Satan is the master of deception and the great counterfeiter of God’s good and wonderful gifts. He offers us momentary pleasures at the expense of the far greater blessings that can be ours when we obey the commands of the Lord. Not only that but the momentary pleasure we get from sin and our disobedience to God comes at a huge expense in the form of guilt, shame, and the knowledge that we have displeased our heavenly Father.
I have found in my own walk with the Lord that the closer I get to Jesus the emotional aftereffects of my sin creates massive disappointment with myself that quickly steals away any pleasure that I might have gotten through my sinful behavior. In yesterday’s devotion I shared the following quote from Nancy Leigh DeMoss that captures this concept well: “Eve took the bite. But instead of the promised benefits, she found herself with a mouthful of distasteful consequences—guilt, fear, and alienation. The fellowship she had enjoyed with God and her husband was broken. Paradise had been lost.”1
God, through our obedience, offers us sweet fellowship, a great night’s sleep, abiding joy, and, in my opinion, the great blessing of knowing that we are bringing glory to God and pleasure to our heavenly Father. But while we intellectually know that God’s blessings can’t be matched, how can we defeat Satan and his lying temptations, in his tracks.
I really like what the late evangelist Leonard Ravenhill shared here: “Entertainment is the devil’s substitute for joy. The more joy you have in the Lord the less entertainment you need.”2 While entertainment can often be clean and not sinful, sadly most of the movies that Hollywood produces, the music we hear, and the things that occupy our time, certainly don’t glorify God, and steal the joy that only staying close to Jesus can give us.
So, what’s the answer to Satan’s substitutes for joy – it’s the real thing – the joy of the Lord. Once you experience the real thing, I believe, you won’t want to settle anymore for substitutes that promise pleasure but deliver problems.
And while doing it God’s way may temporarily even bring pain and suffering, God will supply us with great joy when He sees the obedience of our heart to do His will. In closing I challenge you to meditate on how Moses overcame the allures of temporary pleasures by fixing His eyes on Jesus, for we read in (Hebrews 11:24-26): “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.”
1 Nancy Leigh DeMoss – Eve took the bite. But instead of the promised… (bibleportal.com)
2 Quote by Leonard Ravenhill: “Entertainment is the devil’s substitute for joy…” (goodreads.com)
We as believers must always pay attention to the leading of the Holy Spirit in whatever we do or say. I am reminded of Luke 4 where Jesus was LED by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where of course He was tempted by the Devil. And of course in every one of the Devil’s temptations, the Lord used the Word of God to rebuke the temptation.