A conversation with the Enemy

Today, I had a conversation with the enemy.

I didn’t intend on conversing. I was sitting alone atop a mountain overlooking a surprisingly verdant valley in the hill country. It was cool outside with a pleasant breeze.

I was enjoying the quiet stillness of the morning, listening to the birds chirp in the nearby trees. Perhaps this is why I did not realize what was occurring, since birds normally pickup on predators and danger.

He whispered to me in my ear, and at first I ignored it. He continued to pester me, filling my head with thoughts of hatred, self-loathing, ridicule and doubt. Normally, I attempt to disregard him and continue on with my endeavors. However, I wonder if it was the stillness of the morning and the lulling of the birds, that bade to pay closer attention. As he continued to waylay my thoughts with his accusations, a singular thought occurred to me. I paused and told him he was right. I told him he was correct in his assessment. I admitted that I could not dispute his accusations as they were true, to the best of my recollection. Strangely, as I responded to him, which I do not normally do, a peace passed over me. I did not turn away from his barrage but began to converse with him. I confirmed that my flesh indeed was weak. That I was undisciplined and did not possess a singular good trait. I could not dispute his accusations.

I then continued to remind him that, I was born this way. It was not an excuse more so an explanation of nature. I told him that I can only speak for myself. However, I posited that he was not like me. he wasn’t made like me. He was born in as close an approximation to perfection as he could’ve been in that he was made exactly for what he was meant to do. He had no flaw. Beauteous music resonated throughout everything when he moved. It wasn’t enough. He wanted more than his station provided, and so he went above his mandate. He was born with everything and I was born with nothing but a broken weak nature. But what about him? What was his reason?

As I sat there going back forth with the enemy, I stopped and asked him a singular question. What if he stopped? What if he chose to stop his campaign? I regaled him of why I submit to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. It is only through the sacrifice of the only begotten Son of God, the perfect lamb that was slain, that I can even hope. It is because of Christ alone, that I have hope to even live, let alone live eternal. I exist on his grace and mercy, alone. It is faith in Jesus Christ alone that saves me. But him…he was there. I asked him what was his reason? What was his excuse? I am just a mortal man but he was made to be more…he had more at the start and yet he chose his path. Why?

So I asked him, what if he stopped? What if he laid down his crusade against us and instead joined us? What if he asked for forgiveness? What if the enemy in that moment decided to lay down his pride, his arrogance and admit his error with a remorseful repentant heart? What if he asked for forgiveness from the One who made him. I went a step further and said, that a weak mortal man such as I, would even go with him so that he wouldn’t be alone. I told him that I would go with him and kneel beside him before the Throne of the Holy One and both us ask for for of our sins! What a moment that would be! I would leave my mortal frame and go with him so that, together, he and I, would seek forgiveness in true repentance. I told him, he had the chance to change the future, in that moment. I begged him to go and that I would go with him, and I meant every word. We are all His created. And the Lord is a God of reconciliation. So I extended an olive branch, such as I was. Perhaps, we could end the feud. He could go whenever he pleased. So I sat there, on bated breath, wondering if in the next few moments he would materialize before me or if in the next moment I would see myself kneeling before the Throne of Creation, the Ancient of Days with the Holy Lamb at the right hand of the Father. I clinged to hope. Yet, there was only silence. No rebuttal. No retort. No sneer. Not even a sigh. Just silence.

I sat there for several minutes in silence, contemplating the conversation with the enemy of mankind. I had hoped and wondered if he and I would go to see the Father and the Son. What I trip that would have been. Unfortunately, just as quickly that he started, he left me there, alone to ponder my thoughts in silence as I listened to the ever chirping of the morning birdsong.

I wonder and marvel at that conversation. I had not experienced that before. However, realized that he is created just as we are. What would happen if he asked for forgiveness? Would the Lord see fit accept him back? Could the enemy find it within himself to acknowledge the error in his ways and repent? It is a conversation, I will not easily forget. A conversation with the enemy of us all.