SEPTEMBER 20 "SATAN'S TESTIMONIALS"

      I WAS not around approx 3000 years ago when this situation took place with the King of Assyria, but I sure do recognize the voice and the rhetoric, ie: "Don't trust in the Lord".  Pastor's and Spiritual Leaders spend most of their time trying to convince God's people to trust in him while the individual and the masses of Christians face a bombardment of attacks, day in and day out, a voice that speaks to us in our conscience and says basically the same words the King of Assyria Spoke, which are: "don't trust in the Lord, where was He for so and so and where was He for that family, that situation and what makes you think it will be any different for you!". The enemy will remind us of the sister that was not healed of cancer, he will remind us of the family that did have to file bankruptcy, or the single mom that did lose her job, her home and then Satan will come to us and tell us, "what makes you think it will be different for you!".  The enemy strikes us at the heart, he strikes us where are greatest fears lie.  When are security is threatened, our livelihood, our children and of course our lives are threatened, through disease, sickness or threats, these are the areas that leave us most vulnerable to perhaps listen to Satan a little longer than we should and begin to consider twice about trusting in The Lord.  "After all, Suzie trusted in The Lord and she died"  "Jim trusted in God and he was laid off and lost his home", these are the thoughts we will get and they are pretty convincing, they are not at all lies, but true cases that we have witnessed. They are "Satan's Testimonials".  He (the enemy) has a whole arsenal of them and he is ready to launch them at any time when we are attempting to trust God in a difficult situation. Verse 15, "do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord when he says, "The Lord will surely deliver us....who of all the gods has been able to save..."  All the Israelite had to do was their homework (which they had) and they would quickly find out that it was true. 

     So what do we do? Well our options are simple, either we trust or we do not. "Okay" you would say, "I don't trust, I simply can't I am to convinced by "Satan's Testimonials". The problem is "not trusting" in God is not just a state of mind we choose, but it must be followed by action. If we don't trust God to "save us" then that means we must take matters into our own hands, it means trusting in another, it means making alliances with people we should not.  One of two things will happen when we take matters into our own hands, it will either work or fail miserably.  The latter scenario is the best option, although we will suffer we will also learn next time to simply trust in God.  My worry is the first scenario, ie: we take matters into our own hands and it works out for us! (or should I say, it seems to work out). The worse thing that could happen when you don't trust God and make an alliance with someone or something else is that it actually works out for you. This is not good!  What do you think that will do for your faith, not only in the present but for a future trial? What do you think that will do for your relationship with God if your last vivid memory of God was that you were in a sticky situation and God did not come through for you, but you came through for you or so and so came through for you or worse, Satan came through for you.  Verse 16 "This is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own wine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern"  Had the Israelite s opted in for this option (which they didn't thanks to a Godly leader) what do you think the chances of them continuing to serve the God of Israel would have been?  What do you think your chances are of continuing to serve God once you've decided not to trust God and it works out, for what seems to be the best, in your limited understanding.
     In all reality, there is NO... "I took matters into my own hands and it worked out". In the short term it may appear as such but time will reveal that it did not work out like you thought.  There is only one option when the enemy comes to us with his "testimonials" and that is simply to ignore them. The fact that they are true is irrelevant. We simply do not know all and much will be revealed to us in eternity that will leave many of us feeling quite embarrassed that we actually thought for a second that Satan had a valid testimonial against God failing one of his children. God has never failed any of his children "let God be true and every man a liar" and time and eternity will reveal this.  There is only one option and that is always to Trust the Lord and if everything still falls apart, then we keep trusting and as we keep trusting, though all evidence points towards abandonment by God, we will see, whether it be a month, a year or a few years, that God, in the end will be shown faithful and trustworthy. If we bail, if we cut and run, then we simply become one more of Satan's Testimonials that he will use against the next brother or sister that is struggling. Question is, will you be a testimonial to the church, of God's unfailing love and faithfulness to encourage others or will you be one of Satan's testimonials to discourage others?