It was six o’clock in the morning, I made a prayer with a pure heart to entrust my spiritual devotion time to God and also yearned for His enlightenment. I opened the Bible on the table and read Job 1:6-11, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, and Satan came also among them. And Jehovah said to Satan, From where come you? Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And Jehovah said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil? Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? Have not You made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth Your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.”

These scriptures record one of the few conversations between Satan and God. Here it is recorded clearly what God said and what Satan said. What we can see from these scriptures is that, God’s word is concise, not roundabout. He just asked Satan directly, “From where come you?” These words were simple, not vague, not illusory but real and practical and without obscured meaning; but how about Satan’s words? How did Satan answer, by its cunning nature? It said, “From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” From this answer, we can see Satan doesn’t answer the question from God. So even though it said that, no one can know clearly where it is from. With its evil and cunning nature, Satan thought that nobody would see its tracks. It didn’t know that God examines the depths of people’s hearts, and that God sees right through its evil and cunning nature. From Satan’s answer, we can see that Satan never says anything directly but has its aims and schemes. This is the symptom of Satan, and is absolutely the natural expression of Satan’s disposition.

Pondering over this, I couldn’t help thinking, “In real life, we often hear similar words like Satan’s and we can also speak such words out. Those who say these kinds of words have their deceitful and evil aims and intentions and what they want is to satisfy their personal profits. We’ll be confused and be fooled if we don’t discern these words.” For example, now we are in the final era of the last days. The prophecies of the Lord Jesus’ return have already been fulfilled. All kinds of signs have shown that God might have come back already and all the smart virgins have started to find God’s footsteps. But some people spread everywhere that, “There will be false Christs who deceive people in the last days, so all those who say that the Lord has already arrived are false,” “All of God’s words are in the Bible, departing from the Bible is heresy,” and so on. Many brothers and sisters are deceived by these words full of conspiracy without any discernment so that they don’t dare to investigate God’s work, nor seek the footsteps of God’s work. Brothers and sisters, let’s think: If all those who say that the Lord has already arrived are heresy, doesn’t that mean we have to wait for His return forever? Aren’t they Satan’s lackeys by saying this? Their intention is obvious. They want to stop us from following God and being saved by God, and cast us into hell. How vicious their hearts are! Besides, is departing from the Bible heresy? Was there the Old Testament when Jehovah created the world? Was there the New Testament when Jesus did the work of redemption? No. So what’s the root for these words, “departing from the Bible is heresy”? The Holy Spirit has never testified it. So these words must be Satan’s lies and fallacies?

Even though Satan is vicious, as long as we can differentiate better, we can see through its tricks and we won’t get deceived. So being able to discern Satan’s words is extremely helpful for us to recognize God’s voice and find God’s footsteps. Because where there is God’s work, there will be Satan’s disturbances. If we can discern Satan’s voice, then we’ll find the footsteps of God’s work.