More cunning

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" – Genesis 3v1

What is the first thing that come s to mind when I saw ‘the devil?’ Chances are that the mental image is of a little angry guy with red skin, horns, pointy teeth, a pitchfork, and a long tail with a point on the end. He is probably surrounded by flames and has an evil and lascivious grin on his face.

In The Wizard of Oz the good witch was beautiful, sweet, and tender. The wicked with was ugly, bent over and cruel. We have this idea that evil is synonymous with ugly and beauty is synonymous with good.

The sad thing is that it simply is not true. If Satan had appeared to Eve as above, we would not have the problem with sin. If evil always looked like the bad witch no one would want it.

But Satan doesn’t do it that way. He is more cunning and subtle than any other creature. He is sly, beautiful, and alluring. If the Wizard of Oz were shot using the reality of good and evil the bad witch would be just as pretty as the good witch. Dorothy and Toto would have never been afraid her and she could have tricked Dorothy out of her ruby slippers.

One of the greatest lessons we need to keep in mind is the truth that Satan is not going to be ugly. Sin is going to look appealing. Don’t watch out for the guy with the pitchfork. Watch out for most appealing things that come across your path. There is where the evil tends to cunningly hide.