Is This Seat Taken?
How You Go from Dinner, to a Disaster!
You’re seated at a ready to eat or have a cup of coffee, when suddenly you hear these words: Is this seat taken? Upon hearing this question, what is your initial reaction? How would you respond to this question?
Although hearing this question is common, there are occasions when we are asked this question in a non-verbal way. Did you know that someone is asking us this question constantly and in a spiritual way? In Genesis chapter 3 verse 1-13 Adam and Eve face this question in a spiritual sense. I invite you to read those verses at this moment.
Adam and Eve had gone “out” to eat and enjoy the day. When in an instant they found themselves in a situation that left them lamenting the decision they had made. Read verses 22-24 of chapter 3 to see the results of their decision. In those verses we see that Adam and Eve lost the privilege to continue living in the Garden of Eden.
What initiated this detrimental outcome? It all started with a simple question: Is this seat taken? Satan didn’t ask Adam and Eve this question in a verbal manner, but rather in a non-verbal manner. And although there is nothing inherently bad with the question, the danger lies when it is Satan who is asking the question.
The author Louie Giglio wrote a book titled “Don’t Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table” which helps us remember that Satan is always looking for a way to be part of our lives to destroy it. However, we can decide whether Satan sits at our table. When Adam and Eve allowed Satan to sit with them, he presented them with an argument that on the surface was on point. What Satan presented them with was the fact that eating the fruit was not bad, that it was not a sin. Read verses 4-5 once again. In his book, Louie Giglio describes this strategy by Satan like this:
“Sin can look so good at first. Helpful even. We’re apt to believe that the tempting thoughts in our minds are a solution to the pressures we face. But watch out.”
What Satan so conveniently left out of his argument was the fact that the sin was in the disobeying God.
The next time Satan approaches your table, your life, and asks: Is this seat taken? I hope you can remember these words that Louie Giglio used to describe sin.
“Sin is not your pal, and sin is not your buddy. Sin is never the magic elixir it claims to be. Sin is a mirage, always overpromising and underdelivering.”
1 Peter 5:8 warns us like this: “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
I hope we can heed this warning and not allow Satan to have a place in our lives so that in the future we are not lamenting the decision of having followed