Whispers

I've been wearing a cloak of sadness and fatigue for the last week and struggling to figure out why. After moping around in a store for half an hour I finally asked myself, "What is the matter with you, Tami? What do you have to be sad about?"

And though it wasn't audible, it was unmistakable and almost physically jarring, as if someone placed their hands on my shoulders to stop me from going any further. God said, "Satan's whispering in your ear."

What?

"You're listening to his lies."

Of course. Why hadn't I seen it before? I've been blaming it on other things--I'm tired, my hormones are out of whack, maybe I'm coming down with something--when what's really happening is I'm listening to Satan.

I get weary and Satan whispers in my ear, "It's not worth it. No one cares what you do."

I look in the mirror and he says, "Not good enough."

My husband wants to stay up later than I do and the devil suggests, "He doesn't love you like you love him."

Someone makes an insightful comment at Bible study and he taunts, "Oh, you missed that. You call yourself a leader?"

I have anxiety and he defeats me with, "You don't trust God."

My kids want to go out with friends and I hear, "They don't need you anymore."

I feel a little down and he tells me, "No one cares what you think. No one cares how you feel."

But God whispers too. When I stay connected to Him, when I take the feelings to Him, He's faithful to show me when I'm falling for the lines of the devil. God reminds me what is true. He put His words in writing.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me: even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day for darkness is a light to you.
Psalm 139:7, 11-12

For more Thankful Thursday posts, visit Iris at Sting My Heart.