Our enemy is Satan and he “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”1 Paul refers to him as “the god of this world,”2 who “disguises himself as an angel of light,”3 and is the “prince of the power of the air.”4 He works as a false teacher and spreads—not just lies—but false truths, truths bound up in lies.
Here’s a great example of false truth. When Satan showed up (as a serpent) in the Garden of Eden, he confused Eve by asking this question: “Did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?”5 His lie—that God said she could not eat from any tree in the garden—was hidden in the truth—that she should not eat from one tree in the garden. Thinking Satan was confused (he was not), Eve explained that if she ate of the one tree she would die. But then Satan told Eve that she was confused (she was not) and that she would not die at all if she ate the fruit. The lie—that she could be like God (having her eyes opened to seeing good and evil)—was wrapped up in the truth that God knew good from evil. The ironic twist to the whole thing was that after she ate the fruit her eyes were opened and she did know good from evil. So . . . what was so bad about that? To borrow an iconic line from the classic movie A Few Good Men, Eve couldn’t handle the truth! And she disobeyed God. Satan confused Eve with his false truths. Satan is truly “the father of lies”6 and our greatest enemy.
Though we know in our hearts that God knows best, Satan will confuse us with trickery and flattery. His ways will often make sense to us. It will be the more practical thing to do, the more expedient thing to do, and even seem to be the godly thing to do. How are we to know if something is of God or Satan? Pray. Follow God’s ways. Listen for God’s voice. And finally, trust (do not question, like Eve) that what God says is truth. It’s that simple.
But it is never simple. Why? Because Satan “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”1 Satan’s ultimate goal is to tear down God’s kingdom and he does it one follower at a time. Jesus called Satan a “thief” because he “comes only to steal and kill and destroy.”7 The great theologian John Calvin said this: We have been forewarned that an enemy relentlessly threatens us, an enemy who is the very embodiment of rash boldness, of military prowess, of crafty wiles, of untiring zeal and haste, of every conceivable weapon of skill in the science of warfare. We must, then, bend our every effort to this goal: that we should not let ourselves be overwhelmed by carelessness or faintheartedness, but on the contrary, with courage rekindled stand our ground in combat.*
I really like Calvin’s advice—that we should not be overwhelmed with the thought of Satan’s attacks but neither should we be careless about the fact of them. Lastly, he reminds us to not be fainthearted about facing Satan, standing our ground with him. For we have access to the weapons to fight him off. Paul encourages us that “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”8 He has been defeated. His time is short; his powers are limited. In the meantime, we have been given “a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”9 We need not run from Satan. Instead, we must stand and face him, calling on God’s protection. Here are our instructions: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.”10
God’s promise to always be with us, right beside us, is all the confidence we need to win our daily battles.
11 Peter 5:8 22 Corinthians 4:4 32 Corinthians 11:13 4Ephesians 2:2 5Genesis 3:1 6John 8:44 7John 10:10 8Romans 16:20 92 Timothy 1:7 10James 4:7-8 *John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.15.13. (Philadelphia: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011 edition), pp. 172-173.