Yesterday was my worst day so far. I have been VERY intentional about planning my day so that I don’t have time to “what if” and make something to look forward to. Yesterday, my big moment of the day was sidelined by technology. I fell quickly into the abyss of hopelessness. I wrote all of these pieces over the last month, each morning, I edit and revise to post. It’s only fitting that this was today’s post. We are living in dark days. It’s easy and common to feel that God is silent. I’m not going to debate the causes of this virus. I don’t believe God sent it as punishment. He may have removed his hand to show us what a world without him looks like. Max Lucado once said, “we should not wonder at the evil of the world, we should wonder that it’s not worse.” A fallen world produces a lot of trouble.
I have been concerned that the Church is not taking Satan seriously for a while now. In many ways, I felt that we were ignoring his prowess. Jesus was clear in his warnings about the purpose of Satan. In John 10:10, right after giving the disciples a salvation message, he told them in plain Hebrew, “the thief comes ony to kill, steal and destroy”. It’s his only objective. His only plan for us.
Satan doesn’t just come to “kill’ the body, he kills relationships. He doesn’t just ‘steal’ our hearts, he steals peace, common sense. He destroys families, churches, people. Years ago Pastor Jim Holder preached a series of messages called “Satan’s Devices”. The how of Satan’s objective. Fear. One of Satan’s biggest weapons is Fear.
And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.