Satan Begins with Ambiguity

Let's pretend that you are a happy housewife.

Your husband, who is amazing, works a great job just a block away.

Because you are madly in love, you like to pop in to visit him at work.

At some point, he firmly asks you to stop popping in at work because he needs to stay focused.

You love, trust, and respect your husband, so of course you honor the boundary he is requesting.

Then one day, a complete stranger shows up and says: "the real reason your husband doesn't want you coming by his work is because he is cheating on you with another woman. I bet if you go now you could catch them."

While no real facts of the marriage have changed, that one sentence has the power to taint the past, present, and future of the relationship.

The sentence creates ambiguity where previously there was clarity.

It creates uncertainty where there was trust.

And what should the wife do?

Break the boundary by running to the office to check?

Ask her husband about it when he gets home?

Snoop around on his phone?

And what peace will she gain from any of these?

Even if she gets all the right answers and evidence from her husband, there will always be a creeping doubt that just maybe...

This is the story of the temptation and fall of Eve.

God and Eve have an amazing, close, trusting relationship with clear boundaries about what was okay and what wasn't.

Then the serpent inserts one little lie to create ambiguity: "You certainly will not die! For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil"

This lie isn't about the apple, it's about God.

The lie says "maybe God is hiding something. Maybe God has secret motives. Maybe God doesn't want what's best for you"

Satan isn't trying to win Eve's trust in himself; that wouldn't work.

The serpent is a complete stranger, whereas God is familiar and consistent.

Satan is simply trying to taint her trust in God.

His first goal is to create ambiguity.

Once Satan creates ambiguity, he can trick Eve into putting God to the test in an attempt to regain her previous certainty.

If she could just try the apple, then she would know for sure who is lying and who is telling the truth.

Instead of trusting all of her previous experiences with God, all that He has already done for her, she lets suspicion enter her heart based on the word of a complete stranger.

This same cycle happens over and over again throughout the bible.

God shows miracle after miracle in freeing His people from Egypt, but at the first sign of trouble, the Israelites doubt all of God's intentions and either run to idols or demand new signs to test God.

Or the pharisees, who have seen Jesus perform countless miracles before their eyes, continue to demand more signs to convince them.

God's works are good and clear, when we see them, we are convinced in our hearts of God's goodness and power.

But then the devil immediately jumps in with his words of ambiguity.

"Maybe you just imagined that" ​"It was just a trick" "It could have been coincidence" "It was just a big emotion and now it's gone" "Maybe God took care of that, but look at all these other things He didn't do"

Not only does the devil use ambiguity to lead us away from God, he also uses it to lead us into sin.

"It's not that bad to try it" "You need this after such a stressful day, tomorrow you can do better" "You can handle just a little bit without getting too deep" "This is hardly a sin compared to what other people do" "It's not going to hurt anybody"

God is clear.

God's laws are clear.

The actual experiences each of us have had of God are clear.

It is Satan who introduces ambiguity.

And how do we fight?

We must hold in our heart our lived knowledge of God.

When the whispers get inside our heads, we must proclaim the truth of what God has done in our lives.

We must tell the stories again and again of how God has saved us, transformed us, comforted us, surprised us, provided for us, and forgiven us.

We don't even need to acknowledge the ambiguous whispers because they are empty distractions.

Instead, we must be like Mary who "treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart" (Luke 2:19)

Let us treasure the real acts of God in our life and meditate upon them, so that when the accursed divider shows up at our door whispering his lies, we may not be fooled.

Instead we can proclaim all the louder deed after mighty deed of our Most High Lord!

Let's be Saints,

Isaac