Day Ten: Defeating the Accusations of the Enemy

You gave me victory over my accusers.
  2 Sam. 22:44 and Psa. 18:43, NLT

I got back to our dorm room tired but happy, after an afternoon of tennis. When I opened the door, my roommate turned to greet me with an icy stare. She was mad! It didn’t take many questions before she released a torrent of angry words. “You think you’re so cute, don’t you? Just because you’re athletic and popular, you get to run around in the sunshine all the time, while all I do is sit around and do homework.” She proceeded to fling the contents of her drawers at me, a handful at a time, while I made useless attempts at discussion. When she hurled the drawers themselves, I made a hasty exit.

What in the world had I done to bring that on? I wondered. It didn’t take long to realize she wasn’t mad at me, but the awkward, itchy cast she’d worn almost since her arrival at college. In a freak accident only a month into school, she had shattered her ankle, which was pinned together and extremely painful. Seeing me bop in and out of our room having fun, while she hobbled around campus week after week had been like a knife in her gut. And that was the day she released her pent up emotion. On me.

Her accusations were unjust. I wasn’t a tennis star by any means – just out having fun. I had friends, but certainly wasn’t in the popular group at school. And I did my share of homework. Even if I had been “guilty” of these things, they were not justifiable reasons for hate.

Accusers come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes their accusations are as ridiculous and unfounded as the scene above. At other times, they pinpoint a sin from the past which we cannot deny. The worst accusations come from within – we convict ourselves. We forget we have a Father who doesn’t take His forgiveness back once we’ve asked for it, even when our minds keep reminding us of our wretchedness. Accusations are distracting, draining, and defeating.

We currently know several people who have been falsely accused of heinous crimes, and it looks like the enemy is winning. Whether the accusations stem from ignorance, a misinterpretation of the evidence, or evil intent, Christians are sometimes punished unjustly. This is hard to reconcile with scriptures like: Psalm 37:32-33, Luke 18:1-8, and today’s verses that promise justice. Yet we know from history as well as our own experiences that sometimes the innocent suffer.

So then, is victory a lie? I believe the answer comes in Paul’s speech to the Athenians: “For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

The Day is coming when Jesus will set the record straight. Satan is the ultimate accuser. He rejoices when God’s children are “found guilty” either publicly or in our own hearts. The Good News is, if we are clean before God the Accuser cannot crush us. God will take him out in the end, “The accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down” Rev. 12:10.

God will protect us even if the truth is temporarily concealed. God will use it somehow, as only He can, for good. And we can be confident that God will make all things right in the life to come. That will be our complete and final victory!