The Sheeny Man

Submit yourselves therefore to God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:7

He was probably a very nice man...loving husband, doting father and doing all he could do to support his family. I never knew him personally, but at the age of about six, I was petrified of him. I'm not sure anyone else but our family knew this man by the name my mother coined for him. He was the Sheeny Man. In the darkness of night, we could hear him coming. He had a good sized farm wagon with sides on it. From it hung lanterns...three on each side. An old, tired looking horse pulled the wagon through our alley. My sister Kay and I could never see the man clearly. We would sometimes get up out of bed to look out the window to see this interesting but scarey phenomena. He seemed to be rather hunched over. He wore varying articles of clothing depending on the weather but always wore a rather tattered and wide brimmed felt hat that he pulled down over his head as far as it would go.

People in our neighborhood had two types of metal drums at the back of their yards and next to the alley. One was for burning garbage and anything burnable. The other one however, was strictly for tin cans. Somehow, this man would heave a barrel on it's side on the top edge of his wagon spilling the cans out on top of all the other tin cans in the wagon. It made a loud and unsettling sound. We knew the Sheeny Man was coming, nearing our house, as that sound could be heard a block away and could not be mistaken.

I was often told if I misbehaved that I was going to be given to the Sheeny Man to go live at his house. Those were days when children really were not fearful of being abused or kidnapped so the concept of being given to someone else was new but frightening. Discipline-wise, I think this system worked because I had no desire to go home with the Sheeny Man. It all seems rather silly now but I was a believer. I wasn't a bad kid nor was my little sister but just mentioning this man was enough to curb any mischief we might be contemplating.

Why do I tell you about the sheeny man? Well, he was very real to me. I could look out the back window and could see what his form looked like, what he wore, and how strong he was to lift a barrel full of tin cans. He was as real as real could be. In a sense, he was a childhood enemy that I stayed completely away from. He never came during the day which leads me to think that he also had a day job. I would never have ventured out in the yard at night to greet him. I was scared to death of this man even though I didn't really know him personally. 

You and I have an enemy that is very real who I'm afraid we don't take as seriously as we should. Even we Christians don't treat him with the fearful respect we should. He is the arch-enemy... first of God, and then of each of us. His name is Satan. We know him by other names as well...devil, evil one, prince of this world, etc. but it's all the same person. Satan for too long has been characterized as being a person in a red body suit. This suit covers his body except for face and hands. There is a long tail protruding from the back of the suit. He has an eerie looking mustache, evil smile and carries a pitch fork. That's about as far as it goes when we think about this spiritual foe of ours. Name everything bad or evil a person can be, multiply it by the biggest number you can think of and you still haven't scratched the surface of all the things Satan wants to do to mess up our lives. Because we rarely think of him, he goes about the business of making our lives miserable with great gusto.

We first hear about Satan in the book of Ezekiel where we find him as one of God's three arch-angels. His name was Lucifer and was held in high esteem. However, he became rebellious thinking he could take over Heaven and be God. Lucifer was kicked out of Heaven with the angels that had decided to side with this evil one. God, thus prepared a place for Lucifer and his angels that is named Hell that is reserved just for them. In this process, Lucifer's name was changed to Satan.

I grow weary of people, especially the unsaved who often question how a loving God could send people to Hell when they die. I don't know how many times I have said to such people that God doesn't send people to Hell. Hell was created for Satan and his angels. Going to Hell for an individual person is his/her personal choice because of refusing to accept Jesus as Savior.

Since his demotion from Heaven, Satan has been very busy. In Scripture we first see him on the earth in serpent form talking with Eve and Adam and we read helplessly as we see them fall to the wiles of Satan. We then see Satan some pages over in our Bibles talking with God about a godly man by the name of Job. I note that he had to get God's permission to touch the life of Job but that permission was with limits. As Jesus was about to begin His early ministry, again Satan shows up in the wilderness tempting the Lord Jesus in every way possible. He walked away from Jesus defeated.

We need to be aware that Satan lingers around every corner of our lives to trip us up, to encourage us to sin, and to bring us to defeat. Let me hasten to say that Satan doesn't personally make us sin. There are things in our lives that cause us to sin perfectly well on our own. Satan may be the author and director of sin but we have some choices when it comes to yielding to sin.

What do we do about this hated and destructive person? I don't have all the answers but Scripture does and it wonderfully gives us the best advice that speaks for itself.

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary

the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking

whom he may devour.

Revelation 2:10

Neither give place to the devil.

Ephesians 4:27

Put on the whole armor of God, that

ye may be able to stand against the

wiles of the devil.

Ephesians 6:11

Submit yourselves therefore to God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee

from you.

James 4:7

There are specific instructions given to us from the above verses that will keep us as safe as possible from the cunning temptation of Satan.

1.  Take Satan seriously. He is not a cartoon character to be taken lightly. Stay alert...when tempted, remember the source of the temptation.

2.  Don't give room in your life for Satan to step in and work. I never cease being amazed at Christians who go to all the wrong places and when something unfortunate happens, they wonder why. We can't give Satan opportunities free of charge to bring us down.

3.  Arm yourself. God has provided us with spiritual armor that will defeat Satan at every turn. A list of that armor can be found in Ephesians 6.

4.  Live in submission to the Lord. Resist Satan...learn to say “NO” to his every suggestion.

I have to ask myself if I'm as fearful of Satan and all the damage he can do in my life as I was of that man years ago who was probably a very kind, hardworking man that I came to fear in my childhood. I will tell you this for certain....Satan ain't no Sheeny Man or whatever light hearted name you want to give him. If Satan is the enemy of God, then he should be regarded by me as my enemy as well, an enemy I want nothing to do with.

Lord Jesus, through Your Spirit keep me alert to the temptation and workings of Satan. Keep me strong through Your Word. Give me discernment regarding the ways Satan tries to work his will and way in my life. Thank You for who You are. I love you. Amen.