The Devil’s Talent

It seems to me that the devil is excellent at telling us that we “need” things. It occurs to me most poignantly as I face a temptation to sin. It’s as if my mind and will are suddenly overtaken with a need of extreme urgency. As I fight against it (on a good day) I can step back and look at that need, that idea, thought or the feeling, more objectively. And it always turns out I never actually needed it at all. In fact what I really needed was quite contrary to it!

Upon reflecting for a moment, it’s obvious that this talent of the devil is not simply limited to this kind of urgency of thought. But just as, if not more, commonly his deception occurs in subtle ways, be it a slow burning background need or a quick and almost whimsical “hey, why not” kind of a thought. Taken together, primarily what the devil does every day, all the time, is convince us that we need things other than what God offers us.

Do we respond poorly to situations because we feel the need for human affirmation? Do we find that our life is structured around the need for money or security? Do we skirt our regular prayer time because we feel the need to work, or relax? Or do we “need” to shop, to own, to control, or to escape? Ultimately when we sin, we feel that in doing so we are fulfilling a need. And though the impetus for these needs often have legitimate roots which can be satisfied through God’s providence, it is the devil’s trick that twists or exacerbates them to where we turn from God and grasp for the solution ourselves.

The first commandment is – Love God. The second commandment to love neighbor as self flows out of this first. But God should be the priority in all things. No priority we set for ourselves should be higher. And if we order our life in that way then we can trust, as Jesus tells us, the God who provides for the birds that do not sow and do not store grain, how much more will He provide for us whom He made in his image? God knows all our needs and all our needs are in His care, and so it is to Him we must turn for fulfillment. The supposed need for anything contrary to that is from the devil – and perhaps that is ultimately the only arrow in his quiver.