4. Satan Attacks And Strengthens Believers

Chapter 4 Satan Attacks—And Strengthens Believers God Can Use Even His Enemies As His Servants

One of the hardest questions that people often wonder about is: “Why does God let Satan remain on this earth?” We cannot know all of God’s reasons, but in this book you will hopefully find some of those answers. And in this particular chapter we want to look into at least one major reason why God chose to let Satan remain on this earth. Even though Satan has become God’s enemy, God is still vastly more powerful. Therefore Satan is still under God’s ultimate rule, so God can remove Satan at any time if he wants, or limit his efforts. Or if he chooses, God can use Satan to accomplish some of his own goals. Of course, Satan doesn’t like to help God in any way, but since God’s wisdom is far above Satan’s, then when Satan tries to hurt God’s children, God can then turn it around so that it ends up helping people in the end. The Bible is full of stories like this, and we’ll study some of them. But one story stands out in the Old Testament and it can really help us understand this idea. It comes from the book of Job. It’s different than most other stories in the Bible. This story allows us to see things that are not normally seen, and hear things that are not normally heard. It looks into the invisible world of angels and spirits, and it shows how God talks to Satan and how he can use him too.

What Kind Of Man Was Job?

It would be best to read Job chapters 1 & 2 now in order to get the context of our story.

Beginning with Job 1:1-5, we see that Job was an important leader in the town of Uz and a man of exceptional character. The Bible describes Job as:

“blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil.” This doesn’t mean that Job was perfect. He was a sinner just like all of us, but just like other believers in the Bible, he did trust God to save him, so he was considered righteous in God’s eyes. It also shows us that Job loved God so much and turned from evil and followed God so closely that in the eyes of other people he was “blameless.” In other words, people would not be able to easily find fault with him—as was the case with Job’s friends. So Job had an incredibly good testimony for others to see and follow, and only God himself would be able to see any hidden sin in his life.

God had greatly blessed Job in many different ways and he was very wealthy. Job had:

• 7 sons and 3 daughters

• 7000 sheep, 300 camels, 1000 cows, 500 donkeys

• Many servants—probably at least 100-200 just to care for all the animals that he owned!

Job had many possessions and he was an important man in other people’s eyes. But God was more important to him than all his possessions. He really wanted his family and others to follow God, so he prayed for them all the time.

Angels Come To Report To God In Job 1:6-12 we get a rare view of the spirit world, which includes both angels and demons. Verse 6 says that the angels were gathered together to meet with God. So where were the angels previously that they had to come together? And why were they coming together to talk with God? God had created the angels and assigned them jobs in order to care for people on the earth and do other tasks in the heavens—later we’ll look at some of their responsibilities.

All these angels are under God’s direction or supervision, so instead of every one of them just doing their own thing, they have specific tasks that God has given them. And apparently they report back to him. It’s true that God already knows what each individual angel is doing at all times, but since they are God’s creation, he loves to communicate and fellowship with them on a regular basis. And so it looks like sometimes he calls them together and they give a report to him. God is all-powerful over all the angels, so all angels are responsible to him.

God Talks To Satan About Job

Satan is also under God, so when other angels were giving reports, he also was asked by God to give a report of what he was doing. When Satan gave his report about his travels around the earth, God asked him where he had come from. Of course, God already knew, but he had a special purpose for this conversation. Satan said that he had been roaming around the earth. This is normal for him. Satan is always on the move, looking for victims.

1 Peter 5:8 says: “...the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

Then God asked Satan about Job. It’s interesting to note that Satan wasn’t the one to initiate this discussion about Job. It was God himself who brought up Job’s name and directed the conversation towards Job!

Job 1:8 says: “...the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." So what was God thinking here? Notice that God calls Job “my servant,” which, in Satan’s ears means, “arch enemy.” And God knew that Satan had been roaming around looking for victims. So why would God even bring up Job’s name? What’s even more surprising is that it almost seems like God was boasting about Job to Satan! Why would he bring up the subject of Job to Satan in the first place? And why bring up all of Job’s good qualities as if it was a challenge to Satan?

God Initiates Job’s Trials By Using Satan

It seems pretty obvious what God is doing here, and it shows us who was the source of Job’s trials. It was actually God who initiated this whole thing and Satan took up the challenge. God was using Satan as a servant to accomplish his own goals. God knew Satan wanted to destroy Job. But as we will see, God’s plan was to use Satan to help strengthen and mature Job instead.

