In thy power

[Winman]

In the book of Job, Satan challenged God concerning Job, claiming Job only feared God because God blessed him, and saying "But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." God answered;

Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

What is interesting here IMO, is that God did not give SPECIFIC commands concerning what Satan could do, only he could not touch Job himself. That is important to note.

Now we see some very interesting things happen. We see the Sabeans stealing Job's oxes and asses and killing his servants (vs. 14-15). So, we see Satan with power over men.

In vs. 16 we see fire falling from heaven, burning up Job's sheep and servants. So, we see Satan having power over nature, or perhaps some sort of miracle.

In vs. 17 we see the Chaldeans stealing Job's camels and killing his servants. Again, Satan has power over the actions of men.

In vs. 18-19 we see a great wind from the wilderness that caused Job's eldest son's house to collapse killing all of Job's children. Satan had power over weather here.

OK, now the point of all this. We tend to call incidents like this "acts of God" implying God is responsible for such disasters, but is this so in every case?

We have seen the devastating tornadoes in the South recently, and now we are seeing record floods. Did God necessarily cause these disasters, or could it be possible Satan caused them?

Was this temporary, or does Satan have these powers at all times? How much freedom does Satan have? as noted, God did not specify (that we know) what Satan was allowed to do.

What do you think?

 

[Cypress]

Looks like we are in a warzone!

 

[Tom Butler]

Winman, this is a great question. I certainly don't know all I'd like to. The one observation I have is that Satan may do only that which God permits and no more. The rest is above my pay grade.

Of course, this raises other questions. Why did God permit all that death and destruction when he could have stopped it? Couldn't God have gotten glory for himself some other way? To what extent is God involved in natural disasters, and to what extent, of any, is Satan involved?

When we see Jesus, I'll arm-wrestle you to see who gets to ask him all those questions first. I'll need a thousand years of so with Him.

 

[Winman]

How do we know Satan always needs permission to cause calamity?

When Satan tempted Jesus to jump off the temple, he quoted Psalm 91:11-12 except he left out the words "in all thy ways". Psalm 91 is a promise of God to protect believers, but only when they are in God's way. Job was a perfect man who obeyed God as well as any man could. When Satan accused God of putting a hedge around Job, this was not false. It was only when God removed his protection from Job that Satan was allowed to afflict him.

But does this protection apply to unbelievers or believers who are not living properly? The promises of Psalm 91 would imply not.

So, perhaps Satan is free to cause all sorts of calamities, especially to unbelievers.

And why does Satan need to be bound during the Millennium if he can only act with permission from God? What harm could he do?

It occurs to me that perhaps Satan is causing all sorts of disasters and we are unjustly blaming God, calling these calamities "acts of God". If so, Satan has done a masterful job of making men doubt and question God.

 

[Van]

I think we should stick with what the bible says and the bible says God causes calamities. Our harsh and uncertain environment provides a reason to seek God as our refuge, not from the hazards of life, for they befall all men, but as our rock that we can cling to even in the midst of anguish and calamity.