That no advantage may be gained over us by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his devices2Cor2:11
The passage above seems highly optimistic. I have seen far too many—and I have been one myself—who not only are ignorant of the Devil's ways, but do not even comprehend that he might be using them on us. I thought we might spend some beneficial time exploring the ways Satan tries to snatch us away. How long this series will go on, I am not sure. It may even start and stop as experience shows me yet more of those sneaky devices.
One of the first places I think of to see some of those things is Proverbs 7, the warning to young men about unscrupulous women. That particular woman seems to know every way possible to tempt a young man.
Vv 9,10—She seems to know where he will be and she catches him there "in the darkness." Now he doesn't have to worry about being seen.
Vv 5,21—She flatters him. What man doesn't love to be flattered, but the younger they are, the more likely they are to believe it and not see what she is doing. V 15—He is the special one, the one she came to meet. Wow, can't you just see the pride swelling in his chest.
V 14—Don't you want to be with me? After all, I'm a good person. I have paid my vows according to the law ("I go to church"). It cannot be sin, can it, if she has a good heart?
V 18—Notice how she doesn't say, "Let's go fornicate." Instead, it's "Let's take our fill of love until morning." Calling evil good and good evil is a hallmark of the depraved sinner (Isa 5:20).
V 19,20—And now she takes away the fear: no one will catch us. My husband is gone. The word husband should have stopped him in his tracks, but by this time nothing will phase him. He is marching headlong to his destruction.
If this list won't stop him, maybe his pride will. The Proverb writer calls him simple, naïve, lacking sense, take your pick of the translations of verse 7. He is [dumb] as an ox led to the slaughter, v 22. There is nothing special about him at all; he is simply one of many "countless" young men caught in her trap, vv 23,26.
Most of these are not limited to this particular sin. We can easily fall prey to many others through the same "devices"—flattery, being special or accepted, being able to hide (we think) what we are doing. We need to study this chapter of Proverbs far more often than we do, and apply it far more often as well. I don't believe I have ever heard it preached, and that may well be why so many of us are ignorant of these few of Satan's devices.
Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the DevilEph6:11.
Dene Ward
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