Satan's Low Opinion of You

“But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.” (Job 1:11 AV)

There are two possibilities to this accusation.   Either Satan knows of the integrity of Job’s heart and knows that no matter what he does to him, Job will maintain that integrity.  Thus, his proposal was mere torture.  Or, Satan really doesn’t know the depth of Job’s integrity and has a lower opinion of Job than is truly the case.  I prefer to believe it is the second.  When the Devil tempts us, it is with his understanding of who and what we are.  Not what we truly are.  This is encouraging.  The Devil is not omniscient.  He can know what he can see.  But he cannot know what he cannot see.  This is the depths of our heart.  What we want to meditate upon this morning is one truth and one truth only.  The demonic oppression which we encounter is the devil’s opinion of our character.  Opinions can sometimes be right.  But not always.

There were several years in my school boy days when I was the one the bullies chose to target.  There was Matt, Greg, Jim, and Marty, to name a few.  These episodes went from simply name calling and mocking in class to playground torture, to locker room antics all designed to intimidate a more timid school mate.  The thing about bullies is they always overplay their hand.  In each of these episodes, the bullies underestimated my resolve.  Because of sheer numbers, I may not have been able to fight back, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t resist.  When they stole my hat on the playground, I just reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out another.  When they tried to give me a swirly, several later joined the boys choir as high tenors.  When they relentlessly mocked in the classroom while the teacher was out, this victim did not sit idly by and let it happen.  And, when a gang of neighborhood kids threatened to beat him up, he used he broken arm in a cast to defend himself.  The point is, bullies always underestimate the resolve of their victims to survive.  All they accomplish is the make the victim tougher against adversity.

Look at it this way.  If the devil won’t leave you alone, it is probably because he underestimates the depth of your character and faith.  The thing to do is to resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  The thing to do is to let your LORD and Savior have a crack at him.  The thing to do is to take his temptation as a compliment.  Not only is it Satan’s low opinion of you, but like Job, it is God’s high opinion of you.  The LORD will not allow you to be tempted above that ye are able.  He knows your limits.  The devil does not.