Then Along Came a Spider...

“When the devil had finished all this temptation, he left him until an opportune time…Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve…He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.” Luke 4:13; Luke 22:3, 6

There are many divine absolutes in the Bible that serve as God’s promises to help us through our journeys in life. Unfortunately, there are evil absolutes that work just as hard to derail our lives. The first verse above was the conclusion of the passage describing the temptation of Jesus while in the desert after he was baptized. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and stood strong against the devil. With each arrow of temptation the devil shot Christ retorted with the Word of God – an exact target every time. The devil knew that he was unsuccessful against the Son but didn’t give up, but he retreated for that moment. He had had plenty of victories in dealing with man and knew that through patience and opportunity all of mankind sins during certain points in their lives. He was so arrogant he thought he could even be successful against the Son of God. So he waited patiently…and along came Judas.

Welcome to the opportune time! Judas was in Jesus’ inner circle and was one of His chosen. The difference between Judas and the other disciples was the condition of his heart. He had spiritual chinks in his armor and allowed room for Satan to enter. Satan was crafty enough to know Judas’ heart of greed and used that information to control, enter and manipulate.

As children of God we too are chosen and invited to be in Christ's inner circle. We are welcomed into His spiritual world to observe, experience and sense His work and His presence. At any moment our armor can be compromised with our weaknesses just like Judas. We have within us unique weaknesses that Satan will use to frustrate the will of God for our lives. We must stay connected to the Word of God to combat these attacks. Satan is the counterfeit of God so don’t think he doesn’t know us extremely well. He has watched us since birth just as God has but God will always be greater than Satan. “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4.

We cannot give Satan one single opportunity to enter into God’s chosen. He cannot steal our salvation once we are a child of God but he can certainly steal our sanity!

'Then along came a spider and sat down beside her...'