Every now and again I receive a forwarded e-mail that contains something useful. This one, a PowerPoint slideshow titled "25 Beautiful Short Phrases", was really good. One of the phrases that 'jumped' out at me was "In the sentence of life, the devil may be a comma, but never let him be a period." That, I thought, was one powerful phrase.
As I understand it, a 'comma' is a punctuation mark primarily used as a mark of separation within a sentence, while a 'period', also a punctuation mark, represents the end of a sentence. The 'comma' invites a pause, a short delay, and in applying this understanding to the phrase, it reinforced in my mind that in the life of the believer, the devil can cause all kinds of delay, but being neither the Alpha nor the Omega, our lives do not begin and end with him. The whole purpose of his delays are to provoke frustration and despair. Unanswered prayers, illnesses, family/relational conflicts, and job insecurity - these are just some of the weapons in his arsenal, and if we're not careful, we could become so weighed down by these things that we forget that it is not the devil who has the last word, but God. Delays (afflictions/persecutions) are inevitable, but we have the reassurance of the Psalmist, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all" (34:19).
Just as a comma cannot end a sentence, so the devil's delays should not end our faith in the God of our Salvation. The challenges in the journey should not sway us from our goal of reaching our final destination. Like Job we too can profess, "he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).
No matter the situation, nothing is over until God says it's over. He alone has the last word. He's the only one qualified to put a period on any event in our lives. Everything else is just a comma.
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