The Devil went down to Georgia, and old Johnny took the bet. He dialogued with the devil, and played a musical set.
Contrary to the lyrics of the old country-western tune, having a conversation with the devil is probably not a good idea. Take a leaf from Eve’s story. She (and we) would have been so much better off had she not decided to take her afternoon break with the snake by the apple tree. (Note: I realize there is no theological evidence to support the theory that the fruit from the tree of life was an apple.)
Interestingly enough though, she is the only non-heavenly being in the Bible whose conversation with Satan was recorded. I guess that makes sense. I mean, she set a whopper of a precedent. However, we do have references to his influence over others, specifically David and Ananias. Neither of those circumstances worked out very well either.
The Bible tells us that Satan is our adversary (1 Peter 5:8), our accuser (Revelation 12:10), a tempter (1 Thessalonians 3:5), a murderer and a liar (John 8:44). Honestly, why would we want to talk to him anyway? Yet, even when we don’t talk back, we are prone to listen, prone to yield to his temptations, prone to his accept his accusations, prone to believe his lies. And as such, we live defeated lives, caught in a vicious of cycle of sin, consequences, and forgiveness. We stay always on the defensive and never able to move forward in our walk with the Lord.
Satan is actually quite the chatter box. He will try to fill our heads with all sorts of untruths. He will strategize. He will analyze. He will discover our weaknesses. And he will attack. But we don’t have to engage the enemy. We can let God do the work for us.
Instead of rehashing the past, wrangling about the present, or rationalizing what we think, we can turn to the word of God. Ephesians 6: 13-17 makes several different references to the Bible (God’s word) in Paul’s description of the spiritual armor that Christians are to wear in the war against Satan. In addition to the armor of God’s righteousness, the shield of faith, and the helmet of salvation, we are given three other pieces of “clothing.” We are told to suit up with the belt of truth (God’s word), shoes that come from the peace of the Good News (the gospel found in God’s word), and the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God.
It’s not about having a conversation with the devil. And it’s more than just having a casual relationship with the Bible. It’s about reading, knowing, remembering, and quoting scripture. Satan will flee from the presence of God’s word. He cannot argue with Truth.
So, if comes down to your house and starts whispering in your ear, don’t dialogue with the devil, it’s not you that he will fear. Unlike fictitious Johnny, Satan won’t lay his fiddle at your feet. But at the words of the Savior Jesus, he’s sure to take a seat.