“Y’all listen,” Josiah had roared. He’d pointed people out and called them by name. “I know y’all got a heaviness on your hearts. Some have told me about your troubles, and some I’ve seen in trouble even though y’all ain’t admittin’ it even to yourownselves. Y’all got troubles, and want to blame God for gettin’ y’all in the pickle y’all’s in. Y’all want to blame the devil ‘cause all evil in the world is his. But do y’all know why God in all His infinite wisdom allows y’all to be tempted, brothers and sisters?”
The silence that had followed was uncomfortable.
“I’ll tell y’all why we’re allowed to be tempted,” Josiah had yelled, slamming his fist on the pulpit so hard that Delroy had thought the top would split. “It’s so y’all can know for yourownselves how strong y’all are in the ways of the Lord. So y’all can all triumph over Satan and his evil ways.”
“Amen,” the deacons said.
“An’ here y’all sit, choosin’ to be afraid of God an’ what He might do to y’all when the worst thing that can be done is what y’all’s doin’ to yourownselves.”
Quiet had rung out over the congregation.
“It ain’t temptation that y’all gotta worry about the most, though,” Josiah had roared. “Ol’ Satan thinks he’s almighty sly about that, but that’s not his real trick. Y’all know what his real trick is?”
No one had dared to answer.
“Satan’s real trick is gettin’ y’all to believe y’all got something to fear from the Lord. If the devil can get y’all afraid of God, why then he’s got y’all in the worst trap possible. Turn from God an’ y’all are lost.”
“Amen,” the deacons said.
“But y’all ain’t gotta be afraid of God. Satan don’t want y’all to remember that, though. Satan don’t want y’all to ever learn that in the first place.” Josiah had marched across the front of the church, then down the main aisle looking at his congregation with the fiery-eyed determination of a battlefield general. “God already knows where y’all are strong and where y’all are weak. Don’t y’all know that God already knows all our secrets? If y’all do, y’all only got fools for company, brothers and sisters.” He hurled the word out among them. “Fools!”
The congregation hung their heads, not daring meet their pastor’s gaze.
“All the things y’all want to hide from ever’body God knows. He even knows the things y’all hide from yourownselves.” Then Josiah had paused long enough till the last echo of his voice had died away. When he continued, it had been in a softer voice. “But know what, brothers and sisters? Know what the biggest surprise of all is? I’ll tell y’all: Satan knows how strong y’all are, too.”
That thought had scared Delroy as a child. Just thinking that Satan was on such familiar terms with him was almost too much. That Sunday morning, Delroy had almost been able to feel the devil sitting at his shoulder.
“Satan knows how strong y’all are,” Josiah repeated. “He knows how strong y’all are, an’ he knows how weak y’all are. But it’s y’all’s strength that Satan fears. Do y’all know what Satan’s hopin’ as he sets there temptin’ y’all with pride an’ jealousy an’ greed?”
“No, Reverend,” the deacons had answered.
“Satan’s hopin’ that y’all don’t know how strong y’all are in your faith an’ devotion to the Lord God Almighty. ‘Cause if y’all ever learn how strong y’all can be through God’s Holy Word, if y’all ever believe in the strength God gives when y’all cain’t fend for yourownselves ‘cause y’all got a period of weakness comin’ on an’ have to call on Him for succor, why there ain’t nothing Satan can do. Let Satan tempt away. Y’all will be invincible warriors in the service of God Almighty! Can I get an amen?”
“Amen!” the deacons had shouted, and the body of the church had joined them till Delroy had thought the rafters were going to blow straight through the roof.
When the furor died away, Josiah had continued. “We grow stronger with each temptation we turn away from. Satan cain’t help that. There that ol’ serpent is, a-tryin’ to lead us down the wrong path to ever’thin’ that’s unholy, a-tryin’ to lead us away from the Lord an’ His love for us, an’ Satan cain’t help but make us stronger ever’ time he fails. An’ he cain’t stop hisself from tryin’ an’ temptin’ neither. I tell you, brothers and sisters, the devil’s gotta be the most frustrated creature in this here world because his job’s so hard.”
The congregation had laughed a little at that, sensing that their pastor was once more proud of them.
“Ain’t none of y’all perfect, brothers and sisters. Ain’t a perfect person out there.”
“Amen,” the deacons had said.
“An’ I’m here to tell y’all just in case y’all’s wonderin’,” Josiah continued, “there ain’t no perfect man standin’ up here today either. I got my own strengths an’ weaknesses. An’ I been tempted. My hand on a stack of Bibles, I’ve been tempted. We’ve all been tempted. An’ some have fallen today, some yesterday, an’ some the day before that. Y’all know when y’all give in to the devil’s temptations an’ answer the callin’ of evil what’s in this world. That’s between y’all an’ God. But don’t be foolin’ yourownselves that God don’t know.”
The congregation had grown quiet again.
“Ain’t a sparrow what falls from the loneliest tree in the forest that His eye ain’t on it to mark its passin’.”
“Amen,” the deacons said.
“But y’all know what?” Josiah had paused. “God loves us all. An’ no matter what Satan does or says, he cain’t take that away from us. Satan cain’t take God’s love. What y’all gotta do is remember that. Don’t be afraid. No matter what happens, no matter what goes on in y’all’s lives, trust in
