_“He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him; ...”(Isaiah 44: 20)_
The Bible is a mirror into which a man can look and see his likeness. Or better still, it contains a gallery of pictures showing the nature, progress and end of a life of sin. The desire of the Spirit is to lead the sinner down the line until He confronts him with an image of himself, and then cause him to repent by showing him a verse or a chapter. There are many sad descriptions of sin in the Bible. The words “asleep”, “lost”, “blind”, “deaf”, “dead” are all scriptural figures to illustrate the state of a man out of Christ. One of the striking phrases is found in Isaiah 44: 20 - “He has a deluded heart.” It does not say that he is deceiving anyone, but has been deceived himself. It is powerful and heart-sickening description. The word “deceived” alone is a volume in itself. The chief deceiver of course is the devil. He is constantly at work deceiving countless millions who do not have spiritually illumined mind. Satan first deceives a person - he denies hell or puts it out of his sight. The fact of sin paying wages or bearing fruit is banished from the sinner’s thoughts. Forms of pleasures are shown all along the path of evil and waiting with smiles for the traveler to approach. If the deceived soul could only look up and see the awful look of triumph that Satan has it might be rescued. But how sad! They fail to penetrate the deception and go on their blinded and deceived way. Another description of this character mentioned in this verse is “mislead”. This would indicate that the person had once been in the right way. He has started out all right, ran well for a season, and then, encountering the deceiver in some form or manner, he has been “misled”. It is pitiable to see many in the church and in the community have been thus drawn away. Their strength has been strapped away as God has departed from them.
Dear friends, let us not be deluded by Satan, who prowls around like a roaring lion to devour us. Let us not lose our soul to eternal death. When the Spirit of God convicts us let us be quick to repent.
*PRAYER* : Dear Lord, let not my heart be deceived by the temptations of Satan. Let me not fall into the trap set before me and be ruined. Let me not allow myself to be misled by the deceiver. Let me follow Your Holy Spirit’s leading and walk in the path of righteousness. Amen.
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