"Then the guiding angel showed me Joshua the high priest, [representing, disobedient, sinful Israel] standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at Joshua's right hand to be his adversary and to accuse him." Zechariah 3:1 Amplified Study Bible
The Hebrew meaning is literally 'the Satan' meaning the 'Accuser'. The picture here is similar to that of Job 1, where Satan stands before the LORD making accusations against the people who follow God. Satan is the accuser and he will accuse you when he can.
In John 8, we see the account of Jesus and the woman who was caught in adultery. The scribes and Pharisees openly accuse her of this act and demand that the Law be carried out; she should be stoned. They accused the woman and tried to accuse Jesus as well. The Law declared that anyone - male and/or female caught in adultery should be stoned. They therefore brought the woman, minus the man, notice, to test Jesus, the Law said stoning but Jesus preached love, which was a contradiction. They were out to discredit Him anyway they could and were looking for a way that they could accuse Him.
Satan is the accuser but, he is not the only one who accuses. We do, probably more times than we know. What about when you have put something down in the house, for instance a book. When you go to pick it up again, your partner, parent or flat mate, may have moved it. We can then so easily, ask, 'Where's my book, what have you done with it?' This may seem like splitting hairs but it is still accusation and it can lead to a bit of a fall out. 'If you hadn't have been late in getting ready, we could have avoided this traffic jam,' is another.
There are many more times when we accuse or falsely accuse a person. Someone may have wronged us. Straightaway, we can think of a culprit and accuse them in our minds or to their face. They may be totally innocent, but because you don't particularly like the person, they are vulnerable for accusation.
We need to watch this type of behaviour because we are emulating the devil's behaviour. We have to beware of accusatory tactics; it is one of the devil's ploys to get us in contention with someone. Satan accuses but God takes no notice and He won't take any notice of you if you do the same.
Get into the habit of refusing to accuse anyone; it only causes upset and trouble and people of God should never do this. If you have a charge against someone, then handle it the way Jesus would have you do. Refrain from attacking the throat.
Copyright 2021 Grahame Howard
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