Combating Satan's Assault During Times of Grief

2Corinthians 2:11 in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes (NIV)

Sometimes as Christians it is easier to think of things in worldly terms than deal with the cold hard reality of the spiritual war we face every day. But we do so at our own peril. The truth that we must know and be wary of every day is that there is an enemy to our soul. His name is Satan and God Himself has warned us through His Word that he roams to and fro seeking whom he might devour, as a roaring lion might. One of the things a lion does best when attacking a herd of animals is picking out the weakest. Similarly, Satan will pick out the weaker of us to attack and then attack the individual weaknesses we all have. It is no wonder then that Satan will choose times of great grief and turmoil in our lives to step up his attack.

While we often can see the hand of the enemy in the event that has caused our grief, we fail to recognize that the assault may not be over. But the devil will use that grief to further do damage to others if we are not wary of his schemes. Our key verse clearly lets us know that the way to ensure that Satan does not win is to be aware of the schemes he will use. The first strategy the devil uses is divide and conquer. The devil wants us alone beloved because it is far easier to attack us that way. The bible teaches us:

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12 (NLT)

Times of great grief or struggle often prompt us to want to withdraw. We can feel cut off from others who may not understand our level of pain. Most will move on quicker with their lives than we might, causing some resentment. We also may begin to feel burdensome to people who often would prefer to hear that we are "blessed and highly favored", rather than we are struggling and in pain. The truth is that we can be blessed and highly favored and still be in pain. But we live in such a "me-centric" society that people would prefer to get back to worrying about their own lives. We can sense that in our grief and start to draw back, so as to not be that burden to our friends or family.

We must resist the urge to withdraw and be alone in our suffering. That is the battleground Satan desires. The verses from Ecclesiastes show us that success is enhanced with two. If we fall alone we can find ourselves in real trouble. Think about that for a moment. Grief can easily turn into depression if left unchecked. We can easily "fall" into those lies of the enemy. If we do fall into them and we are alone, who will be there to pick us up? That is the point God is making. During times of great coldness in our lives, we need someone else to warm us up. Sometimes we can grow spiritually cold when we grieve and we need someone to warm us spiritually. To remind us what God has said. A person standing alone can be easily attacked but if I am standing with my brother or sister, than Satan has to defeat me as well. We must resist the urge to withdraw in our pain. We were meant to be there for each other.

Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6: 2 (NIV)

The second scheme of the enemy in dark times is to get us to either forget the promises of God or to doubt them. Remember, the Bible contains enormous power:

For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Hebrews 4: 12 (NLT)

But what brings the Bible to life and imbues it with this power? Your faith. If you do not believe that Bible then it does just become a collection of nice stories. And what does God assure us when we are in pain?

He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds Psalm 147: 3 (NLT)

I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3: 19-23 (NIV)

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41: 10 (NIV)

Time does not heal all wounds, God does! There are countless more promises of God in His Word that have divine power to lift us up in our grief, sustain us through our suffering, and bring us out of the valley of the shadow of death better and stronger for having gone through it. Here is one of the greatest promises God has made to us:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8: 28 (NIV)

Beloved if there is one verse we must cling to in times of great sorrow, this is the one. No matter how great the loss we have suffered God is still working in the middle of it for our good. He can take the deepest pain and suffering we have in our lives and turn it around for His glory and our good, if we would just hold fast to our faith and what we believe. Throughout the Gospels we see account after account of Jesus healing people and it was always done according to their faith. Realize that when we are in deep pain and grief it is healing we need! We need healing in our soul. That healing is always available according to the faith that we have.

