Satan and the Saints

As the adversary evilly treated the widow, so the devil today evilly treats us believers. Who knows how much we have suffered at his hands? Of course, when he persecutes us he neither manifests his own self nor acts directly. All his works are done through people or things. He is not intent upon showing forth himself; on the contrary, he instigates people of the world to act for him while he himself directs in secret. As the devil took upon himself a cover in the form of a serpent at his first working, so he will seek a cover each time he operates today. Owing to his concealment, God’s children are often mistaken in recognizing their real enemy.

Sometimes he weakens believers’ bodies, causing sickness and pain (see Acts 10.38); yet the believers may regard their conditions in terms only of hygiene or fatigue, without realizing that the devil is at work behind the scenes. In this one respect alone, oh how greatly do the Christians suffer at his hands!

Sometimes the enemy incites people of this world to persecute believers (see Rev. 2.10), who are therefore attacked by their communities, friends, and family members. Yet they think this is due to people’s hatred towards the Lord; what they do not perceive is that the devil actually instigates the assaults. Sometimes the evil one works in the environment, involving believers in hardships and dangers. Frequently he will create misunderstanding among Christians so as to separate the dearest of friends and cause much heartbreak and tears.

Sometimes the enemy cuts off believers’ material supplies, reducing them to wants and even to starvation. At still other times he oppresses their spirit and makes them feel depressed, restless and aimless. Or he may afflict the will of believers, causing them to lose the power of free choice and thus not be able to know what to do. Or he injects irrational fear into believers’ hearts. Or Satan heaps things upon them to overtire them, or else takes away sleep from them to wear them out. Or he injects unclean or confused thoughts into their mind to weaken their resistance or else fashions himself into an angel of light to deceive and to lead the believers astray.

It is just impossible to exhaust the list of all the works the devil does. In short, the enemy will do anything which can cause believers to suffer either spiritually or physically, to fall into sins, or to incur loss or damage. Unfortunately, many of God’s children are unaware of the works of Satan when they suffer at his hands. Whatever happens they attribute to the natural, the accidental, and the human—not discerning how in many natural occurrences there abides the satanically supernatural, how in many accidental episodes there hides the devilish plotting, and how in many human dealings there is involved the wicked maneuvers of the enemy.