I thought about blogging about how the enemy has been acting like a student whose done not a speck of work all semester and then in the last few weeks, shows up and tries to act as though they’ve been engaged all along. Cause for real, before the “semester” ends or Pentecost arrives, he is trying to do his best work. And some of y’all are his conduit, turning in papers and taking exams on his behalf. But that’s it, I’m not blogging about him. I just need him to know that in the words of the cast of RHOA, “We see each other!” This blog is about the goodness of God despite, amidst and between the trickery of satan.

As God allows the fire to be amplified, so must our prayers, our praise and our presence within Him. That is the methodology for withstanding the wiles of the enemy. Over the last week, to be sure, I’ve had good reason to “knuck if you buck;” but I am reminded that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). That is the truth that must persist in our being, particularly so that we don’t fail in the last few days or better yet, receive an incomplete because we allowed ourselves to be distracted and move in ways that God’s plan and purpose for our lives don’t support.

While grading final projects for a class I instruct, one of my students wrote, “God sees beauty in places I cannot.” Sit with that. Even what we deem as messy, irrevocable and undesirable, there stands God granting “beauty for ashes.” It is easy, perhaps even elementary, to see and even smell where destruction has occurred. It takes scholarship to see, smell and even imagine God creating something from nothing.

Contrary to what is happening around us, God is still on the throne! And He still works with fragments to construct masterpieces. We can cast our cares upon Him because He cares; and He won’t leave us. In fact in our moments of isolation, we can know Him to be a very present help in the time of trouble. He has purpose for each one of us. Once we settle into this reality, we began to understand why the enemy grinds so hard in an attempt to thwart it.

This blog is about the goodness of God despite, amidst and between the trickery of satan.