"...we see that Satan can sometimes make our lives miserable through loss of property, illness, and difficult circumstances, though he isn’t always the only cause."

A wealthy unbeliever died and when his relatives got into his estate they discovered that he had willed his farm and all of his land holdings to the devil. Of course the whole thing landed in court as the greedy relatives did all they could to change the will. The judge that handled the case was bewildered at first. No one in his knowledge had ever willed anything to the devil. In fact, he wasn’t even sure if he believed in a literal devil. After some lengthy deliberation and some consultation with other judges, he reached the following verdict: "It is the decision of this court that the best way to carry out the wishes of the deceased is to allow the farm to grow weeds, the soil to erode, and the house and barn to rot. It is my opinion that the best way to leave something to the devil is to do nothing."

The best way to leave something to the devil is to do nothing. That is true with a nation. It is true with a family. It is true with you and me. Of course, doing nothing is the very opposite of the admonition that is behind this series of sermons we’ve been working through about our adversary, the devil. The apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 5:8 "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

As we again consider what Satan can and cannot do to us, I hope that you are not allowing the weeds in your life to grow, the good soil to erode, and your spiritual house to rot. If you are going to go to heaven to be with God for eternity and not to the lake of fire to be with Satan forever, you need to continue to pay attention and be alert. You can’t "do nothing" without going to the devil.

We have seen so far as we’ve considered what Satan can and cannot do to us, that 1) He can persuade us to walk the path of destruction but 2) he cannot take away our free will. We have seen that 3) he can offer us many things that deliver happiness but 4) he cannot offer us anything that will last. Last time we were together we saw that 5) He can deceive us with false teaching but 6) he cannot operate directly on our minds. However 7) he can suggest things to our minds. This morning I have three more statements to add to the list of things Satan can and cannot do to us:

Think of the trials of Job. Who was behind them? It was Satan. But to what extent did Satan himself have the power to trouble Job? Job lost most of his possessions and then was stricken with boils. Does Satan have the power to do that to a human being?

Job 1:12 says, "Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.’"

According to that, after talking to God, Satan had power over Job’s possessions. Then in the second part of the contest, we learn that Satan also was given limited power over Job’s physical condition.

Job 2:7 says that Satan "went out from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head."

Can Satan take away property? Can he strike people with illness? Apparently he can in a limited way. I say "limited" because it is apparent from these verses that he first had to ask God’s permission. Can we verify this elsewhere in the Bible?

Think of Paul’s "thorn in the flesh." Whatever it was that tormented him (probably some kind of physical ailment) the apostle called it a "messenger of Satan."(1) That language sounds like he attributed the cause to Satan. Was there a time when Satan went before God and asked for permission to afflict Paul as was the case with Job? It isn’t beyond the realm of possibility.

Then there was that case in Luke 13:10-16 that tells of the woman who had a sickness that caused her to be bent over. Luke says in that passage that her illness was "caused by a spirit."(2) In the sixteenth verse of the passage, Luke quotes Jesus as saying that Satan, through this illness, had "bound her for eighteen long years."

It surely seems that Satan has limited authority to take away possessions and strike people with illness. Can he bring persecution and other trouble into our lives?

In Rev 2:10 the church at Smyrna was given this warning by Jesus:

"Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days."

Satan can take away property, strike with illness, and he can cause things to go against people.

So does this mean that all loss of property, illness, and misery comes from the devil or from evil spirits? No. While we have seen that some of these are attributed to Satan, if we look more carefully through the Bible we also find that some human misery is also attributed to God.

Remember the ten plagues brought on the Egyptians before Pharaoh released the Israelites? The misery that came into their lives was attributed to God.

Exodus 9:13-14 says, "Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, ‘Let My people go, that they may serve Me. For this time I will send all My plagues on you and your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth.’"

Then there was that time when God struck Miriam, Moses’ sister, with leprosy in Numbers 12:9-10. There are other examples that show us that sometimes God is behind certain calamity and misery.

When Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, the Bible says in Jonah 3:10, "When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them."

So some human calamity and misery is attributed to Satan, but some is attributed to God. Is there anything else behind these sorts of things?

In the case of human illness, some is also attributed to what we might call "natural causes," such as contagion – that is, infectious diseases that are passed from person to person. I haven’t time to read it now, but in Leviticus 13:1-17, God prescribed quarantine for certain symptoms of disease. When these suspicious symptoms were observed, the priest was to examine the person. If the person stricken had the symptoms described by Leviticus, he or she was to be isolated. If the symptoms persisted, they were pronounced "unclean," which would lead to their expulsion from the main body of the camp. In the lengthy instructions of Leviticus there is no mention of Satan or spirits. Neither is there the mention of God causing these illnesses. The people may have been too primitive to know anything about pathology, but God wasn’t, and it is clear from His instructions to them that some diseases, at least, are attributed to what we might call "natural causes."

By the way, the idea frequently floated by skeptics, that the Bible teaches that all illness is caused by evil spirits or the devil, and that there is no recognition of pathogenic illness is bogus. There are various causes for sickness mentioned in the Bible, including plenty of room for the ones recognized today by microbiology which come upon us in the natural course of things.

So does illness caused by Satan or by God circumvent the normal processes of nature, that is, does the fact that it is caused by Satan or by God mean that no natural processes or microbes are involved? Such a conclusion isn’t necessary.

Consider the case of King Herod in Acts 12:23. There it says, "And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died."

The angel striking him [on behalf of God] was certainly a supernatural act, but notice that it was still a natural cause (the worms) that brought his death.

That God can direct the organisms that He has created to carry out His will is seen clearly in Scripture. For instance, these words were given to Israel in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14: "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

So here is what we might call a "natural cause" brought on by God.

