I was having a conversation with a friend recently when I suddenly had a light-bulb moment. It was as though I put two and two together and finally came up with the right answer when I realized that Satan should be known as The Great Pretender because he only pretends to be everything he claims to be. Jesus told us that he “is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44) and by golly, he is a good liar. 

First, I thought about the fact that we are told this from 1 Peter 5 “…that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour” (1 Peter 5:8b AMP). Did you catch it? He is “like a lion” he isn’t a lion but pretends to be one. The definition of the word “like” is “having the same or similar qualities.”  He is prowling, which is, “to move through a place or area especially while searching for something often in a quiet or secret way.  Before a lion attacks its prey, it quietly sneaks in, gets very close and then at the proper time, attacks. In a similar way, Satan is often quiet and secretive. He moves in and gets close, quite comfortable in fact, and then goes in for the kill. He is watching you, looking for your insecurities and weaknesses and he will use them against you when the time is right. The difference between a lion and Satan is this: a hungry lion is a hungry lion, while Satan just pretends to be one.

Next I thought about this verse, “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light”(2 Corinthians 11:14 NIV).   He masquerades as an angel of light. Masquerades: a way of appearing or behaving that is not true or real.  Anyone who behaves in a manner that is not true to who they really are is a fake; they are only pretenders. When Paul wrote 2 Corinthians 11, he was warning the church about False Apostles.” We are warned to, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves”(Matthew 7:15 NKJV). We are also told “false prophets and false christs will arise and show signs and wonders to deceive many”(Mark 13:22). Peter wrote about false prophets and false teachers in 2 Peter 2 and John advised that we should “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). The Psalmist wrote “Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way” (119:104).  Don’t be swayed by a false teacher; ask God for wisdom and discernment in recognizing someone Satan has sent to appear real, yet is not. Have you been a victim of someone who masquerades?

Then I saw this, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made” (Genesis 3:1 NIV). Crafty is defined this way: clever in usually a deceptive or dishonest way  Satan is crafty, or cunning, deceitful, deceptive, a fraud, sneaky, and very clever at attaining his goals by deceptive means. This is how he tricked the woman into taking the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” (3:1) God hadn’t said they couldn’t eat from every tree of the garden, just one. Exaggerating the truth by placing focus on the one thing God had said no to. This reminded me of my struggle with Diverticulosis; when I was told I couldn’t eat nuts or seeds, suddenly everything I wanted had nuts or seeds. You know what makes that funny to me? I never cared much for nuts— until I was told I couldn’t have them. Suddenly my taste buds were crushed. Tell me I can’t touch something and that’s all I think about. Adam and Eve were fine in the Garden until Satan pointed out the ONE thing God said “no” to. Satan uses manipulation and plays mind games to plant his seeds of doubt in us about what God has said and why He said it. He twists God’s Word. God said, “Don’t eat from the fruit or you will die...physically and spiritually. Satan said, “You won’t die…this is what will happen...you will be like God” (Genesis 3:5), which has been Satan’s desire all along. He was cast down to the earth after he determined in his “heart to ascend into heaven, and exalt himself above God…to be like the Most High” (Is. 14:13-14 NIV). Is it possible that in his craftiness, as he prowls and masquerades in falsehood, he plans to watch as we too, are kicked out of our gardens, losing our inheritance, as we try to rise to a throne that was never ours to sit on? We might want to reconsider when we try to humanize God, take away His authority and usurp His power. When we ask God for something, within His Will, He is more than happy to give it to us, at the right time; but woe to anyone who chooses to take what He hasn’t given. Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden because they took what God had placed off limits.

How do we protect ourselves from Satan? We are warned to “be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times” (1 Peter 5:8a AMP) because of his prowling lion-like ways. How are we at maintaining a well-balanced lifestyle? Are we vigilant and cautious at all times? I know I certainly fail in that area. Just last week I was teetering out of balance.  How do we recognize his falsehoods? By allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth (John 14:17). “The mind of a person with understanding gets knowledge; the wise person listens to learn more” (Proverbs 18:15 NCV). How do we protect ourselves from usurping God's power? By remembering that He is “no mere human! He doesn’t tell lies or change His mind. God always keeps His promises (Numbers 23:19 CEV).
    