Satan And The Demons Like To Observe People Like Job When God mentioned Job to Satan, Satan already knew all about him. There were many thousands of people on the earth at that time, but Satan knew this man, Job, very well. He knew about Job’s business dealings and his money and his family (Job 1:9-10). It’s true that Satan and the demons don’t know everything, like God does, but they are smarter than people. And apparently, angels and demons like to learn new things.

1 Peter 1:12 says: “…. Even angels long to look into these things.”

Demons especially like to learn about people, so they watch us a lot. But they don’t know everything about us, and neither does Satan. Only God is omniscient. But even though they know lots of things, they are always learning. They are continual learners. Satan and the demons don’t get tired and sleep like we do, and they don’t have bodies that will die like ours. So the spirits have been observing and studying us for thousands of years. From the time God made the angels until now, the spirits have been like spectators of the human world, and studying and learning about people and our customs and ways.

It seems that Satan had studied Adam and Eve in the garden in Eden and he knew how best to lie to Eve (Genesis 3:1-6). In the New Testament we see that he is observing the apostles like Judas and Peter in order to tempt them (Luke 22:31). And that’s how Satan and the demons know so much about all of us—they have a long history of observing us. The Demons Know A Lot About Us

Satan and his demons knew our ancestors and our parents too. They’ve watched us since we were born. Although they don’t know all that we are thinking, they can figure us out by watching us. They don’t have physical eyes like we do, but they can see us. They don’t have ears like we have, but they can hear us. They can hear our words and actions, both good and bad. They can watch our eyes and see what we covet, and the things that tempt us to sin. And in this way, they can get to know us well.

Satan himself must have observed or studied Job, or else he designated another demon to follow and watch him. But when God asked Satan about Job, Satan knew all about him.

God Was Like A Wall Of Protection Around Job As God talked to Satan about Job, Satan accused God of being too good to Job. Satan is called the Accuser, because he is always accusing God or man of something. This time he was accusing God of protecting Job and his family too much.

Job 1:10 says: “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?” From this sentence, it looks like Satan had tried to hurt Job before, but God had protected him. His protection was like a wall or hedge of thorn bushes around Job. God had guarded Job to keep Satan out so that he couldn’t hurt him.

Proverbs 2:8 says: “…for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.”

Satan wasn’t able to hurt Job before, because God had chosen not to allow it before. God is much more powerful than Satan, so Satan was unable to do anything to him up till now. If God doesn’t allow Satan, then he cannot test or try us either (1 Corinthians 10:13).

God Can Use The Angels To Keep Satan Away The Bible doesn’t say how God had prevented Satan from hurting Job, but we know that God can simply speak and keep Satan away. God’s words are powerful, and he can hold off Satan with one word. We also know that God has used angels to protect people too. Here are some examples:

• Genesis 19:16 – The angels watched over Lot and his family.

• 2 Kings 6:15-17 – Armies of angels protected Elisha.

• Daniel 6:2 – Angels closed the mouths of lions so they wouldn’t harm Daniel.

• Daniel 12:1 – The angel Michael watches over Israel.

• Matthew 18:10 – Angels watch over children.

• Hebrews 1:14 – God uses angels to help believers.

• Revelation 12:7-9 – The angel Michael fights with Satan and throws him out of heaven.

• Psalms 91:11 – “he will command his angels...to guard you in all your ways.”

Did God Want To Destroy Job?

Satan had complained that God had put a hedge or wall around Job to protect him. But now God was saying that Satan could destroy everything that belonged to Job. So did God change his mind and want to destroy Job now? No. But God wanted to strengthen Job’s faith, and he wanted to use Satan to do it. This shows us that God is sovereign and all-powerful, and he can even use his enemy, Satan, to do his work. And so, in a weird sort of way, Satan is God’s servant.

God Sets The Boundaries For Satan So did God then allow Satan to do whatever he wanted to Job?

Job 1:12 says: “The Lord said to Satan, “...everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

God let Satan do many things to Job but he laid down strict boundaries. He allowed Satan to destroy or take away Job’s possessions, but he wasn’t allowed to touch Job himself. This shows us that when Satan tempts us, God is the one who sets up the boundaries or limitations for him. Satan doesn’t have all authority. Only God does. Look at another verse:

1 Corinthians 10:13 : “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

If God allows Satan to tempt or try us, God knows that this trial or temptation will not be stronger than what we can bear. God protects us to a certain point, but he also gives us the ability to defeat Satan by making choices to resist. Job was a strong, mature believer, so God allowed a very powerful test to come to him. God was going to give Job an opportunity to grow even more in his faith The First Trial: Satan Took Away Everything That Belonged To Job In Job 1:13-19 we see that Satan has lots of power if God allows him. Look at these things he did:

• v. 15—Satan influenced many Sabeans to come and steal 1000 head of cattle and 500 donkeys, and also killed their watchmen.

