Lies the Devil Told Me: Doubt God

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”

I have experienced a number of times in my walk of faith and prayer life when intrusive thoughts of doubt interrupt the flow. For example, I could be praying and focused on the Lord, but then a question is presented which typically casts doubt on the glory of God, His existence, His power, His presence, His ability to save, etc. I have noticed that interruptions to my prayer life almost always seem to be the work of the devil. My wife and I recently witnessed a miracle. We both began to give thanks to the Lord in heartfelt prayer. While praying, questions began arising in our minds such as “Did God really do that? Maybe it would have worked itself out on it’s own. Maybe everything was going to be okay anyway.”

The evil one attempts to plant seeds of doubt in the garden of our minds to see if they sprout and take root. We can see that in the Garden of Eden, Satan also tempted Eve, but first he asked her a question, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?’” The evil one is trying to make us second guess the Lord, second guess His love, second guess ourselves in our ministry to Him, second guess that He hears our prayers.

We can see that Satan uses this strategy frequently. Consider in Job 1 when Satan asks, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side?” Again, we see that Satan also tries to tempt Jesus into sin by saying twice, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread” and “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down” (Matthew 4). The devil tries to call into question the divinity of Christ by saying “if you are the Son of God” in order to provoke Jesus to prove Himself. We mustn’t be fooled by Satan’s doubtful and leading questions. He indeed knows that Jesus is the Son of God and the evil one shows his hand with the third temptation when he shifts his strategy: “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ^‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me’” (Matthew 4:8-9). There it is. The devil himself as confirmed that Jesus is the Son of God and that Satan desires God to be subject to himself.

We must not believe the lies of doubt that God isn’t there, God doesn’t listen, God doesn’t work miracles, God isn’t present. Satan knows very well that who God is, His power, His desire to save us, but the devil wants us to put our trust in these doubtful thoughts instead of God. But we know better. Throughout Scripture we are reminded to put our trust in the Lord. The prophet Isaiah says it best when he says “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2). Let us not be afraid of the fiery darts from the evil because we place our hope and salvation in the hands of the Lord.