How do we stop him? We put on God’s armor; the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness and shoes of peace. We hold up our shield of faith, put on the helmet of salvation and pick up our swords; the Word of God (Ephesians 6:13-17). We speak the One name under heaven by which all men must be saved, Jesus, and we “pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere” (Ephesians 6:18 NLT).

Have you ever given thought to what fear can make you do? This was the question that came to my mind the other day as I was reading this passage from the Gospel of Mark.  “Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus. Peter exclaimed, ‘Rabbi, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials-one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He said this because he didn’t really know what else to say, for they were all terrified” (Mark 9:2-6 NLT).

Maybe Peter wasn’t supposed to say anything, but because of his personality and the fact that he was terrified, he spoke. Can you relate to him? As one who shares Peter’s choleric, determined, need-to-have-an-answer personality, I get it. Fear has made me speak up when it would have been best for me to keep still and quiet down.

When I was a teen I babysat for a family who lived just about a mile up the road from our house. I became so close to them that if I wasn’t with Pat, I was at their house, playing with their kids, or watching movies with them. (I can only recall one time that I arrived only to discover the door to their house was locked). One morning I left my home very early so I could watch the kids for Don and Diane for the day. As I approached their road, which was off to the left of the main road, I put my turn single on and started to make the turn. What I didn’t expect was to have my little green Dodge Dart’s engine shut down, halfway across both lanes, on the bend in the road, in the midst of a foggy, hard-to-see morning. Hard as I tried to restart her, she wasn’t going to. Because my gas gauge didn’t work, I tried to keep track of how many miles I drove before I needed to fill up; obviously I had miscalculated, as she was bone dry. I remember now the panicked feeling that came over me as I wondered what I should do. I opened my door and with one leg on the road, sitting half in/half out, I began to use all the strength I had to push. It was only a few minutes later that I heard the sound of something…the sound of something big…the sound of a tractor-trailer truck…and it was coming up the long stretch of the road. Oh Sweet Jesus, after all these years, I still feel the fear that presented itself in that moment. I pushed quicker, I screamed louder and cried harder when a thought hit me and I knew just what to do. I jumped out of the car and ran down the road, waving my arms and yelling at the driver. Why did I do this? I have no idea…that was the same question the driver of the truck asked me, after he hit his brakes and came to a screeching stop—close to my car—and the side of the road. He wasn’t very happy, but he saw me and he also helped me move my car off the road, as he lectured me about the dangers of standing in the middle of a road on a hard-to-see foggy morning. Clearly, fear can make you do some crazy things.

Just take a peek at Abraham, who, fearing for his safety in the land of Gerar because of his wife’s beauty, told the King she was his sister. So King Abimelech of Gerar took Sarah as his wife. Abraham got her back, but it was a pretty sticky situation for them when the King discovered that while she was indeed Abraham’s half sister, she was also his wife (Genesis 20). Have you ever been in a situation where fear presented itself and caused you to only tell part of the story? The poor King had no idea Sarah was married until God came to him in a dream, revealing the truth, informing him he was a “dead man” because of her (vs 3). Can you even imagine? Leaving out important information because we fear the consequences of the truth can put others at risk. I wonder too—did Abraham care so little about his wife that he would give her to another man to save himself? I don’t want to be too hard on Abraham; I’m sure there were times I was willing to throw others under the bus to protect myself. Just ask my siblings. Fear can make you behave in crazy ways.

King Saul told Samuel that fear of the people caused him to disobey following the Lord’s instruction completely when they went to war against the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15).  When we are confronted by disobedience, whom do we blame? It might be easy to say: “I feared the people,” like Saul did, but that excuse still cost him when the Lord rejected him as King and removed him from power. Is it possible that we miss out on opportunities the Lord has for us because we have allowed “fear of the people” to determine our course, rather than choosing to obey the commandment of the Lord? I have no doubt this is true, as I have, and continue to struggle with the fear of what people will think. Fear can cause us to say some crazy things.

