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SOUNDING OUT:
Be Not Deceived By the Five Senses
The adversary’s objectives are to steal and to kill and destroy. In order to effectively do so he must disguise himself. His method of operation, is to deceive. Unless he deceives people, he will never be able to steal, kill, or destroy. Three times in the church epistles God commands us, “Be not deceived.” Therefore, it must be available for us to walk in such a way that our adversary is not effective in deceiving us.
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We learned in Part IV of Living in God’s Power that the five senses are not reliable. Our spiritual senses are reliable, but our natural five senses are not. II Corinthians 5:7 says we are to “walk by faith, not by sight.” Sight is one of the five senses and just may be put by metonymy for all of them. It is important that we be careful, to not be fooled by them.
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It does not matter how the situation looks in the senses realm. There is a spiritual realm, that although unseen, supersedes the natural realm of the five senses.
II Kings 6:8-10:
Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.
9 And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down.
10 And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.
  This happened on a regular basis. Elisha would receive information from God and pass it on to the king. See how important one person walking by the spirit can be?
II Kings 6:11:
Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel?
  Who is the turncoat? Who is the traitor? Who is telling them all my plans? Every time I set up an ambush, they find out what is going on.
II Kings 6:12:
And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.
  A bit of an exaggeration, but the point is made. I guess the word got out. Naaman must have shared something about Elisha with his people back in Syria.
II Kings 6:13-17:
And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.
14 Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.
15 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?
16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.
17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
  When Elisha’s servant saw the great host he became upset and fearful. However, Elisha was not fooled by the five senses and prayed for God to open his servant’s eyes. When the Lord opened his servant’s eyes he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Instead of being outnumbered and surrounded, he realized that those that were with him were more than those who were against him.
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If this was true for God’s servants in the Old Testament, what do you think applies for God’s sons in the New? I John 4:4 says, as God’s little children, we have overcome our adversaries, the devil and his evil spirit realm, because greater is he that is in us, than he that is in the world. With Christ in us the hope of glory, what do we have to be afraid of.
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The key is being diligent and not being deceived by our five senses. Sure we can get startled and shaken at times, but there is no reason to be afraid of the sudden fear. There is no situation in which you may find yourself, that you cannot handle. With God working in us, what can man do unto us? God always makes a way to escape and be victorious.
I Corinthians 10:13:
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
  I think one of the reasons we lack and get into such trouble is because we do not recognize temptation when it comes. When we do not recognize temptation, then we do not look for the way to escape. We just walk right into the trap. We must get better at seeing how our adversary trips us up and ensnares us.
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We do not let situations fool us, and we do not let people fool us either. The next account we are going to look at is the anointing of David.
I Samuel 16:1-7:
And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.
2 And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.
3 And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee.
4 And Samuel did that which the LORD spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?
5 And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.
6 And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD’S anointed is before him.
7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
  What a great principle, we do not want to be fooled by the five senses, so we cannot limit ourselves to the five senses. On the outside people can seem to have it so together, but God looks at the heart.
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Why should we ever question our heart. God chose us, and He knew what he was doing. He chose us, and He knows what is in our heart. So, do not let your heart condemn you. Walk in confidence with God.
I Samuel 16:8-11:
Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this.
9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this.
10 Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these.
11 And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither.
  Samuel said, “Hurry up, we are going to wait for him!” I think there is an important principle here. We cannot afford to assume that our young people do not want anything to do with spiritual matters. If anything, we should assume just the opposite. They do want to know and be involved.
I Samuel 16:12,13:
And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.
13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.
  By his five senses Samuel may have been fooled, but he walked with God and was not. God does not look on the outward appearance. How often do we? One of the great benefits of walking by the spirit is that we get to the people who want God’s help without respect of persons and without being fooled by the five senses. I wonder how many of us would have not considered that God would have called an Amos or a Paul, a pig herder or a murderer? We need to see people like God sees them, and we need to look beyond what is before our five senses.
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We are not deceived by our five senses. Situations do not deceive us. People do not deceive us, and neither do the words people speak deceive us. Paul was not tricked by the words of the soothsayer in Acts 16.
Acts 16:16-18:
And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
  She said all the right things, but Paul was not fooled. He knew it was not genuine. He knew that there was a spiritual problem there, and he took care of it. He was not fooled by the five senses.
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Ahijah the prophet was blind and did not have all five senses, but he saw perfectly well with his spiritual senses.
I Kings 14:1-7a,17,18:
At that time [after Jeroboam refused to turn from his evil way.] Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick.
2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people.
3 And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.
4 And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age.
5 And the LORD said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman.
6 And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.
7A Go, tell Jeroboam….
17 And Jeroboam’s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah: and when she came to the threshold of the door, the child died;
18 And they buried him; and all Israel mourned for him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by the hand of his servant Ahijah the prophet.
  Ahijah, the prophet, was not fooled. Even though he could not see and this lady tried to disguise herself, God told him what he needed to know. He declared God’s Word and was not fooled by the five senses.
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When we walk by the spirit we will not be deceived by the five senses. We can rely on whatever God tells us. His Word is trustworthy as it is written and as it comes by revelation. Be not deceived about it.
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