Here Comes the Blitz

By Grant Gaines

The goal of every offense in football is simple: advance the football across the goal line of the opponent. Of course that’s much easier said than done. If an offense could execute every play the exact way the coach drew it up, achieving their goal would be no problem. However, there is an opposing defense that has an objective of their own: disrupt the offense’s rhythm and shut down their attempt to advance the football.

One of the biggest weapons a defense has in their arsenal to achieve this objective is the blitz. A blitz is when the defense sends extra defenders to attack the opponent’s quarterback in hopes to tackle him behind the line of scrimmage, thus snuffing out the offense’s goal to advance the ball down field.

A good blitz requires the defenders to know when and where to attack the offense. They need to know the offense’s weakness in order to pull off this risky stunt because if they fail at sacking the quarterback before he gets rid of the football, they could give up a big chunk of yards. With this in mind, the defenders will spend long hours throughout the weak studying the opponent’s weaknesses so they can take advantage of them when the opportunity presents itself.

That being said, while we are familiar with the fact that Satan tries to frighten us like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8) and also attempts to deceive us like a slithering serpent (Genesis 3, Revelation 12:9), we often overlook the fact that much like a defense in football, Satan often tries to attack our weaknesses to halt our advancement in the Christian walk.

This idea finds its roots in two distinct places in the Bible – Luke 4 and Luke 22. After tempting Jesus in various ways in the wilderness, Satan left Jesus in Luke 4 and Scripture records, “[Satan] left [Jesus] until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13, NIV, bold mine). Again, we see Satan possess Judas before the Last Supper (Luke 22:3) and agree to betray Jesus by handing Him over to the Jewish priests. Luke 22:6 (NIV, bold mine) records how this deal between Judas and the chief priest unraveled – “[Judas] consented [to the priests’ offer of receiving money in exchange for turning in Jesus], and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.”

In both stories, the main character is Satan and the key phrase used to describe him both times is “opportunistic.” Just like a Hall of Famer pass-rusher in football, Satan is smart and is actively seeking an opportunity to attack each and every single one of us. He knows when to attack us as well as where to attack us.

With that in mind, why don’t we take a moment to “watch some film” on ourselves to discover where our weaknesses are so we can understand where Satan is attacking us and therefore can better stand our ground when temptation comes our way.

As we said earlier, Satan knows both when as well as where to attack us. What I mean by this is that Satan waits for us to be in the right situation before he will ever attack us. To use an illustration, if you were on a diet, you could probably hold your discipline for a really long time if all you had in your house was kale chips and grilled chicken patties. However, if you were on a diet and were standing in front of a dessert-packed refrigerator late at night, even the most strong-willed person would eventually crumble under the heavy desires to indulge on those tasty morsels. Your situation opened the door wide for temptation to enter into your mind.

The same could be said about us – it’s a lot harder for Satan to tempt us when we’re well-rested, in a good community, daily getting filled up with the Word, and so on. However, as you very well know, life isn’t always sunshine and daffodils, but is often made up of unpleasant situations. Therefore, we must know what situations can cause us to be the most prone to an attack from the Enemy.

For me, when I’m out of a routine on a weekend or a break from work, when I’m tired, hungry, or cold, I’m naturally not in the best, most selfless mood. As I’ve “watched film” on myself, I’ve noticed that when I have fallen into sin in the past, it’s often because I found myself in one of those situations listed above.

It’s been so helpful for me to understand what these vulnerable situations are because now I can be aware that temptation is on its way when I find myself walking through one (or all) of those situations listed above. This allows me to be prepared and prayed up so that I won’t be a victim of my circumstances, but a conqueror over them (Romans 8:31).

I can’t think of anything wiser for you to do right now than to take 5 minutes to invite the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the situations that you are most vulnerable in. Is it when you’re tired, when you’re in a compromising situation with a girlfriend/boyfriend, when you’re on a computer late at night, when you’re with that certain co-worker? What are the situations in your life that you have traditionally not been as successful spiritually as you would like?

As we take time to examine our past, we set ourselves up for victory in the future. You know the “blitz” is coming from Satan, recognize it before it happens so you don’t fall for his schemes.

What are the situations that you are most vulnerable in?