Mice are sneaky little rodents. You often see their deposits long before you get a glimpse of their beady little eyes. 

After staying up late to finish grading papers to meet a deadline, I quietly crawled into the right side of the bed next to my already snoring husband. As I turned over something long and skinny brushed against my leg. Instantly my mind thought of the mouse droppings I had found earlier that day in the storage closet off our bedroom. 

A MOUSE TAIL JUST TOUCHED MY LEG!

I calmly, who am I kidding? I yelled, “Brandon there is a mouse in our bed!” 

In one swoop he used his left arm to catapult me out of the bed across his body closest to the door, while he simultaneously began smacking the bed with his right arm. As he is violently smacking his arm across the bed, I hit the lights and felt something long and skinny brush against my leg. I look down. 

There was the drawstring of my shorts hitting my leg. I began laughing hysterically. 

I was so confident there was a mouse in our bed and because my husband is my knight (and awakened from a dead sleep) I had him convinced as well. 

Have you ever been so sure of something to discover you were way off? 

Satan is often depicted like a snake, but I think he is also a lot like a mouse. We will see and ignore his deposits long before we see the full reality of him. 

• Ever hear just a snip of a conversation and are convinced they are talking bad about you?
• Ever notice something off about your husband that sends you into a tailspin of accusations and wild stories play out in your head?
• Ever read one article that causes you to question your parenting, your dreams, your reality?
• Ever see something on social media and suddenly change your whole perspective of someone in one single post?

You see the devil is sneaky. He isn’t just sending you huge neon signs that say, “Satan’s work here.” He is far smarter than that! Satan drops little hints and then gets you to question. 

Look at Eve in Genesis 3 

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 

First off, we know the Serpent is Satan because in Revelation 12:9 it says:

The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

And again in Revelation 20:2:

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

Look at verse 1, Satan causes Eve to question by saying, “Did God REALLY say?” (emphasis mine). We can all remember a time as a kid when our parents told us the rule and a friend taught us how to walk one foot over the line. They didn’t convince us by telling us to be rebels or to blatantly disobey; no they convinced us by having us question. 

Looking at verse 4, can you hear the deception in your own life? 

• Surely, buying this overly priced item even after you and your husband agreed on a budget, won’t break the bank. You DESERVE it. You will not certainly ruin the trust.
• Surely, eating the 2,000 calorie dessert won’t wreck a week long diet and exercise plan. You WORKED so hard for it. You will not certainly ruin your hard work.
• Surely, having sex before marriage will not matter. You have been together a long time and it FEELS right. You will not certainly ruin your relationship or future relationships. 

Maybe right now you think, “Not me. I read my Bible everyday and pray every second my eyes are open. I don’t allow anyone in that may tempt me.”

Even Jesus was tempted by Satan. 

This is told in Matthew 4:

1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’.”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,

    and they will lift you up in their hands,

    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone’.”

7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’.”

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only’.”

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Satan tempted him by attempting to cause him to question and prove himself by saying “if you are, than…” Satan used his hunger (true physical need after not eating for 40 days), to prove God’s protection over him, and the desire for power. All attempts were pushed away by Jesus but I believe these are three key ways Satan tries to tempt us too. 

Physical need

Whatever this may be. Satan wants to “supply” your needs. But the reality is he can’t. He may “appear” to be doing so in the beginning, but it won’t last long. He does not have the power to fill you. We see this so often when we turn to food, alcohol, drugs, or shopping to fill a void. At first it is filled but the hole only gets deeper making it impossible to fill. 

Prove God’s protection 

Just like a child says, “prove it!” Satan wants us to hear, “if God REALLY loves you then he will rescue you.” Yes, but you also have free will and choice. For a long time I heard Satan say, “If God really loved you then he would have saved your son.” The reality is He did! Alex is more whole then he would ever be. 

The desire for power

In Moana the crab has an entire song about shiny objects. Isn’t this true for you and me? 

Did your granny say listen to your heart
Be who you are on the inside
I need three words to tear her argument apart
Your granny lied!

There is a real desire to have power, success, and often it comes in the appearance of “shiny things.” Just like this crab you stop listening to your heart and reaching for objects. 

All these are examples of mouse droppings. Satan is there, he is depositing. He is showing up in our day to day but hiding and disguising himself. 

Be careful not to ignore the droppings as one day you may actually find a mouse in your bed.