He's a fabulous deceiver because he is so cunning. He takes a small piece of truth and twists it and contorts it until it is looks nothing like that initial, small morsel of truth. Satan knows that if he were to come at us with a blatant lie, we would readily recognize it and call him out on it.
For example, he can't come at us and say, "God doesn't love you." We know better than that; we have seen God's love and felt it in every fiber of our beings.
Instead he whispers: "God wants better for you". That's truth, right? We can accept that and let it enter into our minds. But it quickly twists: "I'm not doing enough...if I'm not doing enough, I'm not good enough...If i'm not good enough, God can't possibly use me...if God can't use me, He probably isn't pleased with me...if God isn't please with me, God doesn't love me."
One small truth that spirals out of control, and Satan has us believing lies. It's the same lie that he wanted us to believe, brought about in a way that makes more sense.
We are far too logical sometimes. Satan tries to get us trusting ourselves: what our eyes see, what our emotions tell us. The way he so cleverly presents information to us, it seems right. And that is why it is essential that we stay grounded in absolute truth. "Truth is never at the mercy of facts. Facts say I'm lonely or afraid. Truth says He will never leave me or forsake me" - Damon Thompson.
Thank goodness for truth! It is God's weapon that we can use against Satan's lies. I love how Priscilla Shirer defines truth as "God's opinion on any matter".
Shirer goes into fascinating detail on why Paul chose a belt as the item of armor to represent truth. Essentially, Roman soldiers would put on the belt before they put on any other piece of armor. The belt strengthened the core, and helped to alleviate the weight of some of the other pieces. It could also have the tunic tucked up into it, providing greater freedom of movement as it was needed.
"With the standard of truth in place, you can adjust everything else in your life - your ambitions, choices, and feelings; your mind, will, and emotions - until all of it is "tuned" correctly. When you have a strong, stable, well-supported core, you can't easily be led astray by the enemy's clever lies" - P. Shirer
Truth gives us stability and support when the pressures of life get strong. It becomes our core support from which everything else branches. The trick is that we have to know the truth in order to be able to recognize the lies. We have to read the Word!! When Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, Jesus did not waste time reasoning with Satan, nor did he entertain his words for a moment. He knew the truth too well, and he wielded it precisely and effectively. He said no more, no less than the words of truth (Matthew 4).
One of the craziest parts of this summer for me has been the fact that I have had to actively use the weapons that I was preparing to teach.
The week that I was preparing to teach on truth, I was faced with a litany of lies. These lies came at me regarding some of the relationships that I most treasure. Circumstances made it seem as though I was rejected, unwanted, disregarded. My circumstances conspired with my emotions and twisted me into knots. I walked around in tears for days, letting myself be called Unloved and Unwanted.
"Satan's strategy against you is clever. He plans to zero in on your deepest insecurities and desires with the intention of showing you how you can bypass God to meet every single one." - P. Shirer
Then I remembered my weapon. I called upon truth. I marinated on the Word and I allowed truth to act as my anchor; it centered me in the middle of a raging storm. Truth calmed me down and allowed me to recognize the lie. Because I was calm, I could better communicate the hurt to those relationships that mean so much to me.
Understanding rushed in. Healing began.
Truth won. I had to know it, I had to call upon it, I had to lean on it. It is sturdy enough to stand on.
Truth is stability in a world of crazy. Truth is help in a storm of pain.
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