to be in anything but God. Life in Christ is life not in fear!
Nehemiah didn’t live in fear of man – instead he lived in the fear of God. Three times in this book, Nehemiah mentions his fear of God and twice in chapter 5. His fear was a healthy awe and reverence for the Almighty God. Every opposition that came up against Nehemiah he faced in the fear and conviction of who God was. Four times Nehemiah writes that his enemies tried to make him afraid – all of those in chapter 6…But Nehemiah feared God – My grandmother would have said that Nehemiah “kept his nose clean” in other words he lived right by God. He could have taken from the people and lived at an advantage, instead, he did exactly what the author of Hebrews warned all of us:
HEBREWS 13:5-6 5Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
His focus off his oppressors, it released his mind and heart to let God take care of them. And God did.
Secondly, Satan wants you fazed – distracted, off mission. When the people were being oppressed that was a serious social justice challenge facing Nehemiah – but he wasn’t fazed, distracted or put off mission – he could have paused everything to really focus on that, rally around the poor and oppressed, champion their cause, fight for their rights…all good. All compassionate agendas…but not on mission. His mission was God’s mission. When he became aware of the unfair treatment he made it right by pointing the people to the #1 – fear God. The rationale, motivation, and mission of Nehemiah’s life and actions were all rooted in a love and passion for God because he revered God. That steadfast determination kept him on mission.
Does God want us to tend to the needs of the oppressesed – of course. But our mission is to love God – heart, soul, mind, strength and from THAT will flow the response he wants –
To do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God and to live our faith as a true religion that “looks after orphans and widows in their distress.”
Third, Satan wants you to fall away – or to be led astray
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matthew 7:15).
When we rely on the words of men or ourselves in place of God’s Word, we can lead others away from Jesus and be led away from His truth ourselves. Nehemiah’s fear of God was the beginning of his wisdom. This gave him incredible discernment and he was able to easily see through the schemes aimed at him and the false prophets paid to lead him into sin.
Finally, Satan wants you to fail – to lose strength and heart and ultimately to have our faith and reputation destroyed.
Nehemiah knew they wanted to frighten him and all those who feared God. He could have dropped his hands and become weary after all the attacks and schemes from outside and the discouragement and exhaustion from within… but he prayed for God to strengthen his hands.
Satan wants us to settle for what the world has given us and accept our lots. 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 says,
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”
When you feel like you’re going to lose, take heart, Jesus already won for you!
Listen to the rest of this message here…
Subscribe to the Dwelling Richly podcast and get weekly messages of hope and encouragement from God’s Word. www.jennifergrichmond.com This message was given on March 8, 2020, at La Mirada Church where Jennifer is one of the teaching pastors directing ministries to women and children. For more information about our church, check out www.LaMiradaChurch.com or www.Facebook.com/LaMiradaChurch
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