Adversary

It is beautiful outside today, and I've had a lot of alone time. I'm very pensive this afternoon, and it's been awhile.

Today marked my second visit to a new church for me, Exodus. I like it there, so far. I like that they make an effort to facilitate community even through their services. This morning the pastor remarked that they never want Sunday to be the loneliest day of the week for anyone who comes through their doors. From what I've seen so far, they're pretty good at it.

The sermon from this morning has stuck with me all day. It was about Job chapter 1 - the conversation God has with Satan about Job and his blamelessness. Satan declares that Job's only righteous because of the riches and pleasures he has in life, and asks God for permission to test Job. The first chapter, alone, marks the fall of tremendous personal tragedy for Job, and yet he responds by worshiping God. Generally, I feel like that's where pastors have the story end.

But today the man delivering this message asked what was, for me, a really compelling question: If Satan were trying to destroy you, or prove to God that you are not worthy or blameless, how would he go about it? What weak points would he attack?

Now, in the last couple of years, conversations about any kind of invisible enemy have been few and far between for me. For whatever reason, it's easier for me to think of Satan as some sort of mythological being than it is for me to believe that I have some kind of spiritual adversary outside of myself. But as I've thought about this question today, the answers I come up with are so telling. I see places where the invisible adversary has perhaps temporarily won some battles.

I think that seeing those places is probably essential to my being able to take them back.