In the previous article, we touched on Satan’s folly in continuing headlong in stubborn, suicidal rebellion against Omnipotence. Like the post-modernist who denies Satan’s existence yet serves him daily, Satan himself continues to serve God’s purpose, even though he doesn’t realise it (in his folly). Satan, being uniformly evil, sincerely means to harm God’s people, but God means it for the good of His people, always. In this article, we will further explore God’s providence over believers’ suffering and how Satan serves God’s purposes for the good of God’s people.
The Example of Job
When I was steeped in the prosperity gospel, I was taught that Job’s sufferings were brought upon him by his lack of faith. The teaching went something like the following. God only gives ‘good things’ to His children. Suffering isn’t a good thing. Therefore, God cannot be the author of suffering; Satan is. Job’s faith wasn’t strong enough – he lived in constant fear that his children may have sinned against God during one of their parties, and so what he feared came upon him. There you have it; Job brought his sufferings upon himself by his unbelief!
But is that what the Bible teaches? When I became exposed to Reformed Theology (sometime in 2014), one of the first things God confronted me with was His Sovereignty—seeing God for who He really is: the one who calls the shots and holds decisive sway over everything He made, and that includes nature, humans, angels, Satan and his minions. With this refined lens, I began to see how diametrically opposed my view of Job was to the Biblical reality.
The book of Job begins with this commentary about Job: “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” The inspired author of the book tells us at the outset this was a blameless man. As the narrative progresses, the author lets us in on a conversation that took place between God and Satan, in which God had this to say about Job:
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
God’s own testimony about Job is that he was ‘blameless and upright, a man who fears God and turns away from evil.’ So, if suffering is brought upon us by a sinful lifestyle, Job is not your ideal candidate.
How God Uses Sata
Just like we saw in the previous article, Satan is subject to God’s overruling and guiding providence. In the case of Job, it was God who permitted Satan to destroy all Job had (Job 1:6-12) and inflict physical pain in the form of ‘loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head’ (Job 2:7). Although it was Satan who afflicted Job, yet when his children were killed and his property lost, Job did not focus on Satan, but attributed his calamity to God (Job 1:20-21 & 2:9-10). And lest we charge Job with wrongfully accusing God, the Scriptures say, ‘in all that he did, he did not sin with his mouth or charge God with wrong’ (Job 1:22 & 2:10b).
20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips. (Job 1:20-21; 2:9-10)
But what was the point of Job’s suffering? The conversation between God and Satan reveals God’s motive was to put Job’s faith on display: to prove that God was worth more to Job than everything He had. As John Piper poignantly put it, ‘God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him’. In Job’s suffering, God used Satan to prove to Satan and a watching world that God is the true and greatest treasure of the believer.
The Psalmist powerfully demonstrated this when he said, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25-26)
God’s worth and glory are powerfully communicated to our world when our faith sings in times of sorrow, like Job. Of what good is faith that only shines in prosperity?
Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh
7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
In the case of Paul’s suffering, we see how God sometimes uses Satan to bring about the sanctification of His children. A few years ago, while leading a Bible study with the youth in our local assembly, I was challenged about the origin of Paul’s ‘thorn in the flesh’. The question was, did God send this thorn, which the text defines as ‘a messenger of Satan’? In response, I asked the class, “If I were Satan, would I be interested in Paul being humble or proud?”
Obviously, Satan is pleased when we are proud and puffed up, as he is. He is not interested in our sanctification; God is. Since the text makes clear that Paul’s thorn was sent with the sole aim of keeping him humble, we can conclude that this was God’s doing, not Satan’s. But let’s consider what the thorn achieved. It resulted in Paul seeking God fervently in prayer. And when his prayers were answered with a ‘no’, Paul received something better – sufficient grace and an increase of God’s power in his life, such that in the end, Paul gladly accepted the thorn as it meant that God’s grace would abound in his life through it!
Since Satan is uniformly evil, we conclude that He really meant to harm Paul, but God used him to further Paul’s sanctification. Many of us can attest to this sanctifying role of suffering in the lives of believers.
Further Examples in the New Testament
We saw earlier that Satan was actively at work during Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. Yet, how did that turn out in the end? Through the cross, ‘[Jesus] disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.’ (Col. 2:15). And, through His death, Christ has brought many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10).
In the book of Acts, great persecution arose against Christians following the killing of Stephen, the first martyr. Luke records that consequently, the believers scattered, some travelling as far as Cyprus, Phoenicia and Antioch, spreading the gospel as they went. The result was that ‘The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.’ (Acts 11:19-21).
Conclusion
What is the benefit of properly understanding God’s providence over sickness, death and natural calamities? We have seen from the Scriptural evidence that God holds the decisive sway over our lives, and His design for using Satan in the believer’s suffering is for His ultimate glory and the good of His people. Always. Whether we go through the sun or the rain of His providence, we can rest in the knowledge that ‘for those who love God, all things work together for good’ (Rom. 8:28).
