Did God Really Say…??

Years ago, I heard a sermon from my pastor at that time. To be honest, I don’t remember anything from the sermon except the title. The title alone still challenges me today some 15 years later. The title was, “Never Doubt in the Darkness What God Tells You in the Light”. How guilty are we of this? In our times with Him we sense Him speaking, giving direction, challenge, or even conviction. Yet when we step out of His presence into our routines, the intensity of what we heard lessens and what we experienced becomes challenged in our minds. We think, “Maybe I just got caught up in the moment”. “Maybe I’m getting a little over-spiritual”. “Maybe it was just me.” And so it goes.

It’s interesting to me that even in the most well-known temptations in the Bible; Satan did not come with an obvious, in-your-face temptation. He didn’t come right out at Eve in the Garden of Eden and say, “Defy God, be a rebel and eat the fruit He told you not to eat.” Rather, it started as something simple and subtle; “Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3) We all know the story, but this simple question sparked a flame that has grown every day since. When God speaks to us, His direction cannot become diluted when we leave His presence. Maybe we should write it down along with our interpretations and feelings about it at that time, because Satan will come trying to get you to doubt or try to twist what you heard.

Even Jesus was tempted by Satan this way. In Luke 4:10 Satan says to Jesus, “If You are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here - because it is written….” in other words, Didn’t God say…? He took the very words of God and twisted them to say something that it didn’t mean. But Jesus knew what God said and wasn‘t shaken. He knew the intent of the Scripture because God’s Word was planted deep inside Him. He knew God’s direction, His heart, and His plan. That is the way we are to be. God’s Word settled deeply within us, unshakable, living by His voice and direction-not wavering when the tempter comes to us (especially in trying times) and asks, “Did God really say…?” We need to be a people who never doubt in the darkness, what God tells us in the light.