If you read yesterday's post about the devil's game, then at this point you might thinking that I'm being a little silly. You know what's good. You know what's good for you. And certainly, you know what goodness comes from God. No one's going to fall for this game from the devil where he just gives you good things that aren't really good. Of course, you'd know the difference between a truly good thing and a farce, right?
That's where the devil's game gets a little trickier.
He uses this false goodness to lull you into a false sense of security and then, if he thinks that perhaps you're onto his game and that it's not working as well as he wants it to, he starts to attack your faith.
You faithless, wicked person. Something good is happening in your life, and you won't even thank God for it. You won't even give Him credit for it. Heck, you're unwilling to believe it's even Him. See if God will keep doing good things for you, you faithless ingrate. Maybe you're not as much of a Christian as you thought that you were. Maybe you need to go back to Vacation Bible School and sit at the kiddie table and learn a few things.
You wicked person. If Sodom had seen the kind of goodness that you're seeing right now, even they would have turned their hearts toward God. (That's a Scripture somewhere - something like that.)
All of a sudden, you've gone from being so sure of the devil's game to being so uncertain of your own faith. And it seems like a reasonable argument. God is good, and it's time for you to double-down on good.
That's how the devil gets you. If he can't simply convince you that all good things come from God and that whatever seems good must truly be good, then he will attack your very faith until you believe that if you want to continue to be a faithful person, you have to hold onto good, even if that means letting go of hope. And then BAM - you're right where he wants you - trading in the moment that you've been waiting for, the moment that could actually bring you real goodness, out of fear that you're falling away by clinging to hope.
And then, when you forfeit your moment only to have the devil's false goodness give way and your world comes crashing down on you, now, you're mad at God, who you think has failed you. You questioned whether you had enough faith, and now, you're questioning whether you should still have faith at all, whether God is worth loving or even believing in.
Do you see how devious this is? Not only do you lose out on your hope and forfeit your chance for real goodness, but you've attacked your own faith from two sides.
And all he had to do was give you a couple of good days.
Still don't think the devil will give you good things sometimes?
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