Resilient: Bounce Back When Life Knocks You DownSample

Resilient through Deception

Satan is the author of confusion, and if I may take it one step further, deception. 

It hurts to be lied to. You feel bamboozled. You might even feel like a fool. How could you not see that you were being deceived? At least that’s the question I asked myself. But, that also goes back to what I said in Day 2 about ignoring the red flags. Many times, when we are being deceived, we get that feeling that something is not right or is too good to be true. When we ignore that feeling, we fall victim to deception. 

I’ll never forget when I was deceived by a man I’d grown to care for deeply. When I met him, we became quick friends. We spent a lot of time together getting to know each other and enjoying each other’s company. I was single, and he told me that he was single as well. I remember when I asked him about his relationship status, he couldn’t look me in the eye when he answered my question. I immediately felt that he was lying to me. However, I ignored it because I liked him a lot. I wanted to continue dating him. I found out he had three children and fiancé at home. I was crushed when I found out. It wasn’t because I was in love. It was because I trusted him. Above anything else, I thought we were friends. He betrayed my trust. I never looked at him the same after that. Moreover, I couldn’t believe that I allowed myself to be deceived, especially when my instincts told me that something just wasn’t right. 

Sadly, whether you are the deceiver or you’re the one being deceived, deception is quite common in this life.

God says, ‘You live in a world of deception.” (Jer 9:6, HCSB). There are several stories of deception in the Bible, but the one most malicious of them all, in my opinion, is the story of Tamar and Amnon. Amnon pretended to be ill in order to lure Tamar, his half-sister, to his house. I’m sure Tamar trusted her brother and thought nothing of it when he said he wanted her to prepare a meal for him to eat from her hand. However, he had ill intentions and raped her. Amnon’s act disgraced Tamar. After he raped her, he hated her and threw her out of his house, adding insult to injury. What’s worse is that King David, Tamar’s father, did not vindicate her. Tamar lived the rest of her days as a desolate woman. Unfortunately, many people face the same hurt and shame Tamar experienced.

How do you become resilient through deception? If you’ve ever been deceived, you have to accept what has happened. As much as we would like to, we can’t turn back the hands of time to make things turn out differently. Life has a way of teaching us some hard lessons. We must take what we learn and apply it to future decisions and future relationships, so we don’t fall into the same trap again. 

Before you make any decision, pray first to find out what God’s will is. Allow God to direct your decisions and follow the leading and urging of the Holy Spirit. Allow God to order your steps, for He can see things that we cannot see. 

Prayer:

Father, my prayer is that You open my eyes and ears to deception so that I’m not easily misled. I thank You for giving me the grace to overcome past hurt from being deceived. I ask that You open my heart to allow You to be the head of my life, my heart, and my will. In Jesus’s name, Amen.