So what can fear cause us to do? Fear of growing old might make you pursue that which makes you feel younger. This happens in marriages all the time when a spouse leaves the mate of their youth for the younger model.  Fear of others discovering truth can cause us to hide behind the wall of lies we build for protection.  Fear of having nothing can make you steal. Fear of poverty can make you overwork. Fear of losing can make you cheat. Fear of failure can drive you to succeed, no matter the cost. Fear of commitment can make you flee. Yes, fear can make us do, say and behave in crazy ways. What has fear caused you to do? Has it caused you to forget Whose you are and what you have? I’d like to offer you this reminder…

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, ’Abba, Father.’ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:14-16 NLT).

I had just dropped our grandson, Mason, off at preschool, when I drove up the road to the house and, doing what I always do, pulled up to the mailbox to gather the day’s mail. There was just one small glitch this time; I was going too fast. I didn’t realize until too late that the door to the box had been left down and I came in too close to miss it. With a screech, a scratch and a crunch I crumpled the door to our mailbox with the side of the Jeep. Ouch. I misjudged the distance and it left a mark. Or should I say—a twisted mess. Almost a week later, I was backing into the garage and heard a strange noise; only to realize, as I was carefully watching to make sure I was in far enough, I was also backing into the ladder Pat had hung from the rafter. I pulled forward and tried again—misjudged the distance, and hit it again. I guess I need to be a bit more careful with my judgment and maybe pay a visit to the Eye Doctor.

Haven’t we all misjudged something, or someone at times in our lives? Surely I’m not the only one who obviously has a little trouble misjudging distance—but in what other ways can we misjudge? Misjudged is defined by Merriam-Webster as: to estimate (something, such as an amount, distance, etc.) incorrectly, to have an unfair opinion about (someone), to estimate wrongly.[1] We can misjudge distance, misjudge the cost of groceries, or the new roof, the quality of a movie or a book; we can misjudge depth of the snowfall or the ocean floor. One look at the sunshine can lead me to misjudge the temperature greatly in the winter months. I know many who misjudge time and are always running late; in fact, we always add “The Beckwith Factor” for my sweet sister and her family when they tell us an arrival time. J In so many ways, we can misjudge something, but am I the only one who has misjudged someone?

While I try hard to believe the best of people and not misjudge others, there have been times I’ve discovered the hard way that I was placing trust in the wrong person. Although we must be careful to not have an “unfair opinion of someone,” we must also be aware and remember that we are instructed to be a good judge of character and not to be misled, because “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33 NIV). This is a good verse to pause for a moment and ask ourselves: “Am I the bad company or am I the good character? Do I help others live according to what God desires or do I corrupt them from His truth? Am I leading others into a deeper relationship with Christ, or away from Him? What is good character?”

Character is defined as “one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual. The way someone thinks, feels, and behaves: someone's personality.[2] Character is who you really are. The real you. The you when no one is watching. Abraham Lincoln said: “Character is like a tree and reputation its shadow. The shadow is what we think it is and the tree is the real thing.” John Wooden offered this advice, ““Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” I once heard someone say if you want to know whether your reputation and character resemble each other just ask your family. Those who know you behind closed doors are the ones who can answer that question. Do your words match your life?

While I may have torn up the mailbox door a bit, Pat, the handyman, was able to take a tool and bend it back into shape. She looks almost as good as before our collision; in fact, I think a few marks and a dent brought a little bit of character to the old mailbox door.  Life has a way of building character in each of us as well. God allows testing and trials in our lives to build our character and refine us into His image. Paul wrote to us in Romans chapter five that we could “glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope” (v 3-4 NKJV). He went on to say that: “hope doesn’t disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (v 5).

God has a way of taking His tools and doing what only He can do to reshape us when we become crumpled by the bends, dents and dings we experience in life. But the decision always remains ours as to whether we will allow the collisions to corrupt us into bad, bitter company, or allow them to develop our character into one that continues to draw others to Him. If you were to take an inventory of your life, what would you discover? Have you been misjudged by others incorrectly? Or have you misjudged the distance between the real you and the one Christ has called you to be?


[1] (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/misjudge n.d.)
[2] (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/character n.d.)