Titus 2 Men And Women

[The following devotion came to me on a day when I was again begging God to show me plainly what I needed to do concerning people who were seemingly trying to undermine my faith with their ‘new and right’ interpretation of Scripture and with flattery. As I sat and looked back on my life I could see many times when Satan sent these kinds of Christians into my life...almost always when I was in a physical or spiritually vulnerable desert time. After reading the following I went to the Word and did a verse study on Psalm 119:118. I have put that verse study at the end of this devotion. 

This devotion is a seldom heard wake-up call for Christians. Satan is clever and disgusting and will use whomever is usable in our lives...whomever is usable. -Sharon Merhalski]

"Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit is falsehood."
Psalm 119:118

Can someone talk you out of doing the right thing? Can they convince you of something you know isn't true? Perhaps they try to reinterpret your life every time you talk with them. They are good with words and extremely clever with rationales. You find yourself stuck in conversation to defend your position. This person is skilled at doing evil in such a way as to be admired for their cunning abilities. They worship themselves and are ever looking for others to join them.

Only this world admires such people. Their hero status will be short lived when the end of their life comes and their life is reviewed by a righteous God. What appeared to be clever will be revealed as stupidity.

Such people are in our churches, even in our families. The question to ask myself is this, "Am I prey for the cunning?" 

• Is there someone close to me who needs to control me, and are they artful and persistent until they succeed?
• Is there an issue about which I give in because I feel stupid against their cleverness?
• If I reveal something about my life, is there a person who says, "That's not how you should look at it. That's not how it happened. That's not how you feel."
• If I feel passionately about something in the kingdom, can another's words dilute my zeal and my resolve?

God leads His children simply. He speaks, the cloud cover moves, and we follow the light. The rationales are usually clear cut, easy enough for a child to understand. Evil is characterized by cobwebs. Someone clever with speech, cunning enough to evade the truth, will come along to transform what is stunningly clear into something confusing. The author of such arguments is the same one who filled Eve's ears with enough rationales to make her second guess the voice of God. 

Let me cut to the chase. It's a wake up call to admit that someone I know preys - and that I am their prey. Once I admit that, I can take my stand and ask God to make me invulnerable. 

You spoke. I know the truth. I stand in it. I bear no "x" to mark me as prey. Make me as spiritual steel. Amen

Verse Study:

Psalm 119:118 "Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit is falsehood."

"err":  Strong's Concordance--H7686  
A primitive root; to stray (causatively mislead), usually (figuratively) to mistake, especially (morally) to transgress; by extension (through the idea of intoxication) to reel, (figuratively) be enraptured: - (cause to) go astray, deceive, err, be ravished, sin through ignorance, (let, make to) wander.

JFB Commentary:  Psalm 119:118-120  their deceit is falsehood - that is, all their cunning deceit, wherewith they seek to entrap the godly, is in vain.

Gill Commentary:  Psalm 119:118 Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes,.... That wander from the way of the Lord's commandments; that deviate from his precepts, go astray constantly and willfully; a people that err in their hearts, and with all their hearts. These the Lord treads down, as mire in the streets, as grapes in a winepress; which shows his abhorrence of them, his indignation at them, and how easily they are subdued under him; for their deceit is falsehood: or, "their hypocrisy is a lie" (m): the appearance they make is a false one; they appear outwardly righteous, but are inwardly wicked; have a form of godliness, but deny the power of it: or all their deceitful doctrines are lies in hypocrisy, though dressed up with all the art and cunning they are masters of; or all their subtle schemes to corrupt and subvert the true doctrines of the word are in vain and to no purpose.

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