I’ve often found that when I take a step to grow in intimacy with the Lord, I encounter a person or situation ready to challenge my faith.

While on an extended fast recently, my husband and I visited a couple. They were kind enough to honor my fast, providing fast-friendly snacks during the football game. Sounds like a blessed evening, right?

But toward the end of the evening, as I walked into the kitchen to fill my cup with water, I suddenly found myself under attack by a full-force interrogation from the hostess. It was as if her entire demeanor had changed in a premeditated, deliberate way. This hostess began to dig, asking me ill-intended questions about a woman not present. Then, she expressed her dislike toward a second woman, and just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, she hurled false insinuations towards -- me.  The ambush was completely unexpected, and, frankly, I felt slimed.   

Fortunately, God was quick to illuminate His truth in this situation, and He bridled my tongue. He reminded me that He called me to minister to women, not tear them down.

The enemy comes to incite, to tempt and to torment when we fast, just like he did when Jesus was in the desert before he began his ministry. What’s particularly interesting about this situation is that one of the purposes of this fast was to seek the Lord for His clarity and direction concerning this year’s Women’s Workplace Conference. I had already experienced much clarity and formed some very specific ideas for the conference in weeks prior. I believe the enemy wanted to put a stop to this wonderful flow of revelations by causing me to stumble into the sin of gossip. And not just gossip about anyone, but gossip about women. Oh, the just cause he would’ve had against me in the heavenly courts! 

The Deadly Nature of Gossip

The day after this kitchen encounter, God revealed to me that a piranha-like spirit lurks behind the tongue of gossip. This is no small thing. This spirit bites and devours. It tears from every angle with a malicious intent to consume. It first attacks the person who gossips. Then it pours out from them.

Have you ever heard the saying, what goes around, comes around?  There is truth to that statement. Obadiah 1:15 says, “As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head.”  Frightening, isn’t it?  Remember, too, that Haman was hung on his own gallows (Esther 7:10). 

Another trait of gossip is that it is done in hiding places, in darkness. I could clearly see that this woman was not willing to say such abominations in front of our husbands, who sat in the next room. Why? Because she knew it was wrong, and she did not want her condemning words to expose her sin. If you research the character of piranhas, you’ll see that they prefer darkness. The darker the better. And they like to hide behind grasses, or in this case, the kitchen. If placed in an aquarium in odd numbers, Piranhas will even gobble up the odd one.