[364 words]
Sometimes as humans, we tend to give more credit to our enemies than they actually deserve. I know that in my personal life, I struggle with making Satan much more powerful than he already is. Sometimes, we tend to think of Satan as an all-powerful being, when in reality he isn’t. This is demonstrated in the book of Job several times when we see Satan going to God, and having to ask His permission to be able to get to Job. Not only is he forced to ask for authority, but he was still limited to what he could and couldn’t do.
“Then the Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.’ So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord” (Job 1:12). We see that Satan cannot do anything that God doesn’t want him to do. This shows that he is not omnipotent, and certainly not more powerful than God. We can also see from Job chapter one that Satan is not omnipresent. “The Lord said to Satan, ‘From where do you come?’ Then Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.’” (Job 1:7). We see here that Satan can not be everywhere at once. We also see in all of this that Satan still answers to God. Satan and God are not on the same level when it comes to power. It isn’t like in the movies where the “gods” are all powerful and there is a constant battle between them. God has Satan in his place, and Satan couldn’t overstep the power God has given him if he wanted to.
What a Christian can take from this is that we shouldn’t give more credit to Satan than he is worth. Yes he is an enemy, and a powerful one, but we shouldn’t give him more power in our heads than he has. We should take comfort in this, remembering that we serve an all powerful God who Satan has no control or chance against. God is in control, and that is how it will remain.
Jack Moore
Denver, CO