Since Satan cannot easily tempt strong Christians with obvious and extreme sins, he may sneak in with subtle attacks. In the book of Job, Satan had to ask to hurt Job, and only when God gave Satan permission, could he harm Job’s physical body. Since Satan cannot cause us physical harm without God’s permission, sometimes the devil moves quietly to influence our minds and feelings to discourage us and damage our effectiveness for the Lord. Let’s look at these quiet tricks Satan uses to trick us into believing his lies.
One day last week, I awoke with a heavy feeling. I kept trying to ignore it and go about my responsibilities. I even wondered if it might be physical tiredness or maybe sadness about some small matter. But I felt a bit grumpy, and I could not praise the Lord in my heart, even when I had some Christian radio going on in the background. I thought I just needed to be honest with myself and accept my feelings, so that I could grieve over anything bothering me, and then release it to the Lord (Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is near the broken hearted. He saves the contrite in spirit.”) The problem was that I could not think of anything that had truly saddened me. So I ignored the heavy, negative feeling, and it lingered.
As my morning was going on, I was not as focused in praying, or reading my Bible. I also did not have as clear thinking as normal. I felt irritated when I tried to focus. Again I thought there must be a physical reason. But I had been getting decent sleep, and I did not have any essential, pressing project that might have exhausted me.
Finally I thought, “Could this be an attack?” That almost seemed silly to ask, since I had not yelled at my sweet daughters, nor had I argued with my husband. But I realized I also had not felt the joy of the Lord, nor grieved over any true concern. There was nothing for me to grieve, and I do believe in grieving when something concerns me. There was no reason for me to feel this way, and so I followed the Scriptures (Jude:9 and Zech. 3:2a, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan.”) and that is just what I prayed. I prayed against any demonic influences on my feelings and mind. And my mind and mood cleared! I felt the joy of the Lord, and my focus returned, rapidly.
The irritability and lack of focus had been demonic. But it had been so subtle. I mistook it for physical irritability, which I genuinely do get sometimes if I am exhausted or my thyroid medicine is not well adjusted (rare.) I initially also thought there must be something that had hurt me, and I needed to grieve and bring to the Lord. But there had been no hurt, no such need. So I had, initially, continued in my morning activities, being deceived, because this attack was so subtle.
Satan has often tricked me by getting me angry when someone has insulted me, so I responded rudely back. Or I have suffered an injustice, but I over-reacted in my heart. Satan has used many blatant tricks, yet I was weak and fell for them. But this may have been the first time when I realized that Satan might try to use such a seemingly small trick to get my focus off the Lord.
As such, I want to warn my readers, that not all irritability, not all lack of focus is physical or from a genuine sorrow. True sorrow brings us to the Lord, where we can tell him how hurt we feel. Then he can comfort us and help us to heal and to forgive anyone who harmed us. But in this subtle way, Satan did not fully upset me. I did not yell at my daughters (a sin I have to guard against, since my daughters have been known to rile me) nor did I argue with my husband (another trick Satan likes to use.) Satan was so subtle, and my loss (of focus, and ability to fully praise the Lord) was not as great as it is when I fall for the bigger tricks of sin.
I was weaker in my ability to interact with the Lord and with my family. I was less attentive, less loving, although not cruel, and not selfish. I was just less emotionally and spiritually available. But this loss was so subtle, I did not recognize it, which is like gradual heart disease. For example, a doctor once tested a patient, and the man had an abnormally low heart beat. His heart beat had been gradually dropping over the years, until it was much too low (like 20 and 30 beats per minute.) The man felt so much better once he received a pace maker to get his heart at the right pace. He had thought the fatigue he felt was just part of growing older, so he had never complained to his doctor and even said he was fine. This was because he did not have the extreme pain a man suffering a heart attacks feels.
How often does Satan do this to our hearts and minds? If Satan does not attack us viciously (the way a heart attack feels vicious and painful) we might not realize we are being attacked. The damage may not be as bad as it would be if Satan viciously attacked us, and then we struck out at those we love. But with the subtle attack, if we allow it to go on for days or weeks, it can still harm us and those we love, because we will be less loving, less attentive, and distance can grow between us and our loved ones and also with God.
We are on high alert for obvious and extreme attacks from Satan, but let us also be aware of subtle attacks like the one Satan used on me last week. Be encouraged, because we can learn to recognize even the subtle attacks so Satan cannot get away with ruining our entire day, week, month or even year. Like me, God may help you to recognize the attack in the same morning you begin to feel it.
I pray I have encouraged you to know the Holy Spirit can help you recognize even subtle attacks, so you can guard your precious walk of faith. God loves you dearly, and he does not want you to remain under any spiritual condemnation. You can fight back, and I pray you do. Please share with me any of the ways in which Satan has also tricked you. We can encourage each other by sharing so we are alert and forewarned. Have a blessed week, and thanks for joining us!