Getting back to our main point though, we see that Satan can sometimes make our lives miserable through loss of property, illness, and difficult circumstances, though he isn’t always the only cause.

So how can we know when a problem is caused by the devil or by God or just by the natural course of things?

I don’t think we can – or at least I see nothing in scripture that indicates that we can.

But then neither could Job know that Satan was behind his troubles. The book of Job hadn’t been written yet. In fact, all of his friends, along with his wife, thought they understood that the source of his troubles was God’s judgment on him, but they turned out to be wrong.

Herod probably didn’t know that he was struck by an angel when the worms began to devour his body, either. And that bent over lady may not have known of Satan’s role in her life. Paul knew that his problem was a "messenger of Satan," but he was an inspired apostle and even with that, he still didn’t fully understand the reason for it until he asked God and received a direct answer.

"Well then, if we can’t know who or what is behind our troubles, how are we supposed to cope?"

The answer to that is simple. We just continue to serve God as faithfully as we can through whatever comes our way. Continuing to do right is always right, no matter what is going on in our lives.

"But how do we know that Satan isn’t going to suddenly take away all we have or strike us with cancer or boils or throw us in jail or some other really bad thing to totally overwhelm us – or even kill us? Must we sit around and worry about Satan wielding that kind of power?"

That brings us to the next point about what Satan can and cannot do. He can make our lives miserable at times, but…

We’ve already alluded to this, but recall in the case of Job that Satan had to first get permission from God in order to bring misery on him.

In Job 1:10-12 we can read the conversation between Satan and God: "Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Thy hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse Thee to Thy face." Then the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him."

While God allowed Satan some power to afflict Job, he also limited him as to what he could do.

We see the same thing in Job 2:5-6, where Satan upped the ante:

Both of these passages show that sometimes God grants permission for and prescribes limitations on what Satan can do to us.

We see this in the case of Jesus’ words to Peter in Luke 22:31-32: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. " That Satan had to get permission to "sift" Peter is evident in this text. What limits God may have put on him are not mentioned.

To Pontius Pilate who ultimately gave in to the demands of the Jewish mob to crucify Jesus, Jesus said to him in John 19:11:

"You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above…." Pilate, who was carrying out the wishes of Satan, could not inflict suffering on Jesus without God’s permission.

Satan must have God’s permission to afflict humans. He is limited by God to only that which God approves. In the case of Christians, we see this is in effect. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it."

Satan must get God’s permission to put pressure on us and God limits what Satan can do to what we are able to handle.

But that raises another question: Why would God allow Satan to do anything to us at all? Aren’t we His children? Is that a way to treat your children? Doesn’t God want us to be happy?

Here is the answer:

Part of the reason God allows Satan limited power over us has already been mentioned. Remember Jesus’ warning to Peter that we saw earlier, that Satan had demanded permission to sift him like wheat? God granted the permission so that Peter could learn which part of him was really wheat and which was chaff.

Later, Peter would teach the Christians of his day with these words in 1 Peter 4:12:

God allows Satan to have at us sometimes to test us – that is, to show us where we really stand. But beyond this issue of testing, something else is in effect. We call it God’s providential care over us. Paul spoke of it clearly in Romans 8:28:

That "all things" refers to both the seemingly "good" things that happen in our lives and the ones that seem for the moment to be "bad."

If we are truly God’s people, God will cause everything that happens to us to work together toward our ultimate, eternal good.

Do you remember the case of Joseph, after he had been mistreated by his brothers and sold as a slave? He had some very difficult times, especially at first. In once case he spent two years in jail, accused of something he didn’t do. And God allowed it to go on. Then 25 years later, things had turned around and Joseph’s brothers had to come to Egypt for food during a famine and they found themselves standing before the brother they had sold so many years before. Joseph didn’t kill them in revenge, though he surely could have. Instead he observed this as recorded in Genesis 50:20: "And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive."

There is an example of this in David’s words in Ps 119:67-68:

According to this, David had gone astray. Was that good for him? No, it wasn’t good.

After his affliction he kept God’s word. Was that good for him? Yes, very good.

So was David’s affliction good or bad? It depends on your focus. It probably did not feel good in the short run but it was good for eternity.

God brings things or allows things in our lives, good and bad, that contribute to our ultimate, eternal good. He sometimes uses Satan for this. He sometimes does it Himself. He sometimes simply allows things in this fallen world to take their natural course. We often don’t know all that is behind what afflicts us. We don’t always understand why. But we can trust God in that, whatever is happening, regardless of the cause or source, God will bring eternal good out of it if we continue to be faithful to Him. And we can know that God will not allow anything to happen to us that we cannot endure with His help.

While cleaning out his desk, a man found a shoe-repair ticket that was ten years old. Figuring that he had nothing to lose, he went to the shop and gave the ticket to the repairman, who began to search the back room for the unclaimed shoes. After several minutes, he reappeared and gave the ticket back to the man.

"What’s wrong? Couldn’t you find my shoes?" asked the man.

"Oh I found them," the repairman replied, "and they’ll be ready next Friday."

We began this lesson today with the truth that the surest way to leave something to the devil is to do nothing. All of us, like that shoe repairman, are quite capable of procrastination. Yet on the issue of getting right with God, we dare not wait too long. If you still need to make your commitment to God and your break with the devil, why don’t you do it today while there is still an opportunity. The surest way to leave your life to the devil is to do nothing.

Footnotes: Please Use your back button to return to your place

1. 2 Corinthians 12:7
2. Luke 13:11

*Links to all sermons in this series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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