Gotta know your enemy

Tonight I was out in my garden inspecting everything.  I was so excited because I saw quite a few lady bugs.  Lady bugs are very good for the garden, because they eat the insects that are not good for the garden.   I don't know why, but when I came inside I decided to look up this particular lady bug.  It was yellow with black spots.  Turns out this "lady bug" was no such thing...  This was the infamous Cucumber Beetle.  

The Cucumber Beetle is NOT good for the garden at all.  It eats plants and spreads disease...  For the last few weeks when I have seen them multiply I have been so happy, and yet all the while they were not what I thought they were.  After removing the beetle I inspected my plants and sure enough they had been chowing down on my cucumber and pepper plants...  It's amazing how easily we can be deceived.

Really there was only a very subtle difference between a yellow lady bug and a cucumber beetle...  You really had to be looking to see.  You also had to know what to look for.  They are both yellow with black spots and about the same size.  The real difference was the head of the cucumber beetle was black and the body was oval instead of round.  Everything else was amazingly similar.

This lesson in the garden spoke to me of another enemy.  The Bible says our enemy appears as an angel of light.   Many verses in the Bible talk about this enemies ability to deceive.

Rev 12:9 " And the great dragon was cast our, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which DECEIVED the whole world: he was cast our into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

What's interesting to me about that verse is that he was able to deceive the whole world.

The Bible warns us about wolves in sheep's clothing...  Sheep being what the Bible calls God's people...  The wolf appears to look and act like a sheep, but it his hiding his true nature.  Sometimes it can be very hard to know.  The Bible tells us that the Sheep know the Shepherd's voice...  that indicates to me that the Shepherd is not the only one doing the talking.  We have to be very careful in every area of our lives that we are not being deceived.

I remember a time when I was praying about a decision and I was getting 2 different answers and I was very confused.  Both voices were using Scripture and they both sounded so good.  After weeks of getting conflicting messages I cried out to the Lord for relief because I was so confused, and I truly didn't know which answer was right.

Finally, only one voice prevailed and it was in line with the full council of God and I knew my answer, but that was a difficult time.  It took time and patience to wait for the right answer.  We have to be careful about jumping into something...  Have you ever gotten an idea and then just run with it, and later on find out that it was NOT God's will at all, and it caused a lot of heartache.  I have many times.  I'm learning...  you have to know your enemy.  You have to watch out for his schemes and plans.  He appears to be an angel of light.  

Learn from the Cucumber beetle...  Your enemy may be dressed like a friend!!!