“Satan can fix your poor problem if you think you need money.
He can fix your education problem if you think you need letters behind your name.
…if he thinks it can take you away from God.”
I may not be quoting Stuart exactly (accept my apologies), but this is what I wrote down from his passionate lesson on the book of Revelation to the high school class on Wednesday night.
Whatever it is you think you have to have, Satan wants to use it. To pull you away from God.
If you think you need money to be happy, he’ll set you up with an opportunity to get it. Need an ego boost? He can get that for you. Need more friends? He’s got quite a few to share with you.
He wants to draw you closer to your idols. To indulge your wishes. It’s his job. To do whatever it takes to get you to pursue you, not God.
But, as Stuart pointed out, one problem Satan can do nothing about is your death problem.
Only God can. And once you let God fix your death problem, you’ll discover he’s also the only one solving your life problems. God is the only one who can give you anything that leads to lasting happiness. All Satan’s fixes are temporary, shallow lies.
God is the one with the real goods.
So what is it you think you need today? Less hassles on the job or at school? A quieter child? Compliance from your spouse? Nothing wrong with those things, but just don’t decide you need them.
What you need is the Lord.
Get him, and he’ll take care of everything else.
And my God will supply every need of yours
according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:19
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Did you read or hear a good quote last week?
We’re linking up at Barbara’s.
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6 comments:
Good thoughts, Lisa. We're so prone to Satan's counterfeits instead of recognizing them for what they are. But not only can they never satisfy, they can do much harm. Only He can give what we truly need.
Oh-I needed that this morning. I've discovered that I jump way too easily from idol to idol. I desperately WANT something--and say that I NEED it to be happy. When that door closes I move on to the next thing. I run from one thing to another. But I'm reminded of (is it Hosea?) where God tells Israel that He's hedging her in, keeping her from running to her idols, until at last she sees that HE is the one who provides every good thing. That HE is the source of her being. Oh that I would run first to Christ, instead of letting "getting that guy", "getting that job", "getting that house" be my heart's pursuit
Barbara,
Funny you mention “Satan’s counterfeits” because another part of Stuart’s lesson made me think of the donkey in C. S. Lewis’s “The Last Battle” (my favorite book in the Narnia series). If you haven’t read it, the bad guys dress up a donkey to look like Aslan. Satan is all about that, huh? Dressing up his lies to look so tempting.
And you’re right – not only do the substitutes not satisfy, but they actually harm. Oh, that I could learn this lesson an easy way instead of too often the hard way!
Rebekah,
Sometimes it’s hard for me to identify my idols because they’re so intangible – I want (and thus think I *need*) more down time, more solitude, less activity, less pain, etc. But what I’ve discovered is that if I’m not getting the things I think I need, I must not really need them after all. Otherwise, God would provide. (Takes me awhile to realize that each time!)
And if I get those things, but don’t use them for God’s glory, he can take them back, another part of the story in Hosea, and from your post this morning – because he has the RIGHT to:
Hos 2:8 And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
Hos 2:9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness.
Some of my favorite verses from Hosea:
Hos 14:8 O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.
Hos 14:9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the LORD are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.
Speaking of Hosea, have you read “Redeeming Love” by Francine Rivers? It really brought Hosea to life for me, although at times in a terrifying way. ha. It made me even more grateful that God has NOT called me to do some of the things he called Hosea to do. Yet with the calling, he provides the grace to do it. Because like you said, he is the one who provides every good thing...
I like this a lot! ...one problem Satan can do nothing about is your death problem.
Only God can. And once you let God fix your death problem, you’ll discover he’s also the only one solving your life problems. Well said!
Blessings, and Happy Monday!
e-Mom
Yes, it’s nice to know He’s got all the bases covered, both now and later!
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