Satan is well able to bring before our eyes things which market his own message for the Christian.
He has several messages that he tries to convey to us.
Each one designed to weaken our faith orto dishearten and disillusion us, or else to sow discord and destroy any harmony between believers.
One of his favourite messages for us is that God isn't so conoemed for our welfare as we like to think He is and that when I am distressed and suffering, He doesn't really share in my sorrows.
And that it's just a wishful thinking to think that in a world containing many thousands of millions of people, God knows and cares about the detail of my life.
Be alert and of sober mind.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering
Now the bible reveals to us that Satan is allowed considerable powers to cause suffering and hardship in the world.
In particular the book of Job, tells us much about this.
But elsewhere too, for example, the woman who had been crippled for 18 years, that we read of in Luke Chapter 13, and whom Jesus cured, is referred to in verse 16 of that chapter as someone that “Satan has bound these 18 years”.
Even Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12: 7, referred to the thorn in his flesh... (whatever ailment that was), as a “messenger from Satan”. I am not suggesting that Satan is the bringer of all illness and suffering, but of some, and we can conclude, that he delights to inflict pain and distress Upon the children of God...and also, crucially, upon those whom they love and care about, because, to see someone we dearly love suffer and remain in distress' or to watch them in sorrow and with physical or emotional pain, day after day, can break the heart of the Christian and shake our faith to the very core. At such times, hard though it may be, we have to focus upon the cross and pray that God will help with the suffering and somehow bring good out of evil. And so stifle the devils plans.
Father, we look to you for aid and support when we are oppressed by Satan. Help us to look to the cross and to keep our faith, no matter what comes; in Jesus name.
Amen
