2 Corinthians 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Yesterday I left you with the thought about being able to tell the difference between Satan’s hiss and God’s whisper. Here in this verse is a prime example. The issue at hand, the devil’s device is unforgiveness. For God is forgiving, Satan is the antithesis of Christ, in opposition, so unforgiving.

God is love, Satan spreads hate. God is merciful, Satan is vengeful. God is just, Satan is corrupt. God is true, Satan is a liar. God is gracious, Satan is spiteful.

God desires to share His character with His children, Satan seeks to stop your growth in Christ. Satan wants to taint every good thing from God.

2 Timothy 3:2-5 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

The antitheses of Paul’s life in Christ.

2 Timothy 3:10-11 But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

One more comparative.

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

Serpent in the Hebrew is  naw-khawsh’; from H5172; a snake (from its hiss):—serpent.

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Subtlety is a quality of our enemy. God is direct and forthright.

Genesis 3:9,11 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

A hissing sound is soft almost whisper like but it is a warning of who speaks where God’s whisper is an encouragement. Satan’s hiss is a subversion of truth. God’s Word is truth.

Psalm 58:4-5 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.

Listening to Satan is likened to being struck by a puff adder, which attacks your hearing, preventing you from hearing God’s whispers.

In reference to yesterday’s devotional and my closing comments, here is a hiss from Satan; “That is the truth of God, and that is all it means.”

2 Peter 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

Satan would have you believe it means one thing and one thing only. Just to clarify the meaning of prophecy, it means the revealed mind of God. It cannot be private in the sense that it means only one thing. God will use every Word at his disposal to correct and direct us.

The issue here is discerning the difference between Satan’s hiss and God’s whisper.