Satan's Unwitting Role
When we read about Satan, this powerful and evil spirit being who hates God and despises mankind, we might wonder why God allows Satan to even exist.
As he says in his own words, he is restlessly going back and forth across the earth, looking for trouble...looking for lives to ruin...looking for saints to stumble. In the last chapter, we asked the question: Why does God allow him to carry on? Why doesn't the Lord just take him out?
Why? Well you might be surprised to know that Satan, in his own twisted way, serves the purposes of God.
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You ask, "How in the world could that be?"
Just consider this. Satan unwittingly played a major role in the cross of Christ. In his enduring hatred for God's Son, the devil thought it would be a great idea to have Jesus betrayed, arrested, beaten within an inch of His life, and then crucified and put to death on a Roman cross.
Everything went according to Satan's plan. As Jesus told the mob who came to apprehend him, "This is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns" (Luke 22:53 NLT).
The power of darkness did indeed reign that day, and Satan's plan succeeded.
But so did the plan of God.
What the evil one didn't realize was that it was the Father's plan all along that the Messiah would die for the sins of the world. In the book of Zechariah and in Psalm 22, God even mentioned that the Messiah would die by crucifixion, and it was graphically described thousands of years before it had even been invented (see Zechariah 12:10; Psalm 22). In the prophecy of Isaiah, we're told "It was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer" (Isaiah 53:10 NIV). Unaware that he was making the biggest blunder since his rebellion against God, Satan played into the plan and purpose of God (also prophesied in the book of Zechariah) when in his rage and hatred he inspired Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (see Zechariah 11:12-13).
Satan's "best shot" against God and the people of God was the crucifixion of the God-man, Jesus Christ. And in that act, he unwittingly not only sealed his own doom, he opened the door for Jesus to offer redemption and salvation to the whole world.
But that's not the end of the matter. Believe it or not, Satan can also accomplish God's purposes through the trials and afflictions that he throws our way. How? By helping us to cling to the Lord in dependence and prayer and, as a result, growing stronger spiritually.
Today's devotion is excerpted from the first chapter of Greg Laurie's book, Why, God? (Dana Point, Calif.: Kerygma Publishing, 2007). To order a copy of Why, God? while supplies last, click here to visit the Harvest Store.
Used with Permission
