laughing at the Devil (march 28 2011)

March 28, 2011

As we go into the third week of Lent, I realized that its been an interesting one for me. I broke my right hand on March 7th as I was rushing out my backdoor. I have never heard a more sickening sound as the sound of my bone snapping. Nor do I recall ever feeling the amount of sudden and blinding pain that came after that awful sound. After swallowing some extra strength Tylenol, I taped my fingers together and wrapped my hand. How I made it through that day is just a miracle but I can tell you this…I was praying 90 percent of the time.

Most of what I do when I work is pretty solitary work so I have time to either grumble or pray. Occasionally I have little epiphanies and the bum hand gave me a good one. The broken fingers were a temptation to get me to fail on my Lenten journey. I know some folks might not agree with me on this one but I think ole Lucifer has been trying to get me to fail in my Lenten journey this year. I gave up drinking soda and specifically Mountain Dew.

One store that I was working in had absolutely nothing in their coolers except that. I had worked for 7 straight hours without stopping and my hand was throbbing and I was so thirsty and without thinking, bought the Mountain Dew and had downed half of it before I realized it. But before I let the fallen one get a laugh in and use that slip up to mock me and try and make me feel bad, I decided that I would laugh first!

Laughing at Lucifer means that I am a happy warrior. Lent is a time of spiritual battle. It’s a time of wandering in the desert so to speak. I think of the Israelites as they wandered for 40 years. They grumbled so much that they just wandered a circuitous route all over that desert because of their grumpy disobedience. Jesus went into the desert for 40 days to fast and pray and Lucifer tried to bring him down but he failed to defeat the Lord.

The best way to drive out Lucifer is with fasting and pray and quoting the Holy Scriptures but remember he can quote right back at you. The one thing he absolutely cannot handle is laughing at him. He cannot stand to be mocked and scorned. He is too proud. That’s what got him tossed out of heaven to begin with.

I don’t underestimate him or his power but I have a mean sense of humor and a good sense of timing on when and how to use it in my spiritual battle. I do take my sinful nature seriously. Going into this time of Lent I have entered the spiritual battle wearing my full armor of prayer. Drinking that Mtn. Dew after I said that I was going to forego them for 40 days is not the problem. I was thirsty and there was nothing else to drink. The flesh is weak and it will not happen again because now I carry my own refreshment with me when I leave the house. I laugh loudly as I pack that water in my bag when I leave the house.