Questions are good...its how we learn.
Perhaps we are supposed to get to know God as fully as possible, but satan blocks that if he can?
Satan is a walking roadblock, seeking to prevent people from getting to know God and making the decision to serve his interests. The devil will paint the Creator in the worst possible light and make out that he is somehow the bad guy responsible for this mess we call life. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Any power the devil has is granted to him for a reason....and always with limits. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
I'm very puzzled about satan having any power at all, after what he did in the garden of Eden. Yet the book of Job, and his wanting to sift John like wheat,
Luke 22, seems to imply that he does have some power to suggest things to God. How can this be?
There are two accounts in the Bible where the devil gives himself away. One is in connection with Job and the other is his temptation of Jesus.
With Job, the devil accused him of serving God only for selfish motives. God had blessed him with much material wealth and 10 beautiful children who had grown up with him as their family head and spiritual guide in the time of the Patriarchs. Satan had noticed this man and his outstanding faith. Seeing his interest, God asked if he had noticed how faithful this man was? The devil began to question Job's motives and told God to take away everything he valued and see if he would not curse God to his face.
In the light of the principle recorded at 1 Corinthians 10:13, God allowed satan to test Job's faith, but he was not to touch the man himself. One servant after another came with bad news and more bad news....he had lost all of his children and all of his assets had been stolen. But in spite of it all, he retained his integrity and never once ascribed anything bad to God.
Not content with that satan again asked God to test Job out...this time by striking him down with illness. He said a man would give anything in exchange for his life....and again God allowed the test, but told the devil he was not to take Job's life. The man passed this test also without ever knowing that the devil had challenged his faith.
This tells us what the devil is capable of, and how Job really represents all of us who serve the true God.
He is pointing fingers at all of us and making claims about our motives too...how are we answering him back?
The temptation of Jesus also tells us something about the devil's power and control.
In Luke ch 4 we read about the three temptations that were made to Jesus. The second one is particularly interesting I think. The devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in exchange for one act of worship.
He made a striking statement that Jesus did not refute. He said....
“I will give you all this authority and their glory, because it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. 7 If you, therefore, do an act of worship before me, it will all be yours.” (Luke 4:6-7)
All the kingdoms of the world were his to give and he could give authority over them to whomever he wished.
Doesn't that explain a lot about why the world is in such a mess? (1 John 5:19) But who alone could give that authority to satan and why?
It's simple.....that rebel spirit who was placed in a guardianship position in the garden if Eden, began to envy what humans were giving to God and he wanted a bit of that action for himself. There were never beings lower than himself before who could see him as a god, but now there were. Abusing his free will, he planned his move carefully and targeted the woman when she was alone. He inferred that God was holding back something to which they were entitled and tricked her into eating the fruit. Her husband realized what she had done but joined her anyway, choosing to stick with his wife rather than obey his God.
Since we become the servant of the one we obey, God allowed humans to reap what they had sown. They chose a new ruler, by obeying him, so God would let them reap the consequences and give them a first-hand lesson in why obeying their Creator would have been a much better option. He stepped back and did not interfere with their choices. The lesson would be a powerful one resulting in much evil and not a lot of good.
Not saying these things to challenge God in any way at all, but I am wondering if we are supposed to explore the unknown to more fully know him and to please him?
All God has ever asked of his intelligent creatures is their obedience and loyalty....not because his is on a power trip, but because he gave them all free will and took it upon himself to guide them in its proper use. Disobeying him had disastrous results and hopefully at the end of this object lesson, humans and angels will respect their Sovereign and follow his directions. The record of their independent course will serve as a warning for all time to come. No one will ever be able to challenge God's right to rule again.
That is how I see things.
