The Devil Went Down to Georgia

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7 NIV

Who’s not familiar with the title I am sharing today? If you haven’t heard it, I am gonna need you to pull it up on either iTunes or YouTube. The song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” was written and recorded by the Charlie Daniels Band and released on their 1979 album Million Mile Reflections.

The song tells a story about the Devils failure to gain a young man’s soul through a fiddle -playing contest. The song begins as a disappointed Devil arrives in Georgia, apparently “way behind” on stealing souls, when he comes upon a young man named Johnny who is playing a fiddle, and quite well. Out of desperation, the Devil, who claims to also be a fiddle player, wagers a fiddle of gold against Johnny’s soul to see who is the better fiddler. Although Johnny believes taking the Devil’s bet might be a sin, he fearlessly accepts, and when Johnny finished playing, the devil bowed his head because he knew that he’d been beat. And he laid that golden fiddle on the ground at Johnny’s feet.

Ya know, Georgia isn’t the only place the enemy likes to steal from, he likes all the other states too, putting brother against brother, sister against sister, neighbor against neighbor, racial division, drama at the workplace, no peace in our homes, family members who don’t speak to each other, and that’s just the appetizer.

Showing up in the scriptures he is still doing exactly what he did then; wreak havoc, keep up confusion and messy!

In the Garden of Eden, he appeared to tempt Eve. A lot came from that meeting, as Satan set up deception that resulted in the fall of man.

Satan ask permission to test Job who was going through a lot, he losing everything, even his wife encouraged him to curse God and die. But he did have some friends who cared enough to sit with him through his trying times.

A hungry, thirsty, and tired Jesus was tempted in the Wilderness, but Satan meant his match when he faced God on earth. Jesus is our strong tower who took the power out of sin and the sting out of death. He rose with saving and healing power in his hands.

Satan is busy my friends, just look around. His plan is to divide, conquer, kill, steal, and destroy. But we serve a power God, and victory is ours, for our God is fighting our battles. Trust him and in his promises. Find comfort through His Word and though the weapon may form, it will not prosper!  Amen.

Remember friends, we are each other’s keeper and the only time we should be looking down on someone is when we are helping them up.