Answer: Each of the believer in the Lord hopes all of their life to be peaceful and happy, free from worries about what to eat and wear… thinking life such as this is God’s blessing. However, while we are following God, we suffer the torment of illness, the impoverishment of life, slander and ridicule from the world, and even the befalling of persecution and tribulation etc. If we don’t understand God’s will behind all these, it’s easy for us to feel negative and we even complain against and betray God. Why does God allow something bad to happen to us?
Once I read God’s words that say: “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God.” “because Satan is the foil and serving object in God’s work, man is often given to Satan; this is the means God uses to allow people to see the wickedness, ugliness, and contemptibility of Satan amid Satan’s temptations and attacks, thus causing people to hate Satan and be able to know and recognize that which is negative. This process allows them to gradually free themselves from Satan’s control, and from Satan’s accusations, interference, and attacks—until, thanks to God’s words, their knowledge and obedience of God, and their faith in God and fear of Him, they triumph over the attacks of Satan, and triumph over the accusations of Satan; only then will they have been completely delivered from the domain of Satan.” As I was pondering over God’s words, I realized that there’s God’s will behind all that we encounter and it’s related to our testimony and salvation. God hopes that we can live under His care and blessings, but satan is trying to hinder us from coming before God. In this way, we are facing all kinds of satan’s temptation and disturbance, which are the outwardly ‘bad’ things. However, God’s wisdom is above satan’s schemes. God tests our faith and submission in Him through satan’s disturbance. When we stand the testimony and shame satan with faith, we are free from satan’s accusation and become the witnesses of overcoming satan, gaining God’s salvation and blessings. Just like Job, when he faced all kinds of temptation and attack from satan, even when he was robbed of his properties, his children were dead and he had sore boils all over his body, Job was able to overcome satan’s temptation because of his faith, submission and reverence to God. In the end God spoke to Job in the whirlwind and blessed Job with properties and longevity a few times more. From then on, Job no longer was accused and became a complete man. On the other hand, God allowed some outwardly “bad” things to happen to help us see clearly how satan corrupts and destroys man, eventually we will be able to see through stan’s wickedness and despicableness, we won’t be deceived or utilized by it any more and we will escape from satan’s influence and be saved by God. Just as the Lord Jesus did the work of redemption, He was nailed onto the cross to become the sin offering and redeem the mankind who lived under satan’s domain. God used the accusation of the Jewish Pharisees and scribes to accomplish His plan of redeeming mankind so that we not only gain the Lord’s atoning sacrifice but also see through the true face of the hypocritical Pharisees and we also have the path to discern the modern Pharisees. I truly see the fact that God uses Satan’s service to complete God’s work and God’s almightiness and wisdom are fully manifested.
The more I ponder these words, the more I understand God’s painstaking intention in saving mankind and the more I feel God’s good and kind will. All that God does is for the sake of our life and for the sake of our salvation.