Satan's Bonus Payment

Satan attacks families, all families. When he attacks a Christian family, it is personal. God the Creator designed the family as the chief administrative unit for carrying out His purposes on Earth; so Satan attacks it. It is a fact of life in a fallen world.

Let's look a bit more at the master design:
The marriage relationship parallels the relationship between God and a believer. Someday, the Church will have the opportunity to become the Bride of Christ. The skill sets needed in a successful marriage are the same ones that will be relevant in our eternal destiny. I will take time to copy Ephesians 5:22-33 here in Young's Literal Translation. It is stilted and old-timey, its origins dating back 150 years, but that may slow you down so that you can "read it again for the first time."

22The wives! to your own husbands subject yourselves, as to the Lord, 23because the husband is head of the wife, as also the Christ [is] head of the assembly, and he is saviour of the body, 24but even as the assembly is subject to Christ, so also [are] the wives to their own husbands in everything.
25The husbands! love your own wives, as also the Christ did love the assembly, and did give himself for it, 26that he might sanctify it, having cleansed [it] with the bathing of the water in the saying, 27that he might present it to himself the assembly in glory, not having spot or wrinkle, or any of such things, but that it may be holy and unblemished; 28so ought the husbands to love their own wives as their own bodies: he who is loving his own wife — himself he doth love; 29for no one ever his own flesh did hate, but doth nourish and cherish it, as also the Lord — the assembly, 30because members we are of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones; 31‘for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined to his wife, and they shall be — the two — for one flesh;’ 32this secret is great, and I speak in regard to Christ and to the assembly; 33but ye also, every one in particular — let each his own wife so love as himself, and the wife — that she may reverence the husband.

Can you see that marriage is a very big deal in God's eyes? Can you see that is what makes marriage a very big target in Satan's eyes? Verse 32 in the ESV is: This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. This Bible passage lays the moral instruction that opens the secrets of the 'profound mystery,' (which is also the key as to why gay marriage does not fit in God's order; that is off- topic for this blog, but I threw it in so you can connect the dots on your own).
Just as a skit is a tiny portrayal of an event of life, marriage is the active living theater of the gospel mystery. God chooses a bride, He loves her and offers a covenant: He will give himself completely to her. She responds, receives his love, and becomes one with him. It is a big deal. It is the creation of unity, and Satan attacks that.

The title of this post refers to a "bonus payment." Today, I'm not talking about the marriage that Satan prevented between KatieLyn and Joe; I'm talking about his bonus!  Satan got his bonus payment because he went without being detected by the bride!

KatieLyn never once articulated a rational reason to break off the marriage. Put yourself in Joe's place for a minute. It's a couple days out from the wedding; you are totally focused on beginning a new and permanent phase of life by marrying a woman you are completely in love with. KatieLyn tells him that they need to talk. She tells him that he is "everything" she prayed for, but because of 'lifestyle differences,' he will grow to hate her, so she has to return his grandmother's ring and call off the wedding. He asks her what she means by lifestyle differences and she says, "I like to drink tea." 

I am struggling here to not paint her as a total ditz, she has many good qualities, but that night the best she could come up with was to play the prophetess and say that Joe would grow to hate her. He was expected to accept this on the basis of differing beverage choices. Her nonsensical explanation, of course, was a statement of total self-deception.

The devil broke up this marriage, KatieLyn was and probably is still deeply deceived about that, and her co-dependent mother and intimate confidant is in denial that Satan does this kind of stuff—if she thinks he is real at all.

Not only did Satan pull off his scheme undetected by the bride's family, he gets bonus points for keeping her family trapped in the dysfunction that the Lord had been working to mend. Instead of blossoming into a woman with a fully-grown purpose in life, KatieLyn returned to her childhood purpose of providing meaning for her mom's life, the root of their codependency. This marriage would have been good for Gwen too; if only she could have gotten over her own fear and jealousy she could have seen that. She chose to doubt God instead.

KatieLyn had spent nearly half her life praying for a man who had a love for Christ in his heart, who wanted to honor that, who would make marriage a priority, who had made a commitment to purity, who loved her as best he knew. And God honored and answered KatieLyn's prayers. When God brought Joe into their lives, KatieLyn rejoiced, but the other half of her codependency tumbled into satanic confusion. KatieLyn and her mom were a house divided. None of this was good enough to convince Gwen. Gwen, who was so used to being in charge of running her family, wasn't ready to relinquish those reins and encourage KatieLyn to pursue her prayed-for destiny. (Despite this, Gwen is doing okay when it comes to Ephesians 5:22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord, because she doesn't fully listen to the Lord either.)

KatieLyn has said that there is nothing wrong with her family. I can understand being defensive about a co-dependency, but she missed seeing the bigger picture. The Lord would have used this marriage firstly, to help KatieLyn be loosed from her mom's apron strings and begin to flourish on her own. And also, this marriage would have helped to realign Gwen to her proper place in her own home; Satan has attacked Gwen's identity too, and she places far too much emphasis on clinging to her sphere of authority. She is raising children who do not want to leave home as adults, and that is unhealthy.

The Lesson
Satan is a deceiver. He deceives best when he can go unrecognized. As of now, he is attacking Gwen's harvest. I will use that harvest as a metaphor. She did an excellent job raising her little fruits, but now that they are ripening, she is greedy for them and does not want to let them go to market. Yet it is out at the market where they gain a value, where they can find purpose and bring joy to others. But Gwen keeps coaxing KatieLyn toward the mason glass, to be preserved in a specimen jar and stuck on her own pantry shelf. She has just about got KatieLyn convinced that she'll be happy there for a long time. And now, for a change, I am the one with doubts and misgivings about that!