The Devil Is In The Details

We live in a world full of trouble and problems; there are problems after problems. Pollution, natural resources running out, population growth outstripping resources worldwide, etcetera. And then there are individual problems to contend with such as pain, suffering, and death, just to name a few. Very few of us can truly say, "I don’t have any problems" Job even said it himself, "Man born of a woman but for a few days and full of trouble—He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure." These words reflect how Job felt about life in general during his extreme suffering.

Job went through two types of testing, the test of loss and destruction (Job 1: 6-12), and the test of personal suffering (Job 2: 7-10). It was just one thing after the other. Trials and tribulations are not new to any of us, the very moment you exit the comfort of your mother’s womb, and entered into this world, the doctor took you up by your ankles and slapped you on your behind; it was as if you were being welcomed into this mean ol’ world. And from that day on, people, situations; and circumstances will keep on hitting you and knocking you down.

As we journey through this life, we know that there is a constant enemy against the children of God we call ‘the devil’, and he just loves to hit us and knock us down. I don't like to spend a lot of time talking about the devil. He and I are not on speaking terms he is my mortal enemy. But Jesus spoke about him from time to time, so it's no sin for me to do it. For example, Jesus in John 8: 44 while speaking to the Pharisees (who were doing what they did best, trying to set Him up) corrected them as to who they really were. You see, the Pharisees saw themselves as perfect Jews coming straight from Abraham, and they are trying to figure out what Jesus is saying about HIS "Father". Jesus’ response to them was, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

What Jesus meant I believe is, although they walked about ceremoniously and very piously it is actually the devil that is in the details. It is their works that reveals who just who their true father is. The truth is, man’s sinful behavior and evil works that his allegiance in to the devil and not to the Father in heaven. The Pharisees thought that God was their father, but Jesus flat out tells them that SATAN is their father because they are rejecting Jesus's teachings (The Word of God), and even worse, they are looking to kill Jesus for telling them different.

Satan, he is a busy creature; we also know that he is referred to as a thief. But he is much more that just your average run of the mill thief, most thieves are satisfied with taking something that does not belong to them, but this thief wants to do more than that, he wants to kill and destroy because he utterly hates the children of God.

THE DEVIL IS A DEADLINE DEVIL

The book of Revelation tells us Satan has declared all-out war on God's saints. It also mentions that the devil has a deadline to complete his work: because he knoweth that he hath but a short time (Revelation 12:12). He operates on a deadline, he’s a ’deadline devil’ one of his favorite lies he likes to use against us is that our situation is getting worse and that God is not going to answer our prayer in time-and that we might as well take matters into our own hands or better yet just give up.

He’ll say look at these problems that you are facing, one right after the other, nothing’s going to change, every thing will remain the same-all you really have to do is look forward to, is more and more problems. Again, the devil is the "father of lies", in times of trouble, in times of pain and suffering, he comes around to make matters even worse. He tries to turn us against the only hope we have. He’ll try to get us to believe during the times of discouragement, that there is nothing left that we can do. But the God we serve is much too merciful to leave us with nothing, if we make the sad mistake of acting as if everything is gone, then we have no gratitude for the things He has already done for us, we become an ungrateful person and an ungrateful person is always an unhappy person and a very miserable person.