The twin brother of pride is a sense of false security. This bogus belief that everything is all right covers the Bride of Christ like a gown. It masquerades itself as fearless and powerful, but the threads that actually hold this gown together are vulnerable, weak, and rotten. This is not an if the gown will unravel, but when,  leaving the Bride even more exposed to the clever plan of her deadly enemy.

The poison’s effects have produced a startling numbness to the hazards lurking in the shadows. Satan has convinced the church (that’s you and me by the way) that she is incredible, invincible, and indispensable. He has taken these attributes bestowed by her Bridegroom and mingled it with the insanity of independence and she has swallowed the lie hook, line, and sinker. The deceiver, by design, left out the key “in” word—in Christ. Everything she is results from her identity “in Christ” not her importance to Christ. By the way, this latter belief is insanity.

Allow me to take a snapshot from the life of King Saul. He was the anointed one of Israel—her king. God had chosen him, set him on the throne, and surrounded him with everything he would need to be successful. God’s one requirement for Saul was obedience. This was Saul’s key to success. Yet his actions proved he thought he was far more important than he really was. He was not incredible, invincible, or even indispensable apart from God.

This Kodak moment, found in 1 Samuel 26, finds Saul in hot pursuit of the man he perceived to be his mortal enemy—David (who just happened to be his most loyal warrior, but the witch’s apple will make you do crazy things—right?). Saul is stretched out, fast asleep, dreaming of good wine and lamb kabobs, encircled by his most trusted warriors. The army of Israel—his protective covering (his gown)—is also napping all around him. This sense of false security, along with the absence of God’s protective hand, had lulled everyone into a deep sleep.

But…his perceived enemy is not asleep and has carefully taken a position where he can see everything. At the opportune moment, David, in a bold move, walks down the hill, into the camp, and takes the symbols of Saul’s power and life—his spear and water jug. He tucks them under his arm and audaciously returns to his strategic position on the hill and no one even knows it.

False security is toxic. It makes us believe we are much more than we really are. The enemy has strolled into the center of our camp and brazenly stolen our most precious symbols—our spear (authority) and our water jug (life in the Spirit) and left us with a covering of dust, fallen from where he used our bridal gown for a door mat.