The phone rings in my office and at my home quite often. I pick up the phone and usually I know who the person is on the other end before they say their name. Usually, if I’m at home, it’s one of my kids’ friends. If I’m at the church, it’s someone from my congregation. After 10½ years here, I recognize most members by voice. Occasionally, I’ll guess wrong, but not very often.
Works the same way when I call someone. I usually know which family member has answered. I usually don’t miss the ID, but occasionally I’m stumped. On more than one occasion I’ve started talking with a teenage son thinking I had the dad. There’s always an awkward pause when I stop talking and then the boy says, “Um, I think you want my dad.” Oops! And I have numerous times asked, “Is your mom there?” only to find out I had mom on the line. That works out all right though. Makes the woman feel younger when I mistake her for her daughter. Brownie points are awarded for that, you know?
Anyway, all that to say this: Individuals are recognizable by their voice even when you can’t see them. You know it’s true. When your friends call, you know who they are the second they say, “Hello!” When your youngest yells a question from the other side of the house, you yell back at the right person most of the time, don’t you? Individuals are recognizable by their voice even when they’re not visually available. If nothing else gives a person away in the dark or across the miles, their voice will. Am I right?
Have any of you ever seen God? I haven’t. I’m guessing the same is true for you. You haven’t even seen his back. That’s all Moses was permitted to view. You haven’t seen God, but you recognize his voice sometimes, don’t you?
We recognize God mostly by the content of what he says to our hearts. We know him because he corrects us when we sin. He rebukes us and teaches and trains us in righteousness. He encourages us and loves us and comforts us in times of trouble and stress. And he does all those things without contradicting anything he’s already revealed in the Bible. That’s been my usual experience. I’m assuming, if you're a believer, that’s been your experience too. You recognize God, normally, by the substance of the good and right things he says to your heart.
Have you ever seen Satan? I haven’t. I’m guessing the same is true of you.
Adam and Eve saw him, sort of. He was disguised as a serpent, the craftiest of the critters roaming the garden, when he came to them. They figured out who he was a little too late. John saw him represented as a dragon in his Revelation. There are few sightings between the beginning and the end though.
Jesus was tempted by him, but it isn’t clear that he saw him. As Son of God, I suppose he could see spirits or at least recognize their presence, but the Bible doesn’t say he did. At a later date – it’s recorded in Luke 10:18 – Jesus says, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (NIV)
Outside of these incidents, there are miscellaneous mentions of our enemy in the Old Testament – in 1 Chronicles, Job and Zechariah, one of the prophetic books – but no sightings. Only his voice is heard in most passages. His lies are recorded. I think that’s an important fact to note. God made sure some of Satan’s words were recorded in the Scriptures so that we can recognize his voice.
The devil and his underling demons – they’re more likely the ones bothering you in most cases – are trying to disguise their voice. Satan doesn’t want you to know it’s him. He wants you, on occasion, to think you’re hearing from God. At other times, he intends for you to think his voice is yours. If you knew it was him speaking, you’d tune him out. So he subtly weaves his lies and you mistake them for "truth" from God or "wisdom" from your own mind.
Jesus, describing the devil in John 8:44, said this: “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (NIV)
Funny thing about the voices in our heads – and I’m not talking the funny voices that psychotic people hear – they all sound the same. They sound like us. God’s voice, though we recognize it as His by its content, sounds the same as our normal thinking voice. Satan’s voice has the same quality about it. Content’s different – as different as night and day – but the timber and pitch, I don’t know what else to call it, is the same. The thoughts that come to my mind sound like me. Don’t yours sound like you?
Puzzling at times, isn’t it? Is that my thought? Is that God voice? Is that a devil’s lie?
We’re left with no choice. We must discern the source of the thoughts we’re thinking, the voices we’re hearing, by testing them.
What does 1 John 4:1 say? “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God…” (NIV)
Do not believe every voice in your head. Test every thought. Examine carefully every idea the pops into your head. Ask questions! Does the voice you’re hearing match what you know of God’s character? Are the things you’re being prompted to do or say or think true, noble, right, pure? Are they lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy thoughts? Or are the thoughts you’re thinking more devilish in character?
Paul told the church in Corinth that he did not want them to be ignorant of the devil’s schemes. And he educated them so they wouldn’t be outwitted. I want to do the same thing for you over the next few days. I don’t want you to be outwitted. I want you to be aware of the devil’s schemes so you can escape his traps, so you can avoid sin.
Today’s lesson: pay attention to the content of the messages you’re hearing in your head. (More to come.)
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