How to we avoid falling into the pitfalls, snares and temptations laid before us? I will try to tackle this topic in a series of posts and would appreciate your suggestions and contributions on the tactics and antidotes God brings to your minds.

2 Corinthians 10 BSB “……3For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. 4 The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

https://biblehub.com/2_corinthians/10-4.htm If you would like to see other verses pertaining to our weapons, please check out this link as it is a helpful tool to become familiar with.

This is literally one of the oldest tactics in the book… If you sin against God, justify and excuse your own behavious by casting the blame on someone else.

Antidote 1: Acknowledge that to blame/accuse others breaks the greatest of God’s commandments. 1st, in doing so, we are not sincerely repenting for and acknowledging our sin. He says against Him alone have we sinned. Hence we culturally have been trained to break the two greatest commandments and think it is so normal to do that we often miss it. The first commandment to love God with all and we are breaking the second greatest to love others as Christ loved us.

Antidote 2: Meditate on the fact that God categorically rejected this tactic.

Note in the verse below that God held all three parties involved to account and blaming others did not gain them any mercy or pardon. God will hold us all to account regardless if someone else tempted us to break His Word.

“9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11 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? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.”

This blame game will not fly in God’s courtroom

Antidote 3: Not the least of the 3, eyes on Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2 Berean Study Bible “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart”

Antidote 4: Recognize that God has promised redemption and forgiveness to the repentant who are willing to take responsibility for their actions.

2 Chronicles 34:26-28
New Living Translation
26 “But go to the king of Judah who sent you to seek the Lord and tell him: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the message you have just heard: 27 You were sorry and humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this city and its people. You humbled yourself and tore your clothing in despair and wept before me in repentance. And I have indeed heard you, says the Lord. 28 So I will not send the promised disaster until after you have died and been buried in peace. You yourself will not see the disaster I am going to bring on this city and its people.’”

So they took her message back to the king.”

This passage floored me. God delayed His wrath on an entire generation for the sake of one sincerely repentant man. God is merciful and faithful to the repentant. We must never forget the profound depths of His mercy towards such a one.