Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. [1 Peter 5:8-9b (NLT)]
During a seminar on cybersecurity, the speaker asked us how we protect ourselves from cyberattacks. One woman proudly told us how Microsoft had recently saved her from a hacking attempt. After a message popped up telling her to call them, she gave them remote access to her computer. She was pleased to report that it only cost her $700 to get her computer working again! Until the speaker told her, she didn’t know that a criminal had her $700 and credit card information and probably installed malware on her computer! While she never would have allowed a complete stranger into her home, she unwittingly opened the door to a criminal and welcomed him into her life.
Following the seminar, I couldn’t help but think about Satan. Scripture describes him as a serpent, lion, liar, thief, and tempter with adjectives like prowling, cunning, and crafty. Those same words describe a cybercriminal as well. Both Satan and the hacker want to take over our lives and they can do it without our even realizing it’s been done.
The cybersecurity specialist spoke of maintaining the security of the devices and networks we use. Since new hacking techniques are developed continually, once secured doesn’t mean forever secure; software needs to be updated to stay current with new threats. Once saved doesn’t mean safe from sin, either. We must keep updating our soul’s software with regular prayer, Bible study, and church.
Where we use our devices as well as what sites we visit and the sort of data we transmit and receive affects their safety; in the same way, where we go and what we put into our minds affects our souls. We claim we’d never venture into high-crime areas or the shady part of town but, sometimes, that’s exactly what we do both with our computers and phones as well as our friends and media choices! When the speaker reminded us about the importance of backing up data, I thought of the value of Christian friends who have our backs and both encourage and support us in times of trouble—times when we’re most vulnerable to Satan’s attack.
Multifactor authentication (MFA) was another security feature discussed. Just as a website can use MFA to make sure it is us, we should use MFA to make sure those great ideas we get have come from God rather than the enemy. Checking to see if those great ideas match up with God’s word and Jesus’ actions can keep us out of trouble!
Good cyber-security habits include malware protection, virtual private networks, cloud storage, secure routers, password protection, MFA, and common sense. None of those, however, will protect us if we fail to use them.
Whether Satan or cybercriminal, the weakest link in both cases is us. While outside consultants regularly try to hack into our bank, their security software always stops them. Unfortunately, in every test, someone (who clearly knows better) was conned into replying, hyperlinking, or opening an attachment. When Satan comes trolling, how often do we err by ignoring God’s guidelines, not examining the source of the message, going somewhere we shouldn’t, or letting curiosity get the best of us? We’ve been given the best protection money can’t buy, but God’s armor won’t defend us from the enemy if we don’t put it on!
Pastor Sandi always closes the service with Numbers 6:24-26. With this blessing, she’s continuing a tradition that is more than 3,000 years old. Intended as a blessing for the people, the Lord gave those words to Moses for Aaron to pass on to his sons and successive Temple priests. In 1979, that ancient blessing was found on two tiny silver scrolls in a burial cave near Jerusalem. Known as the Ketef Hinnom scrolls, they contain verses from Deuteronomy 7 and Numbers 6 and date to around 600 BC (making them the oldest known text of the Bible)!
According to Bible Gateway, the six verses of the 23rd Psalm are the most popular ones on their site, with verses 4 and 6 usually vying for first place. The seventh most popular verse, however, is today’s verse, Jeremiah 29:11. When people are going through hard times, this is the kind of verse that gets pulled out to reassure them that everything will turn out right.
Although it’s been many years, whenever I read today’s verse about God going both before and after me, I’m reminded of a hiking trip my daughter and I took through the Canadian Rockies. One of our guides led and tied orange ribbons along the trail to mark the way. A second guide (the sweep) followed the last hiker and removed the trail markers. With guides both before us and following us, the group could spread out, find their own pace, and take breaks when needed, while ensuring no one got lost or left behind.
Last Monday, I referenced an article in Christianity Today by theology teacher Jared Dodson whose students wanted to know “when bad people will get what they deserve.” Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that bad people will get what they deserve while on this side of the grass. Nevertheless, if they don’t repent and follow Jesus, those people eventually will get their comeuppance. Scripture makes it clear that those who don’t know God and follow the gospel of Jesus “will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.” [2 Thes 1:8-9]
In a recent Christianity Today article, Jared Dodson, teacher of biblical studies and theology at Bushnell University, wrote about his Gen Z students. They don’t ask the age-old question of why God allows bad things to happen to good people because they expect sin and evil in our fallen world. Having seen enough abuse of power, conflict, violence, rioting, exploitation, and mayhem in their young lives, they assume the good will suffer undeservedly. What they don’t understand is why the bad don’t seem to suffer along with them!
