We sometimes give satan and his demons more credit than they deserve, or we underestimate how firm the Lord can be when he wants to get our attention, teach us something, or protect us.
Also lack of Faith can cause disobedience on our part, when we refuse to follow the path God has planned for us due to fear, which could be the cause of our difficulties, and has nothing to do with God or Satan.
So how can we discern when our difficulties or trials in life, are caused by God, Satan, or our own disobedience???
2007-02-11 01:46:45 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Zee I dont know if I agree with that. I know God does not "tempt" us, but I do believe he tests us. He would have to test us to make us stronger, as we would never do so on our own due to fear or spiritual immaturity. We wouldn't know how to make ourselves stronger or when we were ready.
2007-02-11 02:26:00 · update #1
I think the only possible answer to this question is revelation or hindsight. This is a great question.
Since we are all sinful, I think it makes sense that in difficult times we often rack our brains trying to think of why we might be in the situations we find ourselves. I wonder what Abraham was thinking when going to sacrifice Isaac? What was Jonah thinking in the belly of the whale? What was Job thinking while losing his wealth and family? What was Balaam thinking when the Lord told him to go with Balak when he had previously told him not to? What was Lot thinking when he was fleeing Sodom? What in the world was Joseph thinking when he went through everything he dealt with?
There are so many situations in our lives that we question as well. I think sometimes we need to rest in the fact that whatever we deal with, we must be obedient. In time, we often understand why we dealt with the situations we did. This either comes from revelation or the clarity of hindsight. Regardless from which the avenue these trials come, let our endurance have perfect results, so that we may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
2007-02-11 02:27:09 · answer #1 · answered by MAV 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ohhh, this is a GREAT question. You are right; not every attack is due to Satan or disobedience.
When a person is faced with this issue, it is always good to seek out God and ask him to give you the spiritual eyes to see the situation from his perspective. It may be that God is trying to get your attention. Other times it is to teach us a lesson so we experience a difficult time so we can learn from the experience and emerge stronger. Other times it may be due to sin or disobedience; while other times is may be that Satan is trying to go after the person because the person is taking a stand to follow God no matter what.
A good example is Job in the Bible, The only thing that held him back was his integrity. He insisted that he had done nothing wrong. Finally at the end of the book, a young man came up and told the others to stop this tirade on Job and that Job needed to remember that God was in control of the situation. When Job learned to put himself as lower than God (not equal to God), he finally learned the lesson God wanted him to be shown. As a result, Job learned and was rewarded greater than before his struggles.
All of us go through difficult times and we need to realize that we may be taught something through this. If we all had perfectly easy lives with everything going well, how would we learn and grow?
2007-02-11 01:56:41 · answer #2 · answered by Searcher 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the story of Job, God and Satan (his angel) had a bet that Job would curse God. So if you believe in Satan (whether as the angel working under God's direction, or as the God of all Evil), then Satan is only testing you at the behest of God.
Personally, I think you are merely pushing your misbehavior onto someone else. Kind of like the kid who misbehaves and then says, "You have no idea what kind of upbringing I've had." Only you have control over what you are doing.
2007-02-11 01:59:02 · answer #3 · answered by mamasquirrel 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The inability to differentiate among testing from God, attacks from Satan, and our own disobedience when times are difficult is part of the master plan of the architect of intelligent design. We are not meant to know the differences.
2007-02-11 01:59:34 · answer #4 · answered by Arnold H 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Visting a shrink
2007-02-11 01:50:18 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Like Job, we can't. We can only trust God.
2007-02-11 01:53:59 · answer #6 · answered by Fish <>< 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
first.....God does not test us....
second......Satan is always testing us...especially if you want to know Gods ways..
and third.....you know what you are doing ...you are no dummy...stay alert and don't be deceived.
2007-02-11 02:08:29 · answer #7 · answered by zee zee 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I find it disturbing that this is a serious question.
,
2007-02-11 02:06:08 · answer #8 · answered by abetterfate 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