The Fate of One Roach Bug

“And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20).

So I arrived for an early summer 5K – early, early start time before it gets really hot. The sky was just beginning to lighten up in the east. The setting was in a rural, rustic area, where thick tree covering clung to dark shadows. After registering, I headed to the bathroom, a “one-holer,” and flipped on the light. My eyes immediately spotted a
roach bug scrambling for cover.

I hate a roach-bug. Me and the Lord might spend eternity
talking over exactly why He thought they were essential
in creation…though I’m sure He’s right. He always is.

I moved from St. Louis to the South in 1976, and quickly learned that the term “roach” actually has a Southern appendage to it called “bug,” as in “roach-bug.” OK. And that “roach” is properly pronounced in two syllables with a stress on the 2^nd syllable “uch,” similar to the way we would say “coach.” Thusly, “row-uch bug.” There. But I digress.

I flushed that nasty thing before tending to business. No way was I going to take a chance on that little
booger resurrecting from the dead, scrambling up the side of that toilet stool and attacking me. No way.
“Ker-flushhhhh!” Launched his booty into his buggy oblivion of heaven or hell.

Actually I take great pleasure in terminating a filthy-stinking-nasty-disease-ridden “roach-bugs” at every occasion because it so reminds me of the Apostle Paul’s thought in Romans 16:20 – “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet….” Did you catch that? God does the crushing, but under who’s feet? YOUR feet! My feet! J Happy camper here.

I spend a lot of time with sick people. And families where a loved one has died. Sometimes people get angry with God when someone near and dear dies. But I try to remember that death wasn’t part of God’s plan. Go back and read your Genesis 1-3. Death wasn’t there until Adam and Eve sinned, having been enticed by… you got it – Satan! Satan is the culprit behind death. He rejoices, he glories, he revels in death, suffering, and pain. That’s what he’s all about. Jesus plainly says that the “thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy” (John 10:10).

So do you get angry about cancer? I do. I hate it. Do you get angry when people die of heart attacks? I do. Does it flip your switch to see a loved one with toes, feet, or leg amputated because of diabetes? Me too.  But let’s properly direct our anger toward the perpetrator – Satan. Yes, I understand for now, God allows all this – I’ve had to work through that – maybe you have too. But God says in heaven, in the domain where He rules forever, “there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying or pain; the first things passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

The reason it’s going to be that way is that Satan will be appropriately, and eternally, squished, like a stinking roach-bug. Under. Your. Feet.