March 22

There may be times when you feel that God has left you to fight alone. That is when your faith must do its hardest work. Hold fast to the assurance that God is watching every move of Satan and will not let him have the final victory. He can, when God allows it, rob the Christian of much of his peace and joy, but he is always under command. When God says "Stay!" he must stand like a dog by the table while the saints feast on God's comfort. He does not dare to snatch even a tidbit, for the Master's eye is always raised above him. You lose much comfort when you forget that God's hand is always raised above Satan, and His loving eye is always on you.

Not only is Satan's power derived and limited, it is also subservient to the overruling power of God. Whatever mischief he devises is appointed by God for the ultimate service and benefit of the saints. It is as true of the devil as of the proud Assyrian, that "... he intendeth not so, neither doth his heart think so" (Isaiah 10:7), for the devil's heart is alwyas bent toward destroying all men.

But God's intention is otherwise, as many wise saint's have learned through the ages. When told what had passed at the Diet of Nuremberg against the Protestants, Luther simply said, "It was decreed one way there, but otherwise in heaven." So for the saints' comfort, the thoughts God speeds to them are of peace and preservation, whereas Satan's are of ruin and destruction. Who will doubt that God's thoughts can outrun the devil's?

Know that while Satan is persecuting, God is purging (Daniel 11:35). Most of the stains on your graces get there while you feast on peace and prosperity, and they never recover their whiteness as well as when they have come from under Satan's scouring. He sends discouragement, or grief, or despair to swallow up the saint (as the whale swallowed Jonah). But God uses the tribulation instead to sand and polish your faith, so that in the end it is finer and more precious than ever.

Return to Menu
Previous Devotions