If you’re imagining Satan like the cartoons portray him, think again. You’ve seen the cartoon renderings of Satan. Red suit, pitchfork, horns and a tail, standing on one shoulder, all hunched over, whispering obvious and terrible temptations in a person’s ear while all the time there is an angel, clearly an angel, shouting righteousness and peace in the other.
Not so. Wish it were.
In reality, Satan was the most beautiful angel God ever made, an angel of light, made to reflect God’s glory back at Him, his entire existence spent in the presence of God. He was, by God’s own admission, the smartest thing He ever made (Genesis 3:1), and when the devil comes to us, he leaves the horns and pitchfork at home. Satan comes as no less than an honest-to-goodness angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), offering us our very heart’s desire.
Here’s where Satan gets tricky. He can lie. He does it with great flare. But he specializes in selling the truth piecemeal.
Satan might start with a truth such as this one. God is God. He owes me nothing (truth), therefore He will likely give me nothing, or give sparingly or inconsistently (lie. See Luke 11:13 or James 1:17). He is holy (truth), so He doesn’t care that I’m happy as long as I’m holy (lie. See Psalm 37:4 or 16:11). He is just, therefore He cannot forgive. He is mercy, so He doesn’t care if I sin. He is big, so He isn’t near. He is near, so He isn’t big.
If Satan can’t get to God’s level, he will bring God down to his. Don’t let him. Know the truth so well it can’t be used as a weapon against you. Know the Truth so well no other voice holds a candle to His. Know the truth and you will know peace. Don’t settle for less.
Excerpt from “Peace and How to Keep It.”