It may be obvious if you are a regular follower of Simply J.O.Y. that the last weeks have had too many moments that have been, let’s say, emotional. Or challenging. Or testing. Or just not a lot of fun. I truly believe that I am in a season of growth and learning and that the enemy is desperately trying to derail whatever God has planned.
The enemy wants me to give up. He wants to silence me. Silence my faith. Silence my confidence in my Creator. Silence my hope. Satan is a master manipulator. His tactics are rarely in your face, rather they are sneaky, understated, subtle.
The serpent didn’t pick an apple and say to Eve, “Here! Eat this. It’s delicious and good for you! God said it’s ok.” Instead, he carefully planted seeds of doubt. At first, he didn’t question God’s word or deny God had spoken. Instead, he made Eve doubt what she heard God say: “Did God really say, ‘you must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” (Gen 3:2).
When Eve responded “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” (Gen 3:3) So, Eve wasn’t going to cave that easy it appears.
So satan escalated his tactics. In verse 4, he denied God’s word. “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” And just like that, with two small steps – from doubt to denial – satan lured Eve away from God’s plan.
It didn’t take much to go from questioning God’s word to denying God’s word. Satan, in his native tongue of deception, declared, “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Satan weaponized his own sin – attempting to take God’s place – to lead Eve astray. And he uses this same tactic with us. If we think we can be like God and control our circumstances, it is a short step to not needing God at all.
I can relate to Eve. I want to follow the Word of the Lord. I want to be an obedient servant. I don’t want to question when things don’t go the way I want, or my prayers aren’t answered quickly. I don’t want to be frustrated or disappointed when the answers aren’t coming. I don’t want to react with doubt. Yet I do. Repeatedly.
Sunday morning, we were not able to make it to church in person. I had a restless night and was up early feeling down and deserted. I gathered my devotionals and took my sad, hopeless self out to the deck where I start most mornings. I found myself in tears demanding answers from God; reprimanding Him for not showing up as I expected or hoped. My doubt in His faithfulness poured out; gasoline setting fire to the enemy’s plan.
I reached out to a faithful prayer partner, my cousin. Texting, she encouraged me and reminded me of answered prayers. In between the back and forth, I wrote in my prayer journal these words, “Help me see all the work You’ve done this summer in our lives. Let me remember that your process is not my process. Show me the things that You’ve accomplished will set a solid foundation for the answers we seek. Let me see the truth of your faithfulness.”
My cousin’s next text included these words: “remember the word process.” She had no idea what I had just written in my journal. But God did. And He used her to add an exclamation point.
Later, when I began reading my Bible, I picked up where I had left off in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 12. The chapter heading? “A Call to Endurance.”
And as I watched our church service online, the message was about suffering and how we choose to walk through difficult times. In 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 we are reminded: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
When we look at our circumstances through our human eyes, we see challenges. Unfairness. Delays. We feel frustration, anger, abandonment. Our human eyes will always fail us. For it is only when we use our spiritual eyes that can we step back and see God’s handiwork. It may not look as we expected or hoped, but it is there. He is expertly weaving a tapestry that will leave us breathless upon completion unless we continue to unravel it with stitches of impatience and doubt.
The right set of eyes makes all the difference. Sunday morning, my God let me see through His eyes that my circumstances are temporary. They will be used for His glory and my growth. They will increase my obedience and draw me closer to Him. They will fit perfectly into a plan that is far beyond what I can comprehend.
Yes, I can relate to Eve. But here’s where she and I part ways. I will choose the truth of my God rather than the lies of the enemy. And I will fight the enemy with the Word of God and the promise of His love. And when I come through this season, as I know I will, I will have the privilege to glorify God for all He has shown me. And maybe I’ll finally learn to look for the garden in the wilderness.