How far will God allow himself to be misrepresented and how do we cope with this? The world misrepresents God to us for it does not know him and instinctively hates him because he convicts the world of sin, and it wishes to convince us that it is justified in doing so. The believer has to listen to many hard speeches from the world about God, which are are delivered with all the intensity men and women can muster. These speeches cannot be left free reign to enter our minds, but must be met one way or another. Unless we hold up the shield of faith, they will do us damage. A stone can be worn down by repeated drips of water. Certainly it was part of Satan’s plan to misrepresent God and he always does so, for if he can change the image which the believer has of the Lord in his mind, he has taken away the believer’s defence. While the believer holds onto the perfections of the Lord he is able to withstand all, but mistrust eats away at our souls like rust. Christ prepared us for this assault when he gave us the parable of the unjust judge and said, ‘And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? (Luke 18:6-7). When we are tempted to think hard thoughts of God, we must remember his attributes revealed in Scripture. There are times when we must be ready to set these against the providences we face in life and trust the Lord that he knows what he is doing. Job had been badly hurt by this assault when he said such things of God. The truth was that it was Satan who wished to torment him but God was able to bring good even out of this evil.