• v. 16—Satan made fire fall from the sky and kill 7000 sheep and their watchmen.

• v. 17—Satan made three raiding parties of Chaldeans come and steal all of Job’s 3000 camels and also their watchmen.

• v. 18, 19—Satan made a mighty wind come and strike Job’s oldest son’s house, where all of Job’s children were, and it killed all his children and more workers.

Satan’s Power

Wow! We can see here just how powerful angels are, or in this case, Satan, if God allows him. Satan had power to influence large groups of people to come and steal huge herds of animals and kill people. Satan was able to cause fire to rain down out of the sky and cause strong hurricane-like winds to destroy homes too. Satan is not a weakling! He has super strength—much more powerful than anything man can try to defend himself with. If God doesn’t protect us, we don’t stand a chance against Satan. He could totally wipe us all out.

Satan Piled On The Disasters For Job Another thing we can learn here: notice how Satan arranged the tragic reports to come in to Job all at once.

Job 1:18 says: “While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said…” This happened four times! In this, we see another of Satan’s abilities. Four times Satan killed many of Job’s servants, but he allowed one man in each case to live to be able to go and tell Job the bad news. And every one of those four men arrived one after another, exactly at the time that Satan had determined, so that bad news would steadily pile up and be an overwhelming weight of despair for Job as he heard of all his losses.

Satan didn’t allow Job to rest between messengers. Job heard about one catastrophe, and then another, and another. Then finally, the last one was the worst of all. Every one of his children died at once! This final powerful blow by Satan was meant to totally destroy Job and his faith in God! That is Satan’s style. He wanted to heap sorrow upon sorrow on Job because he knew Job was a strong believer and would be hard to break. Satan would love to do that with us also. He loves to heap sorrow or pain or pressure on us all at once, so that we get discouraged and blame God and turn our backs on him. That’s Satan’s goal.

Job Worshiped God In Job 1:20-22 we see Job’s reaction. He had lost everything he had, including all his children, so he was devastated and grieving and greatly discouraged. But even through that horrible experience he did not curse God. Instead, he worshiped God because he knew that God is good. So we see from Job’s reaction that God had actually strengthened his faith in spite of his tremendous loss. The Second Trial: Satan Attacked Job’s Body In Job 2:1-8 we see Job’s second trial. Satan was giving a report to God a second time. God asked him about Job again and Satan wanted God himself to harm Job. But God wouldn’t. He put Job in Satan’s hands again. But again, he placed limits on what Satan could do to Job.

God said that Satan could hurt Job’s body, but he couldn’t kill him. Then Satan left God and he made many big, painful sores come up everywhere on Job’s skin. So from this we see that Satan has the power to create diseases or make other changes in people’s physical bodies—if God allows him. Satan tortured Job with an overwhelming amount of pain, but in spite of this, he still didn’t curse God. God had strengthened his faith even more. The Third Trial: Job’s Wife Urges Job To Curse God The third trial came in Job 2:9-10. Job’s wife saw the pain and all the troubles that had come to Job, but instead of showing sympathy, in her bitterness she told Job that he should just curse God and die. Where do you think she got those kinds of thoughts? It sounds like the very same types of things Satan would say—like words of an enemy. And so Satan probably put those thoughts in her mind. Even today, Satan does the same thing—he uses other people to put bitter thoughts in our minds. So we need to be careful lest they urge us to turn our backs on God. The Fourth Trial: Job’s Three Friends Accuse Job

Later we see another trial came to Job in Job 2:11-13 when three of his friends came to see him. These friends had heard about all the disasters that had come to Job so they came to comfort him. Their names were Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. From chapters 3-31 we see the long speeches they made to Job, and his responses. They sympathized with him a bit at first, but then they said that these trials must have come to him because he was hiding some secret sin and God was punishing him for it. They kept trying to get Job to confess his sin, whatever it was. But we know that God wasn’t punishing Job. He was trying to strengthen Job’s faith so he had allowed Satan to bring these disasters on him.

Satan Is The Accuser

God had said that Job was a righteous man (Job 1:1), but now Job’s three friends were accusing him of some unknown sin—something he was not guilty of, but they were accusing him anyway. That’s just what Satan loves to do also. We mentioned before that one of Satan’s names is the “Accuser” of Believers” (Revelation 12:10). It looks as if these three friends of Job’s were just following Satan’s ways.

