3 Signs Satan Is Tempting You to Waste Your Window

It’s late, you’re lying in bed, scrolling online, and then you see it. You get the sinking feeling in your stomach. But you also instantly feel a tinge of guilt for being upset. What did you see? Another friend of yours just got engaged. This heightens your realization that you feel alone and really want to be married, but you are also happy for your friend. A swirl of emotions clouds your mind and you say to yourself, “I don’t know how to feel about this. Maybe I’ve just missed my window. Maybe everyone else will get married, but I’ll always be the single person in the group.”

When I use the phrase “miss your window,” I’m talking about this in principle form so that you as the reader can apply this content to the area of your life you are thinking about.

You can miss your window when it comes to meeting a godly spouse, getting a better job, buying a certain house, reconciling with a certain family member, and so on.

God is certainly sovereign over his will for our lives, and his ability to bring to life things that we thought were dead is far greater than we realize. But the Lord has also given us the respect to make good and bad choices that result in us either capitalizing on opportunities he has for us or missing those opportunities. Obviously Satan wants us to miss the good God wants us to experience.

Therefore, here are 3 signs Satan is tempting you to waste a window in your life. Also, here are the ways you can avoid missing these windows.

1. If You Believe the Lie that You’ve Already Wasted Your Window, Oftentimes that Lie Itself Is Satan’s Tactic to Tempt You to Actually Miss Your Window

Maybe you absolutely hate your job. But you’ve also worked really hard to work your way up to this position, which pays better than any other job you’ve ever had. The thought crosses your mind, “Maybe I should go back to school and find a career I really enjoy.” But you quickly think of all the bills you have and then say to yourself, “No, I’ve missed that window. I just have to suck it up and keep doing this job I hate.”  John 5:6-9 states:

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?’ The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk.’ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.”

I find this passage so interesting because of that little detail highlighting Jesus’ knowledge about this man. We are told that Jesus “knew that he had already been there a long time.” Jesus then asked, “Do you want to be healed?”

We could endlessly speculate on why Jesus asked him that question. Perhaps it was a sign of respect, asking the man’s permission before Jesus did something to his body. Or maybe the man felt like he had missed his window and had grown cynical about being healed. This seems possible since the man then shared a lot of reasons why his healing was unlikely.

Sometimes what keeps us stuck is the belief that we have missed our chance too often. When you get passed over again and again while everyone around you seems to keep getting chosen, it can feel like your time will never come.

If you believe your time will never come, however, this can actually keep you from doing the things necessary to help your time come. While God must open the window and keep it open long enough for us to go through it, we still have to choose to go through it. If you believe the window is already closed for you, this will stop you from even looking for the open windows God may be inviting you to go through.

2. If You Are Refusing to Let Something Sinful Go that Is Occupying the Time You Could Be Using to Pursue the Holy Version of This Desire, Satan Is Tempting You So You Miss Your Window

Maybe you’re in college and you are craving social acceptance. Therefore, perhaps you are being tempted by Satan to go to a bunch of drinking parties, to spend your time with wordily friends who seem to really like you, and to perform poorly academically because you are too busy trying to be popular.

The desire to be accepted by others and to have a community of people that love you is a good desire. But when you spend your time trying to satisfy this desire in sinful ways, you are also missing the chances you could have to satisfy this desire in good ways. College is a powerful time in many people’s lives to form some lifelong friendships. If you waste this window partying, you may miss out on some lifelong Christian friendships you could have had.

That’s just one specific example. But this same pattern plays out in so many other ways too. Perhaps you long for a godly spouse, but you are trying to satisfy this loneliness by staying with your worldly boyfriend or girlfriend. Just know that every minute you stay with the wrong person, you are also wasting valuable time that could have been spent seeking out the right person.

Satan wants us to waste our time and get stuck in worldly living, which is so easy in these evil times. This is why Ephesians 5:15-17 states, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

3. If You Are Being Tempted to Pridefully Believe that You Won’t Miss Your Window, This Is a Good Sign Satan Is Tempting You to Do This Very Thing

• “I know other people regret sleeping around in their 20s and 30s. But it will be different for me. I’ll repent later in life and have a godly marriage then.”
• “I know I should be applying myself more at work, but my dad owns the company. I’m sure he’ll still promote me later on even though I don’t deserve it.”
• “I know they say to start saving for retirement when your young, but I really believe I will make a lot of money later in life. I’ll be fine to overspend now and worry about retirement later.”

Maybe the people who say these things are right. Maybe it will all work out still even though they are wasting time right now. I just know that in Scripture, pride and the devil’s power in your life are always connected (Mark 14:29-31, 1 Peter 5:6-8, James 4:6-7).

Humility, however, invites God’s favor (2 Chronicles 7:14, Isaiah 57:15, Proverbs 22:4). We must never be prideful about how much time we have. In humility, we must realize we can miss our windows if we are being prideful about it all. In humility, when we know what the right thing is to do, we must do it as quickly as we can (James 4:13-17). God will then not let us miss our windows (James 1:25).