Daily Devotion

Lurking in the Shadows

“The god of this world has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. As a result, they don't see the light of the Good News about Christ's glory. It is Christ who is God's image.” 2 Corinthians 4:4

“He sits in the lurking places of the villages; In the hiding places he kills the innocent; His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. He lurks in a hiding place as a lion in his lair; He lurks to catch the afflicted; He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net.” Psalm 10:8-9

I have had an interesting day so far. I’m not sure if you have heard and read the Shaniya Davis story—the tragic situation that happened lately with the beautiful 5yr old little girl that was being sold for sexual favors by her mother. She was raped then brutally killed. She had been living with her father and her mother supposedly had gotten her life together so he allowed her to go stay with the mom. So this morning my best friend’s brother posted a question to God of why He would allow this to happen. Because this is so ironic that I was talking about something similar last night, I could not resist.

Back when Adam bit the apple—actually the moment he decided to follow his wife, and I assume it went like this: “Honey, here have some of this apple. It’s from the forbidden tree, and I don’t feel any different. I was talking to the snake and his words made me curious…so here, you try it. Maybe God was just pulling our legs…” and the rest is history. Once that decision in Adam’s mind was made to disobey the DIRECT order HE received from God, as it is said in Genesis 3:6-7, “6When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” Immediately after Adam ate the fruit, their eyes were opened. As you’ll also notice, God had noticeably more angry towards the snake and the man, resulting in curses upon them.(Gen 3:14-19) When Adam disobeyed God, it was almost immediate that trouble started happening. After Eve gave birth to Cain and Abel, Cain kills his brother.(Gen 4:8) God at this time, still had a direct connection with them, and spoke directly to them. But as the days went by, people gave more and more power to the devil, who became lord of the earth when the apple was bitten.

What most people do not realize is that once man fell, we were reborn into sin. When God created Adam and Eve, they knew no sin. That’s why when you accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are born again. But because we are naturally predisposed to sin, we do it. It is easier to sin and follow the natural tendencies of your flesh than it is to do what is right. But back to the debate—the question was why would God allow such a thing to happen if He is God—my reply was multi-faceted of course. Satan lurks in the shadows, in the back of our minds, planting and harvesting negative and evil word seeds in the minds of all. If a person yields to their self-centered, sinful nature—perfect example, when babies are of an age to make decisions for themselves, i.e. if you tell a child not to touch something, what do they do? They go and touch it—the natural desire to be disobedient or as explained away by atheistic believers “curiosity”. Curiosity killed the cat, didn’t it? Of course, that is not looked at as sinful, but the older they get, the more they try to push the boundaries and that is why you have to discipline. But that’s for another day lol. I do not know the background of the mother, but I do know that hurting people hurt those they love. I also know that the devil will use anyone he can to get to you, including your family, friends, loved ones, co-workers, strangers, anybody.

We have to understand that God owes us no explanation for the things that happen in this world. We also have to understand that God gave us free will—hence Adam choosing to disobey God. We furthermore have to realize that those that get hurt are those often without a voice—children and others seen as weak. The devil wants to kill us all and will do it in whatever way he can. I do not condone the situation; I have just grown to realize that we can allow ourselves to be used by the devil and to fall victim to his attempts to trap us and that it is a constant battle. It’s like a lion that stalks its prey. Lions are said to pay attention to the feeding/sleeping/grazing habits of its food. Then it stalks it slowly to find the most opportune occasion to pounce and kill. Same for the devil! He waits until you get to your lowest point, when you doubt God—job loss, child loss, other family or friend loss, argument, whatever—and then he launches another attack on you. Our weaponry in this case is the Word of God.

This goes back to fortifying your mind, keeping God’s word in front of you at all times because one thought that is given attention is all it takes. One of the people that commented said that he did not believe in God. Instantly, I was moved with anger, but then I felt compassion. Because how can you not believe in God? What do you think will happen to you? Of course, I messaged him and told him I would share my story with him of how I know God exists. But all I know of the situation is that people allow Satan to pounce on them and become his puppets, like the mother in this situation and a beautiful little girl is gone. At this point we cannot bring her back, but I rejoice at knowing that God has used that opportunity to take her back to himself. Don’t be anyone’s dummy? Who is your ventriloquist? The key to being able to fight Satan is in keeping an arsenal of spiritual weaponry in your corner at all times. Find scriptures for forgiveness and bitterness.(Mark 11:25, Matthew 6:14-15) Speak healing-Jeremiah 30:17, deliverance-Jeremiah 30:11 and Jeremiah 1:8, and financial elevation (Jeremiah 30:18) scriptures over your situations. When you are weak, recite “Greater is He that is in me than he who is in the world” and “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me” out loud.(1 John 4:4, Phil 4:13) And when you feel the enemy is near, when he hovers around or over you in your home, tell him to get the heck out! As I learned last night, sweep that trashy, good for nothing idiot right on out. Anoint your house so that God only dwells there and gives you the power to rid the devil from hiding in your shadows! Seek the light. Hahaha “Come into the light, Carol Anne, come into the light.!”

“You will help them understand and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan's control to God, so that their sins will be forgiven and they will receive a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'” Acts 26:18