“When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it – though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates – 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: ‘Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.’ But they were scheming to harm me; ” NIV

‘The devil is so subtle that he dominates man and persuades him at the same time that he is not being dominated.’ D. Martyn Lloyd Jones.

In 2 Corinthians 2: 11, the apostle Paul writes about Satan: ‘’For we are not unaware of his schemes.’’ This comes in a passage where he has raised the possibility of the devil ‘outwitting’ the church.

We have a very real and cunning foe (foes even), and this ‘serpent’ continues to slither into the ‘garden’ in subtle ways. He has the ability to make sin look appealing, appetising, and alluring. He is never more dangerous than when he sidles up to us in this ‘’scheming’’ way. Whereas outright assault may be vicious, it is obvious. Perhaps we are most in danger from Satan’s more subtle approaches.

“But the Dark cannot claim what Light does not surrender.” C.L.Wilson.