Satan loves to criticize and accuse us. Even at times when we have done no wrong, Satan accuses us and condemns us, so we feel guilty and distant from God and no longer love him or want to follow him. Of course, all of us do sin. But keep in mind that when the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, it’s much different than when Satan accuses us. If we do sin, the Holy Spirit shows us our wrongdoing in a loving way, in order to restore us back to fellowship with God. But even when we don’t do wrong, Satan loves to accuse us in order to discourage us and totally separate us from fellowship with God. Job’s three friends accused Job in the same way that Satan does and so we see that Satan can sometimes use friends against us.

Job Became Proud At first, when Job saw all these disasters and hardships come along, he didn’t blame God. But eventually, after his friends came and stayed with him for several days and gave long speeches and constantly accused him of wrong-doing, Job began to justify himself (Job 32:1-5) and blamed God (34:17). What made him try to justify himself? He probably didn’t like his friends accusing him of some vague sin which he had not done, so he just defended himself. He also couldn’t believe that he had sinned in such a bad way that he deserved all these horrible disasters, so he felt that God was wrong to bring all these things on him (32:2). Of course, he did not know that Satan was actually the one who did these things to him but he just assumed that it was God. He felt like God was unjustly judging him, so he was angry and blamed God.

Young Elihu Admonishes Job

After all Job’s three friends finished speaking, a fourth friend, a younger man named Elihu, spoke with Job starting in Job 32:6. Since he was the youngest one, he was respectful and listened quietly while the older three men gave their long speeches. But even though Elihu was the youngest of these men, God gave him wisdom to speak truth to Job (Ch. 32-37). God can give anyone wisdom if they are willing to listen (Job 32:8-9). Elihu said many things, but basically he rebuked Job for blaming God of wrongdoing. He said:

“Will you condemn the just and mighty One?” (Job 34:17) God Himself Corrected Job And His Three Friends

After Elihu finished talking, God himself spoke to Job out of the storm (38-42). First God corrected Job’s thoughts, and then his three friends’. God spoke of many things that he had created which show his power and amazing wisdom. Then he asked Job, Do you have that kind of wisdom? And if you don’t, why are you accusing me (Job 40:2)? God wanted Job to understand that if he didn’t know why he had allowed those trials to come to him, then he shouldn’t accuse God of wrongdoing.

God’s wisdom is indeed much higher than ours. Job was a very good man and his pride was well hidden. Even his three friends couldn’t point out any wrong in him. But God knew where his weakness was, and he knew it would come out when Job experienced these trials. God has many ways to strengthen our faith, and here we see one of them.

Job Humbled Himself

“The LORD said to Job: "Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!" (Job 40:1-2) Job quickly humbled himself and answered:

“I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth…Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 40:1-2 : Job 42:3-6).

Job admitted that he didn’t understand why these trials had come to him, and that he was wrong to accuse God. We too need to understand that God’s wisdom is above all and even when we don’t understand why certain things are happening to us or what God allows, we need to remember that God is always good and is without sin. We need to trust him and allow him to work in our lives.

God Didn’t Tell Job That Satan Had Tempted Him

God could have told Job that it was Satan that was bringing all the hardship on him, but he didn’t—at least not right away. Sometimes God doesn’t show us why trials come, but we can continue to trust him. God is always good and righteous, and he has all wisdom. He wants to help us and strengthen us spiritually, so we need to trust him. We should never think that we’re smarter than God. He knows exactly what He’s doing and it’s always good.

Why Does Satan Like To Discredit Influential Men Like Job?

Job 42:12 says: “The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part.”

Although God had allowed trials to come into Job’s life, he strengthened him through it and made him even stronger spiritually than before. I’m sure he had a powerful testimony to share with people later. Job was an influential leader in the community and well respected by many people, and I’m sure God continued to use him as a great example of godliness and faith. Satan is always looking for an opportunity to discredit someone that people look up to, like Job. He would like to humiliate our present godly leaders too so that many people will see their downfall and change their minds about following God. Satan especially likes to shame church leaders, so we all need to be on our guard.

God Blessed Job

God restored Job’s fortunes. He gave him twice as many sheep and cows, etc., as he had before. And he also gave him children again (the same amount as before—seven sons and three daughters). (Job 42:10-17). But even if God had not done that, he would still be a good God.

Having An Eternal Viewpoint Will Show Us That God Is Very Good The most important thing we need to remember about this story is that God is good! Our physical bodies are just temporary–and so is the pain and suffering we might endure in this life. But our spirits will live on forever, and therefore are much more important than our physical wellbeing right now. Someday in eternity, we will understand and appreciate that much more. For now, we need to accept that God is trying to help us spiritually even if he needs to use physical pain or suffering to do it. If God allows trials to come to us like Job, we can still be confident that God loves us more than we can know and has our best interests in mind. We don’t have to fret or be anxious. He allows those things to happen in order to strengthen our faith, just like he strengthened Job’s.

