Two extremes to be avoided
1. That Satan is an equal to God able to frustrate and foil God’s plan.
2. That God is directly blameworthy for the evil that we suffer.
When we ask, “What is going on?!”, we need to know, we have a real enemy, with real power and should not be surprised.
1Pe 4:12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering,
Satan is afforded a degree of limited freedom to carry out his predictable malicious intent which is designed to destroy the work of God, specifically the sanctifying work of the Spirit.
Jesus Prayer is John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Satan’s prayer is Job 1:11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
God’s response to Satan is Job 1:12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
Every human being suffers from this freedom that Satan enjoys, but His time is limited.
Re 12:12 Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."
Job was technically right in his response, but hugely, woefully, inadequate, when he said, Job 1:21 and said: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away…"
God does not hide behind Satan’s skirts, letting Satan take the blame. God claims over-all sovereignty but the rest of the book of Job is necessary to point out the huge hole in Job’s simple view of direct sovereignty. Though Job’s simple answer was technically correct, its insufficiency leads to questioning God’s goodness and justice and blaming God for evil.
It is necessary to understand that God allows his believer to experience the malice of Satan for a time in a limited way in order to produce the saints of heaven. Satan is a hateful bastard whom we are free to abhor with all our hearts, but God is a good loving heavenly father whom we are rightly commanded to love with all our hearts.
God allows Satan a limited degree of sovereignty, letting him to do as he wishes that evil and good may be known. God is perfectly able to predict the results in our lives which are pain and purity.
We may respond this way to Satan Ge 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of [my soul]
Our sanctification is the ongoing work of God saving of our souls and is brought about as we suffer the malice of Satan that God allows for our good.
2Co 12:7 There was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
2Co 12: 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
Ro 8:28 and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
There is much more to say here concerning the sovereignty of man in all of this; how we fit in, what our freedom is and what we are responsible for. I am tempted to preach on this in 2 weeks. The response to this blog will determine that decision for me.
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4 comments:
Andy,
With the "suffering" that we have around us right now, at this time, I believe this message would be very timely! As painful, and distasteful this suffering is, God is surely able (and has been) making good of it!
I'm smoking the psalms and don't have half the problems others in our church do...but I wish he'd just come back and end this frustration. I feel like I'm hanging on by a thin thread much of the time," I'm only one mistake away from you leaving me this way" . How do YOU do it? How do you not throw up your hands and quit? why does satan get extra rounds with some people? What do you say to yourself to make it better? ...yes, I know that God is sovreign, I know He works it all for good, I know these are "lite and momentary troubles", but Andy,...they don't look that lite for many of our members( including you) from where I'm sitting. I guess I sound like Job's wife. Sorry, momentary lapse of patience with God's plan...I'm sure no- one else ever has that? I think that would be a good sermon topic.
I think that when you are in a fight with someone who is trying to destroy you, quitting brings predictable results. Satan has no mercy and is not interested in pampering you in some P.O.W. camp. His aim is to exterminate any spec of joy in you that would glorify God. Your eternal misery is his aim.
If you think you are hanging by a thread now, you have no idea how bad life can get.
You have no choice but to daily feed on the truth, fight for God-glorifying joy and rest in him with Sabbath.
Come to the end of yourself and get used to arriving there. Cry and pray and ask your questions. Wait for his strength and answers. Then, get up and keep going with what you know his will to be. This is the pattern of endurance Jesus set for us in the garden of Gethsemane.
There is no better substitute for God. There is no alternate reality to his sovereign plan. There is this life and the resources in his word to live it, with the assurance that just as it was certain that Jesus would remain holy as he endured the cross, so it is certain that the believer will be made holy through similar means of suffering and resource.
Thank you! That very clearly lays it out. I guess one of his tricks is to lull you into the belief that if you ease off on the pursuit of holiness, he'll leave you alone. And "after all", he wispers, "there are easier ways to make the pain stop than all this bible work and praying"
It's almost like a trance he puts you in...or that you let him put you in.
Well, guess you don't need a whole sermon now, you can just say what you wrote there!
Thanks again Andy. Glad you have patience with us slow learners.
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