The devil is a busy one. He doesn’t have a lot of time to spend on any particular individual. If a quick conversation with a naïve woman (Gen. 3:1-5) or an evening spent inside of a betrayer (Luke 22:3) isn’t enough to get the job done, he’ll move along to more fruitful fields. He didn’t even give Jesus (of all people) more than 40 days of his time. He’s got heaps of work to do. That’s why he’s got a reputation for fleeing those who resist him.

That doesn’t mean, however, that there won’t be any harmful ‘side-effects’ to deal with after he leaves. His interactions, as brief as they might be, have long lasting side-effects (as was the case with Eve and with Judas both). Even if you survive the attack, he’ll always do what he can to get the most “bang for his buck”. No one targeted by the spiritual forces of evil in this dark world should expect to recover immediately.   

YOU’VE HEARD OF JOB…

Take, for example, Job. Blameless & upright indeed. A man who feared God, shunned evil, and experienced his fair share of spiritual conflict. And, as is often the case with us, the spiritual part of his warfare was momentary in comparison to what came next. His memoir is a lengthy 42 chapters, yet, the devil appears only as a brief cameo in the first two.

The devil wants you to curse God and die. And since he doesn’t have much time, he aims for efficiency

What follows is chapter upon chapter upon chapter of tense dialogue between a righteous man (desperately holding fast to his integrity) and the “voices” of those closest to him. Friendly voices which, by that point in his life, Job had grown to trust. If anyone could get his attention in a situation like that, it’d be them. Those men were nearer to him than anybody else; even his own wife.

Yet, his greatest challenge was in realizing that those familiar voices were WRONG! As much as he’d trusted them in the past, he’d better be careful now, for they were no longer speaking the complete truth. These “voices” had as much potential to destroy Job as the devil himself did. Should he listen to them, he would ultimately lose the battle, even after having survived the initial assaults of Satan.

It isn’t the devil himself that defeats most people, it’s usually the “voices” they listen to after he’s done with the attack.  

YOU’VE HEARD THESE VOICES…

We all have voices in our head. It’s a psychological phenomenon called “internal dialogue”. Not to be confused with auditory hallucinations, our “inner voice” is a normal part of our brain function. Most everybody experiences this to some degree. And like Job’s buddies, the voices in our head talk whether you invite them to or not. They’re always quick with accusations and opinions when things take an ugly turn. And they’re never as loyal as you might believe. They’ll let you think they’re always your allies, but if you listen carefully to what they say, you’ll discern that they sometimes sound like the enemy.

It’s unlikely that you’ve got any friends named Bildad, Eliphaz, or Zophar, but we all have “inner voices” which are nearly impossible to ignore. When something sends you into a spiritual tizzy, these guys will come out of nowhere with all kinds of ungodly opinions & half-accurate counsel. They always speak the loudest when we’re at our lowest, and it’s hard to know whether we should believe them or not. They’re so articulate, so believable, and so very dear to us.

It isn’t the devil himself that defeats most people… it’s usually the “voices” they listen to after he’s done with the attack

We need to be careful. Some of us allow our “inner dialogue” too much of a “voice”. They don’t always know what they’re talking about, and the longer we let them speak, the more convincing they become. Like Job, we need to know how and when to answer them. We need to put an end to their ranting. Had he not done that, Job would not have survived his ordeal. Neither will you.

YOU’VE HEARD THE WARNING…

You may never find yourself covered in boils, and you probably won’t lose your camels to the Chaldeans, but one thing is certain: The devil wants you to curse God and die. And since he doesn’t have much time, he he aims for efficiency. He’ll do just enough to unleash the voices in your head. If a slight offense is enough to trigger that conversation, he’ll leave it at that. If it takes a little more, he’ll probably give it a shot. But if he can’t remove you from God’s service with an all-out spiritual attack, he’s always happy to watch you do it yourself after you’ve talked it over with your so-called “friends”.  

Job has much to teach us, not only about how to remain blameless & upright when the devil intrudes, but how to make sense of the voices in your head after he flees. His biography is a prototype for the spiritual warfare you and I are in for.

Hold fast to your integrity.