The Enemy's Deceit

READ: PSALM 119:105; ROMANS 8:33-39; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17; 1 PETER 5:8-9 As an old story goes, in the Old West, thieves trying to escape law enforcement would sometimes turn their horses’ shoes backwards. These “bank robber horseshoes” supposedly tricked investigators into assuming the criminals traveled on horseback in the opposite direction. With tracks from the horseshoes pointing one way—but the thieves traveling in the other—they hoped to evade capture. This deception allegedly sent officers of the law away from the robbers they tracked. In my relationship with God, I notice Satan practices a similar kind of deceit. With his lies about who we are and who God is, Satan disguises untruth as truth and points us away from God. When we trust in Christ, believing His death and resurrection provide forgiveness and eternal life, we become new creations. Our enemy, the devil, will remind us of past sins, accusing us and saying we’re not blameless in God’s sight. But in His Word,...