Get Thee Behind Me Satan?

I have often wondered about this famous line delivered by Jesus to Peter when he thoroughly misunderstood the role of suffering in the mystery of salivation.

Why would anyone, even the Son of God, want the devil at his back?

If Satan was behind me how could I keep my eyes on the rascal? Surely it would be better to keep 'slewfoot' in plain sight because you can never tell what that old liar will get up to. I always thought that if you can't see him you were sure to get blindsided.

Yesterday I got a little insight into this conundrum. I drove an excellent Christian whose name means 'the little lame one', but who has turned that appellation on its head and has decided that she is to be known as 'overcomer', to help a sick friend. The 'overcomer's' own physical disability is in no way stopping her from living a vibrant, loving,and joyful (how do those happy warriors do it?) Christian Life. She is committed to doing all she can to help people in need. When we arrived I heard a little about the terribly difficult situation the 'overcomer's' friend and husband are facing. The distress is causing them to pull apart and to be unsupportive and unloving to each other. The 'overcomer' (formerly known as 'Little Lame One) was going over to clean her friend's house which had fallen into a shambles and to do some laundry for this lady. It seemed to me that the couple was being torn apart in their suffering because they had allowed the devil of pain, sickness, poverty and despair to get in between them. While I thought about his situation I realized that the worse place for the devil to be is between us and God and between us and our loved ones, perhaps between us and our church. It is there that belezebub can accuse and separate and turn understanding and love into recrimination and hatred. It is far better when Satan is at our backs and those we love (including God) are before us, because the Devil's pressing and pushing will only serve to bring us closer to one another and to God. If the pressure of sickness and pain in these lives continues in the direction of forcing them apart, then the outcome will be a sad one. I hope and pray that this couple will get Satan behind them so his wicked pressure will cause this couple to come closer to each other and to God. And I pray that this family's church will get a little more real about helping this couple get through their trial because 'the little lame one' shouldn't have to do it all by herself.


If the ol'Devil is in your face try telling him this.

"Get Thee Behind Me Satan and push if you must. I am determined to hang on even if only by the skin of my teeth. You will accomplish nothing that you intend because I am confident in the fact that all things will work together for good, even your evil schemes, because 'The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked (one) for the day of evil." prov. 16:4