Accusation

           Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 

            He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 

           And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” (Genesis 3:9-11)

          Having established yesterday that Satan’s accusations are a special form of temptation, let’s consider the strategies used in accusation. The first possible strategy Satan uses, according to Mr. Gurnall, is to accuse the person of being like the devil, of thinking and doing what the devil thinks and does. In short, he projects himself on the accused.

          The second avenue for accusation is the exaggeration of sins in the person’s life. How often do we find ourselves reminded of something we did that was wrong, or even just foolish, and a sense of shame engulfs us? Do we take these things to our Lord? Or do we shrink a little or shove the thought back into our subconscious so that it can emerge like a great white shark when we least expect it?

          The third way Satan accuses is by appointing himself prosecuting attorney, judge, and jury. For me, this is summarized with three words: Not Good Enough. The fourth is that he tries to rob us of the covenantal promises God had made with us. The goal of all of these is to separate us from God, to recognize that we are naked and hide ourselves.

          According to Mr. Gurnall, there are several good responses to these accusations. The first is to be more careful. When we are accused, we should examine our hearts and lives, and examine Scripture and correct ourselves with regard to what we find. Secondly, we should be humbler, knowing that at least some of the accusations (but not the solutions) he makes are true. Thirdly, we should apply logic and clear thinking.

          I’m not sure we can always look at the accusations being made against us and categorize them as nicely as Mr. Gurnall does. I notice three broad types of accusation in my life. The first is amorphous. Something is wrong with me. I’ve committed some sin. What? I don’t know.  Another is a specific accusation, but about something that happened years ago. The third isn’t about sin at all. It’s an accusation that I have failed in some way. This can be either amorphous or specific.

          And I like to think that when these accusations are hurled at me, that they don’t come between God and me, but that I take them to Him. I do take them to Him, but I spend excessive amounts of time bewailing my fate – what a bad person I am, what a bad person I was and surely will be again, or how miserable a failure I am… when I should be praising my Father for how loving, forgiving, and powerful He is and asking for victory over anything in my life that displeases Him.