Satan is a formidable adversary (“adversary” is the literal meaning of the name Satan), and he has motive. Satan hates God. He hates God, but he can’t harm God. So, he hurts God by hurting us. Wound the Creator through His creation.
Another reason Satan hates us is because we are made in the image of God. Whenever he looks at us, he sees a reflection of God, and he wants to do whatever he can to distort or destroy the image. Men are particularly important targets to the Enemy, because they are most often the leaders. They are the heads of families and churches. In these roles, men become spiritual role-models. Children often look at their fathers and apply what they see (good or bad) to their heavenly Father. The world looks at pastors and expects to see the best of what Christianity has to offer.
Sex is just one of the many weapons Satan has in his arsenal, but it’s one of the most powerful when used against men. Look how often he used it to tempt, corrupt and destroy men in the Bible:
· Ham looked at his father’s nakedness and earned his father’s curse. (Genesis 9)
· Abram (later “Abraham”) slept with Hagar, his wife’s maidservant, to help hurry along God’s plan. Their son was the progenitor of those who hate the Jews so much today. (Genesis 16)
· The Sodomites wanted to rape the angels visiting Lot and proved that there were none righteous in the city outside Lot’s family. (Genesis 19)
· Lot’s daughters got him drunk and slept with him in order to bear children. The two peoples that came from these children were a thorn in the side of the Hebrews for generations. (Genesis 19)
· Shechem violated Dinah, causing her brothers to seek a bloody revenge. (Genesis 34)
· Reuben slept with father’s wife (not his mother) and lost his birthright. (Genesis 35)
· Judah slept with a prostitute from the temple who turned out to be his daughter-in-law. (Genesis 38)
· Onan spilled his semen on the ground rather than fulfill his role as kinsman redeemer, and God struck him dead for it. (Genesis 38)
· Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph and allowed him to go to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. (Genesis 39)
· The Hebrews engaged in sexual immorality and idol worship with Moabite women and incurred God’s wrath. (Numbers 25)
· Samson spent time with a prostitute and with Delilah, who sold him out to the Philistines. (Judges 16)
· The Benjamites in Gibeah wanted to rape the Levite traveler but raped his concubine instead until she was dead. As a result, the eleven other tribes of Israel rose up against the Benjamites and almost completely wiped them out. (Judges 19-20)
· Eli’s sons slept with women who served at entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and the Lord put them to death. (1 Samuel 2)
· David watched Bathsheba bathe and lost control of his lust. He had an affair with her and killed her husband to cover up his sin. The sword would never leave the house of David thereafter. (2 Samuel 11-12)
· Amnon raped his sister Tamar, and Absalom killed Amnon in vengeance. (2 Samuel 13)
· Absalom slept with his father’s concubines on the roof of the palace for all Israel to see. Soon after, Joab plunged three javelins into Absalom’s heart as Absalom hung by his hair from a tree. (2 Samuel 16, 18)
· Adonijah asked Solomon for Abishag, their father’s concubine. Solomon saw the request as a power play for the throne and had Adonijah put to death. (1 Kings 2)
· Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines to satisfy his sexual desires. In his later years, they turned him away from God with their worship of foreign gods. (1 Kings 11)
· The youth who lacked judgment went in with the adulteress like an ox going to the slaughter. (Proverbs 7)
· The sexually immoral brother slept with his father’s wife, and Paul admonished the Corinthians to throw him out of the church. (1 Corinthians 5)
What a list! And I’m not positive that I got them all. Satan’s tactics haven’t changed. He’s going to keep beating this drum as long as we continue to dance to it.
I don’t want to give Satan more muscle than he has. He’s powerful, but he’s not all-powerful. He doesn’t read your mind, no matter how much it seems like it sometimes. He can’t make you sin; he can only lead you to it and make it really attractive. He can’t be all places at all times, but he does have countless demons under his command.
What makes him so formidable is that he’s had time to practice his deceit – at least six thousand years by some estimates. How difficult do you think we men are to figure out? My wife pretty much solved the puzzle the first year of our marriage. The Enemy has made it his life’s work to study us, because we are his instruments for hurting God.
Satan knows our thoughts not because he is omniscient but because they are so predictable. The flesh responds in a certain way to sexual temptation. It always has, and it always will. With six thousand plus years of experience under his belt, Satan can make some pretty accurate educated guesses about how we will respond. Our best defenses against him are strong walls and guarded gates.
