Shot at but Missed

"The wicked are stringing their bows and fitting their arrows on the bowstrings. They shoot from the shadows at those whose hearts are right." Psalm 11:2 NLT

I felt the wind of the arrow as it whizzed by my head.

My cousin was over for a visit. As middle-school aged boys, we loved playing in the woods. A few years later, we'd be hunting in the woods, but games would have to suffice for now. Cowboys and Indians was the game. I was a cowboy, my cousin an Indian. I had the six shooter strapped to my waist; he had the bow and arrows over his shoulder. My guns were fake, but his arrows had real points.

Young boys don't think about danger. Sometimes older ones don't either. I hope he wasn't thinking when he loaded an arrow in the bow and aimed it at me. Fortunately, he was a bad shot. But the arrow flew close enough to my head to make me stop and think about what we were doing. Had it hit me, it would have been bad news.

The psalmist said the wicked were doing the same thing with him as my cousin did with me: shooting arrows. Only in his case, the wicked were lurking in the shadows. And he wasn't playing a game with them. They were shooting at him because he was righteous.

Satan hasn't changed his tactics. Just as he was behind the wicked who shot at the psalmist, so he is behind every evil act committed on earth. He still uses evil people to shoot at God's people. Sometimes the arrows (or whatever weapon they choose to use) are real, but more often the arrows come in the form of taunts, underhanded tactics, and other mean-spirited actions and words.

Satan and his friends work from the shadows. The reason is obvious. If he performed his dirty work in the open and made his temptations overtly obvious, we'd know he was trying to trick us. His purpose is to make us fall and make us ineffective for God. He knows he has no power to take our salvation. But the good news is that Satan's attempts are ultimately futile. Others may persecute me-my life may even be taken-and Satan may tempt and try me, but his doom and my success are inevitable. God gives me the power to overcome temptation, and if evil attacks result in my life's end, heaven awaits.

Don't fear the war. With God, your success is guaranteed.

Prayer: Father, thank You for the victory we have through You over Satan and his sinful tactics.

Martin Wiles Hodges, South Carolina, USA