Concluding Thoughts About Job Let’s consider again what goals God accomplished through Job.

• God used these trials to strengthen Job’s faith and influence.

• God corrected Job’s wife’s wrong ideas and attitudes.

• God corrected Job’s three friends’ ideas.

• God showed his ability to overrule what Satan does and even use him.

• God strengthens our belief now too.

God has used this story to strengthen the faith of thousands and thousands of people around the world because Job’s life is a good example to us all. God can strengthen your faith through it too. We always need to remember that God loves us and always has our best interests in mind.

God Used Satan During New Testament Times Also

We’ve heard the story of Job’s trials from the Old Testament, but we also know that God used Satan during the New Testament times too. Let’s look at two apostles—Paul and Peter—and see how God used Satan to strengthen their faith and the lives of others also. The Apostle Paul Experienced Many Trials Too In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 the apostle Paul describes the many different trials he experienced in his ministry: hard work, he spent time in prison, he was flogged and exposed to death again and again, 5 times he received forty lashes from the Jews, 3 times he was beaten with rods, once he was pelted with stones, 3 times he was shipwrecked. He was constantly on the move and in danger from rivers, bandits, fellow Jews, Gentiles and false believers. He was in danger everywhere he went. He was often hungry and thirsty or went without sleep or warm clothing and shelter. And besides all that he daily felt the pressure and concern for all the churches.

Often, when we hear things like this, we don’t know if those trials are from God or from Satan. But no matter where they come from we know that God can use even Satan’s work to strengthen believers. Satan really wanted to destroy or discourage Paul, but his sufferings actually helped him:

Trials And Pain From Satan Used To Keep Paul Humble

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “...because of the extraordinary character of the revelations. Therefore, so that I would not become arrogant, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, amessenger of Satanto trouble me —so that I would not become arrogant. I asked the Lord three times about this, that it would depart from me. But he said to me, "My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” (NET)

Here Paul shows us another purpose for our trials and pain. God sometimes allows trials and pain to keep us from becoming proud, lest we try to do God’s work in our own strength. Paul said that the trials and pain that he experienced were like a messenger from Satan to keep him from getting proud or conceited. And so, instead of being weak in his own strength, Paul was strong in God’s strength. It’s interesting to note that Satan, by trying to weaken us, is actually helping to make us stronger! I’m sure Satan’s not too happy about that.

Again, we see that God is sovereign. He can use Satan and his trials to correct us and keep us humble and even strengthen us. So we have to remember that our physical health and well-being are not as important as our spiritual health and character and the long-term eternal benefits. So if God allows some pain or suffering to happen to us, it is because he loves us and wants the best for us. He is probably trying to correct us or strengthen our faith and our spirit which are eternal and are much more important than physical comfort and ease. It’s true—we have an amazing God! He can even use our enemy Satan to help and strengthen us!

Apostle Peter Tested By Satan Peter is another example of Satan being used to strengthen believers.

Luke 22:31-32 records Jesus saying this to Peter: "Simon, Simon,Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthenyour brothers."

Here again we see another example of Satan wanting to test believers like Peter and the apostles. But Jesus did not prevent it—instead he allowed it for a purpose. It was a very difficult testing time for the apostles just like Jesus said (Matthew 26:31-35; Matthew 26:56; Mark 14:27-31; Mark 14:50; John 13:36-38). But Jesus allowed Satan to test Peter and the others, and God used that experience to strengthen other people later. When we ourselves are strengthened from Satan’s attacks, then we can help others and build their faith also.

Armies Get Toughened Up In Battle

All soldiers go through some kind of difficult physical training and often practice mock battles before they go to war. And every battle makes a soldier even tougher because he learns from his enemy and he is strengthened against him.

Even so, in the spiritual realm, we become more aware of our weaknesses when we do battle against Satan and hopefully learn from it, like Job did. When God allows us to do battle with Satan, it may seem like we are losing sometimes, but God knows what we need to learn, so we grow stronger and stronger through every spiritual battle as we humble ourselves and learn from him.

Summary: Satan Is God’s Servant To Strengthen Us

One critical thing we can learn from these three stories is that God is so much smarter and more powerful than Satan. God used Satan to accomplish God’s own goals in Job’s life as well as Paul’s and Peter’s. Satan wanted to ruin their lives, but God instead used Satan to strengthen their faith and use them as an example to strengthen the faith of others also. Again, this shows us God’s tremendous wisdom and power. We can rejoice and take comfort in that, because God wants to help us too!