We often say when we see a car come out of nowhere that the car was on our “blind side.” Do you have a “blind side” spiritually-some area of your life that’s vulnerable to self or Satan? Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock turned in masterful performance in the 2009 hit movie, The Blind Side. In the film, Bullock portrays Leign Ann Tuohy, a classy, suburban Tennessee mother who adopts an underprivileged teenager, Michael Oher. As it happens, this teenager exhibits enormous potential on the football field. As Michael becomes a part of the Tuohy family, he learns valuable lessons on life, love, and of course, football.
Both his mom and his coach inform Michael that his teammates are counting on him to guard their “blind side.” In football, the “blind side” is one of the most vulnerable positions for an athlete because he cannot see where he may be hit. So, the player relies upon his teammate to watch his back and to protect him.
Unfortunately, “blind sides” do not just occur in football. They often occur in our spiritual lives as well. We can be going through our day as if everything is fine, and then it happens: we are ambushed by a spiritual attack. We never even see it coming.
Eve had a day like this, and it would be a day that would change the course of human history … forever. According to Gen. 1-2, God made man and woman and placed them in Eden. Here, they had all they could possibility want: unrestricted access to God, a perfect relationship to one another, and harmony in all creation. They weren’t prepared for a strategic and deadly assault in paradise.
Satan approached Eve and asked her whether God has denied her the opportunity to eat from any of the trees in the garden. He does not come right out and state that God is deliberately withholding, but he raises the suspicion that God does not want Eve to have something precious – true power and knowledge. Satan does not come in an oppressive or fearful way; in fact, he presents himself as one who is bringing a freeing truth: death will not come to you if you disobey.
When most people think of evil and its presence, they think of The Exorcist, or they envision a horrible, frightening figure. We need to expect that on some occasions, our enemy may appear as the clever charmer.
God made Eve, loved her, gave her an adoring husband, placed her in paradise, and gave her unrestricted access to Him. Even after all that, though, she begins to believe that God cannot be fully trusted. Unlike Satan, the words and commandments of God are always good (Ps 19:7-9). He never prohibits without a reason, even if He does not share that reason with us. Distrusting her God, Eve ate the forbidden fruit. She was “blindsided” by an enemy who stole her attention, killed her faith, and destroyed her intimacy with God.
Now, you may be thinking: “Hang on! Eve was being ridiculous here! I never would have fallen like that! If someone (or something) comes along and tries to tempt me to fall, I’m going to stand firm in the Lord. Even better, I’ll run to the Lord, but I’m not going to betray Him!”
Are you sure?
Ultimately, Eve did not need extra “wisdom;” she needed to obey. Rather than assuming that God was working against her, she needed to trust that God’s gifts were enough, good, (James 1:17) and that His prohibition was for her own protection.
Just as he did with Eve, Satan comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy us, too (John 10:10). It is easy to assume that we will remain loyal to Christ, but we all have blindsides. Friends and Sisters in Christ who pray for us help, because only God fully sees our areas of potential danger. He is our great Protector. He is our Defender (Ps 32:7; 121:7; 1 John 2:1) when spiritual attacks will come. It’s not a matter of if they will happen, but when.
When are you most vulnerable to an attack?
Under what circumstances are you tempted to rebel against the Lord?
When these moments come, will you be ready?
Take time now to ask God to defend your blindside.