Our family devotions have been taking us through Hebrews for the last two or three weeks. Overall, I have enjoyed this because Hebrews dwells on one of my soapboxes, which is the purpose of the Old Covenant and it's fulfillment in the New Covenant. It sounds really dry, but when you truly understand what the author of Hebrews is saying and you accept it as gospel truth, it impacts just about every aspect of your faith.
The other night we got to the chapter in the book that is both my most and least favorite. We read chapter 12 which starts with subheading "God Disciplines His Sons" in the NIV. This passage ranks up there with James saying that I should consider it pure joy whenever I face trials of many kinds (James 1:2-4). In one respect I am glad to read the passage because I can make sense of hard times. I know that if God is to make me what He wants me to be, the transition is going to be a painful process. There is a comforting honesty about the passage that I don't find in a lot of places. I am not glad that the process can be painful, though.
This brings me to the title for this post. I cannot count the number of times I have heard someone comment about tough times that some other person is going through and how Satan is really attacking that person. I will certainly not eliminate the possibility that Satan finds it meaningful to get someone laid off or to cause someone to have a disease or something like that. Job was attacked financially, physically, and through his friends and family and Satan was the attacker. Causing temporary pain on earth, though, doesn't always seem to fit what I would assume to be Satan's end goal. It actually fits God's end goal better.
If the authors of both Hebrews and James thought that difficult times should be rejoiced as a time of growth in God, why should I assume that Satan caused the tough times? Does Satan really want me to grow closer to God? Certainly not! God may want me to be happy now, but not at the expense of my long-term growth. In one sense (only because we don't understand God's purposes) it would make more sense to say God is attacking me in those times. Satan can keep me from growing by just keeping me happy for now and I see no reason for him not to use that strategy.
I am not saying that this explains all or even the majority of pain in the world. I am saying that it could explain some specific pains in the world.
I believe that many of Satan's true attacks on me are to make everything go fine in my life so that I might eventually get to a point where I wonder why it is that I need a God anyway. I'm doing pretty good without Him and all He has to offer me is some difficult moral system that I never really liked in the first place. I have noticed that I slowly but surely start thinking that way when I think everything is going right in my life. Then, as I am starting to get full of myself, something that I think is horrible happens and I realize I am not doing so good without Him. I honestly think that at that moment Satan is hoping for the same thing I pray for. "Please return my security to me!"
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8 comments:
Dust - I thought you were saved!
I magine that - Dust wrote something about pain and the err.. problems with it.
But seriously, I think you make a good point about the situations that being us closer to God.. My take has always been that the grace and blessings that seem to grow out of difficulty are Him working all things for our good. My concern about attributing the suffering to God is that it smacks a bit of the old time accusations of "sin in your life" anytime someone is going through a trial. After that, it's just a hop skip and a jump to: "If she weighs less that a duck ....."
Sorry for that pithy comment I made above. Roamer has been reading about that dilemma for the past year or so. Many present day authors assume you are either a Calvanist (everything from the hand of God) or a Freewiller (must pray about everything to stave off attack.) We are always surprised how these two schools of thought intermingle whenever it becomes convenient. The extremes of both cause me discomfort. Calvanism makes me claustrophobic in my daily walk, and Freewilling it makes me insecure. In a nod to Dash I might add that the Aztec Freewillers had to sacrifice to the Sun to keep it coming up in the morning. Interesting. I've also wondered about the dualism in our present day Christianity. It actually stems from a Gnostic heresy. Granted, we may not take the tenets that far, but some of this gnostic legacy is as follows: material world is BAD (worldly) Spiritual world is BETTER (more holier than the world). Many Greeks such as Plato drew a thick line down the middle. Sadly, even today we are left with a weak Ying-Yang dualism symbolized by that bad Egyptian God SET. I learned all of this from a Messianic Jewish class I took last Autumn (a whole nother blog I'm afraid.) The Rabbi stipulated the the Law was a way to live in acknowledgement of the good of this creation. "Worldly" translates better to Greek than Hebrew.
Enough from this Yammerer....
Of course, my comments are only for those things that actually are influenced supernaturally. I would guess that a lot that is attributed directly to God or the devil is actually due to the results of human-made choices. The level of influence will always be up for debate, I am sure.
I've been caught saying "life happens" all to often for this very reason. It seems that from the old school "satan made me do it" to the ever increasingly popular "God allowed" that people lose sight of life. I pray that I recognize God when he's in the midst of trials and know when he's sent/allowed them to happen so I can learn and grow from them. I also pray that I don't get so caught up in life being okay that I neglect God.
A perfect example in our life when it was God vs us was when I prayed that Mr. T would have a chance to bond with C-man. He spent almost the 2 full years of his life in all respects away from him. Gone when he got up, not home when he went to bed. When he got downsized and was at home with him for 10 months they really got to know one another and build a foundation for that relationship. I believe God answered my prayers for him to not be an absent father anymore.
At the same time, when we drove our car out of oil and burned up the transmission causing us to not have a vehicle anymore--that was standard life....if you don't check the oil/add when needed you burn your car up, with our without God and Satan!
I've had many thoughts along these lines as well. I can't remember if this topic has been included on one of our conversations when you've visited.
I've thought about how often my "wants" conflict each other. I want to be a person that grows in wisdom and character. But at the same time I don't want to go through any of the experiences that tend to build those things.
It is frustrating to be around those who apparently lack depth in their lives and in their relationship with God because they don't comprehend their dependence on God. Goodness knows I have a hard time understanding how fully dependent I am on God, and I'm a poor college student!!!
Anyways, I think I am learning to look at circumstances in light of what it is making me become rather than the way it is making me feel.
Dar is right. I've been reading, stewing on these topics for some time now. I think the biggest struggle for me is not wanting to blame God for the tragic things that happen in life, because I want to believe He is good, and yet having an explanation for those things that balances both his Sovreignty and the "life happens" perspectives. I'm glad to read everyone's thoughts.
I agree that many Christians give too much credit to Satan. I have always felt pierced in my spirit, when I would hear a pastor say from the pulpit "we have to pray the devil out of here first". EXCUSE ME...but "why" would you spend energy to give attention to Satan?
From my upbringing in church, there was always the "praying of God's will" and "Satan is trying to cause me to stumble". So, as an adult, I continued to hold some views that were "poor me...I don't know what I did that Satan would be attacking me". Believe it or not...T is right and really helped me see things more clearly too. "LIFE DOES HAPPEN" And it is HOW we handle ourselves & reactions that shows growth or defeat.
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