This is why the second attack from the enemy is going to be to try and shake our faith or to get us unfocused. We can start to question God and wonder why things that seem unfair to our temporal minds happen. I do not have a magical answer why bad things happen to good people. I wish I did. Why really good hearted, selfless people are left to a life of misery or abuse. Why the lives of loving caring people are cut tragically short. These are the things Satan uses to erode our faith and get our focus off of God. It is another battlefield he prefers to be fighting on. But God has given us the strategy to defeat him:

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2Corinthians 10: 3-5 (NIV)

A pretension is a lie. Remember, the devil can only give you something to consider. As far back as his conversation with Eve in the garden, all he can do is offer you something to consider. That argument or pretension is always in contradiction to the promises of God. Sure there may be some truth mixed in to confuse you, but the bulk of the argument is simply against God. It is always our choice whom to believe. Thoughts that are disobedient to Christ are where we start to get into trouble. It is where the enemy starts to win the battle. If in our grief we start to question the fairness of God or the goodness of God that is where we start to get into trouble. Because it is thoughts like those that make us stop our ministries, shake our walk, and destroy our faith. Do you think that someone who falls away from the faith fell overnight? It is usually a progression of disobedient thoughts, born out of some traumatic event. Grief can cloud the mind. The clouded mind allows thoughts to be considered that need to be made obedient. Those thoughts can develop into a stronghold and from there the devil just keeps winning ground until you go back to where the problem started and correct the thoughts. So secondly, when facing grief we must remember to keep our focus on God and trust in His promises, not our emotions.

Lastly, the third scheme that Satan uses during our periods of grief is to foster regret, guilt or anger in our lives. He knows that regret left unchecked ferments into condemnation. Yet the Bible teaches us very clearly:

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. Romans 8: 1 (NLT)

Satan knows that as long as we are living under condemnation, we are living in our past. As long as we are living in our past, we become ineffective for Christ in the present and cannot even begin to fathom the rich future God has laid out before us. We can all probably think of someone who is free in Christ, except for that thing that happened to them when they were 15. But now they are 40. That is how dangerous regret can be. How much time and life it can suck out of us. That is not God's will for our lives. Jesus Christ went to the cross to forgive our past, protect our present, and provide our future.

But periods of grief often cloud our thinking. We can start to play the blame game or the "what if" game. You cannot make sense from the senseless beloved. As difficult as it may be we have to grasp the truth that is so simple there is nothing you can do about something that has already happened, except learn from it.

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43: 18-19 (NIV)

Even in the desert that is our suffering, God is making a way. Even in the wasteland that is our grief, God is providing a stream. God is always doing a new thing in us beloved if we would just see it. But it lies ahead of us, not behind us. It lies in our future, not our past. Do you not perceive it? The enemy would love nothing more than to use your grief which is appropriate and steal, kill and destroy some more. He doesn't want you looking forward, he wants you looking back. Back to what could have been. Back to what you could have done better. The truth is we always could have done better in this life. But that does not erase everything that we did right. Don't let Satan use your proper regret against you and have it fester into improper condemnation. One is a feeling and the other is a condition. One is a moment in your soul and the other is a disease of your spirit.

As is anger. Anger is a poison in our veins. It is all consuming and parasitic in nature. It feeds off of itself. Whatever has caused our grief, we must be careful to not let anger dig itself into our being; as the Bible warns us:

"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Ephesians 4: 26-27 (NIV)

Anger gives the devil a foothold in our thinking and in our lives. So does condemnation. That is the beginning of the end game for the enemy. His goal is to make us ineffective for the kingdom of God. The more ineffective we are, the less people hear the Gospel or see it lived out in our lives. That means less people are saved. He picks on the weaker members of the herd. He picks on our individual weaknesses and when we are going through difficult times. He sees our grief as an opportunity to inflict more damage because we are vulnerable. But God has not left us unprepared beloved. Our defense starts with knowing our enemy and knowing his pitiful schemes. In our grief he will try to convince us that we need to be alone, so his attack is easier. He will try to make us either question God or take our eyes off of His promises so that our faith will falter. He will try to prey upon legitimate feelings of regret and turn them into a permanent spiritual condition of condemnation so that we are forever living in a past we can no longer change. No matter what you face today or in the future, remember the schemes. Look for them in your pain so that you can combat them. Grieving and times of great trial are natural processes that unfortunately, we all must go through in our lives. But sadness in our soul does not have to become a disease in our spirit. Get behind me Satan!

Reverend Anthony Wade December 20, 2011