The Shield of Faith

“Besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one.” Verse 16.

Faith always goes against our lusts. In every temptation Satan sends his flaming darts into our mind, where the power of decision rests as to whether we will obey God or give in to the lusts of the flesh. When Abraham went to Mount Moriah to offer up his son Isaac, Satan’s flaming darts might well have come at him in the form of words like these: “What do you think Sarah will say? Her heart will probably break, and that will be the sad end of a long and happy married life together. You’ll be a murderer—yes, a murderer twice over. You must have misunderstood; a loving God could not possibly have given such a commandment! You saw how God’s wrath was kindled against Cain when he slew his brother, Abel. And here you are, ready to do something just about as bad; and because you should know better, you will be worse than Cain.”

That’s how Satan preaches when a soul sets out to do a work of faith. In the position Abraham was in, every word would have struck him like a flaming dart. And yet, Abraham had not heard wrong; he acted with boldness and valor because God had said it, and we all know what happened: Satan’s flaming darts simply glanced off the shield of faith.