Audio Transcript
Last month, we read and studied Ephesians 6:12 — “our struggle is not against flesh and blood” but against spiritual forces in the heavenly realms (NIV). So, are our interpersonal struggles just conflicts with other people, or are they always acts of spiritual warfare in disguise? That was a fascinating episode in APJ 2158, not long ago. And we’re back to a very similar topic in this perceptive question from an anonymous listener.
“Hello, Pastor John! I’ve been wrestling with a question that’s been difficult to find clarity on, and it’s deeply personal to me right now. In 1 Thessalonians 2:18” — a text we just read together in our Bible reading — “Paul talks about his desire to visit the Thessalonians but being hindered by Satan. That passage made me think of another moment in Acts 16:6–8, where Paul and his companions are prevented from entering the province of Asia by the Spirit of Jesus.
“My question is, how do you distinguish between being hindered by Jesus versus being hindered by Satan? Or does it even matter? I can’t help but want to make a distinction between the two, especially considering that Paul dealt with both kinds of hindrances and seemed to understand whether it was the Spirit or Satan causing the roadblock. But how did Paul discern that? What were the signs or marks that helped him make that distinction?
“It’s especially challenging for me because I’m currently facing a situation where I’m feeling hindered or blocked, and I don’t know whether it’s from God or from the enemy. My instinct is to seek clarity on whether God is sovereignly redirecting me for a good purpose or if spiritual opposition is trying to derail me. I would appreciate your wisdom on how to navigate these moments and how to discern God’s will in the face of spiritual opposition. Thank you!”
Satan’s Place in God’s Plan
That question takes us into one of the deepest mysteries of providence. And that’s a good place for us to go, because we need clarity on how to interpret the circumstances of our lives and the application of Scripture to the decisions we have to make in front of us. The reality we’re dealing with here in regard to the mystery of providence is that all events — all of them, in the world, of every kind — are ultimately owing to the will of God. That’s the main reality: the sovereign will of God. Ephesians 1:11: “[God] works all things according to the counsel of his will.”
So, the first answer to the question about whether God or Satan is hindering is this: There is no circumstance in your life where God’s governance is not decisive. It’s always decisive. God has many different ways of seeing to it that things happen or don’t happen, but whether something happens or doesn’t happen is ultimately in God’s hands. That’s the first thing we need to nail down.
Now, what about Satan? Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:18 (he pointed this out) that he was hindered from coming to them by Satan. So, when we put this fact together with the other fact that I just defended from Ephesians 1:11, that God “works all things according to the counsel of his will,” the implication is that, in permitting Satan to hinder Paul, God accomplishes his will. Even though Satan is the more immediate actor in hindering Paul, God is ultimate. Satan is secondary.
Now, I just used the word permit: “in permitting Satan to hinder Paul.” When we use the word permit in relation to God, we need to remember that God knows ahead of time what this permission is going to bring about. And so, since God does nothing aimlessly, pointlessly, therefore his permission is always a plan, a design. He knows what’s coming. If he permits it, it’s designed, it’s planned, it has a purpose. He’s accomplishing his ultimate will by his permitting Satan to do his — Satan’s — sinful will.
“Satan meant Judas’s betrayal for evil. God meant it for good — indeed, for our salvation.”
Now, clearly, Satan does things that break God’s law. “Thou shalt not lie” is God’s law (see Exodus 20:16), and Satan, by nature, is a liar. That’s what he does for a living: He’s a deceiver. He breaks the ninth commandment every day, every hour. So, he’s always contradicting the revealed will of God in what he does. That’s why we distinguish between the revealed will of God (the moral will of God, like the Ten Commandments) and the sovereign will of God. Satan breaks the one every day. Satan never breaks the other. The sovereign will of God is always done.
Who Caused Judas’s Betrayal?
Let’s take Judas as an example. What force brought about Judas’s betrayal of Jesus? John 13:2 says, “[Satan] put it into the heart of Judas . . . to betray him.” Luke 22:3–4 says, “Satan entered into Judas. . . . He went away and conferred with the chief priests.” On the other hand, John 17:12 says that Judas was not kept back from the betrayal by Jesus. Jesus didn’t stop him from betraying, “[so] that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” And in Acts 1:16, Peter says, “The Scripture had to be fulfilled . . . concerning Judas.”
Who fulfills the Scripture? God does. Jeremiah 1:12 says (this is God talking), “I am watching over my word to perform it.” God does his word. God sees to it that Scripture happens, in the case of Judas. He sees to it that the Scriptures are fulfilled, including the betrayal by Judas. So, on the one hand, Satan is moving Judas toward betrayal, and on the other hand, God is superintending these things.
The Scripture is fulfilled and Jesus is betrayed, just like it says in Acts 4:28: All the actors surrounding the arrest and trial and murder of Jesus — Herod, Pilate, Gentiles, Israel, all of them — did what God’s “hand and [his] plan had predestined to take place.” So, we can paraphrase the words of Genesis 50:20: “Satan meant it for evil. God meant it for good — indeed, for our salvation.” And we can add to that that Judas himself made the decision and was responsible for it, because it says in Matthew 27:4, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
So, what force brought about Judas’s betrayal? Answer: Satan, Judas, God — and God’s purpose (his saving purpose, in fact, for us) was decisive. God’s sovereign will is always decisive, even though there are other actors in the process of seeing to it that it comes to pass.
How to Read Providence
In fact, I think we can generalize and say, on the basis of the totality of Scripture, that in every temptation we face and every trial that we endure, both Satan and God are active, and they have opposite designs, opposite purposes. God is always proving your faith and your obedience in every temptation and trial. And Satan is always seeking to destroy your faith and undermine your obedience in every temptation and trial.
Now, what light does all that shed on our friend’s question about the hindrance that has risen in his life? His life, I presume, is going along in a certain direction, and something has happened now in his life, and it looks like this could really throw him off from accomplishing what he thought he was going to do. And he’s not sure — is it from God, or not? He says, “My instinct is to seek clarity on whether God is sovereignly redirecting me for a good purpose or if spiritual opposition is trying to derail me.” That’s a really good question. We need to read providence at that point in our lives so that we know whether to resist or not.
Here’s what you can know for sure. In this moment of hindrance in your life’s direction, Satan is aiming at your unbelief and your sin, and God is aiming at your faith and your holiness. That’s what you can know for sure. You can know that with absolute certainty, because that’s what is revealed in the Bible. Satan is a tempter and a liar (Revelation 12:9), and God revealed to us, “My will for you is your sanctification” (see 1 Thessalonians 4:3).
So, here’s what I would do. I would renounce Satan in every sinful reality that may have contributed to this hindrance. You just have to look and see: What sinfulness contributed to this hindrance? Wherever you see sin in yourself or in others, renounce it; turn away from it. Don’t let it have decisive influence on your decision.
Then I would face the decision before me. Should I accept these hindrances as from Satan or from God? Should I try to overcome it, or should I yield to it? And to answer that, I would take into account my gifts, my abilities. I would take into account the opportunities that lie before me in both of these forks in the road. I would take into account my persistent holy desires — which direction has God prompted me by the Spirit to want deeply and persistently? And I would take into account potential fruit that could come from either of these paths. And I would saturate all of those factors with biblical principles and with prayer for God’s help while I listen to the godly counsel of other people. And I believe, if you do those things, God will make it plain whether you should embrace the hindrance or overcome it.
