Getting to the Bottom of Things

When followers of Jesus face a series of unfortunate events in their lives, they sometimes say, “I’m under attack.”  The presumption is that Satan is throwing obstacles in their way to keep them from the will of God.  Is Satan the author of crisis in our families?  I believe he is, but not always in the ways we might think.

I think it is safe to say Satan delights in family chaos.  He knows anything that causes stress in our lives can be exploited for his purposes.  This means, while a broken washing machine may not be demon-possessed, the financial and logistical turmoil it can bring into a family’s busy schedule can lead to evil.  If Satan has been nurturing a spirit of entitlement and ingratitude in the children, they might react to the broken washing machine by lashing out when their favorite clothes are still dirty.  Whoever has the primary laundry duty might fume when there appears to be enough money in the checkbook for luxuries, but not enough for a new washing machine.  And those who don’t do the laundry might wonder why doing it at the Laundromat down the road is such a big deal.  In addition, the whole family might be suffering from some poor financial decisions that failed to take God’s kingdom goals into consideration.

Satan is patient.  He doesn’t have to destroy us in the moment, but he can use the struggle of the moment as one piece of his master plan.  And so, “yes”, when lots of bad things happen at once in our families, we are under satanic attack.  However, we must understand the battlefield has been under construction for some time, and our response to our circumstances might indicate a need to reposition our core spiritual values.  Please don’t misunderstand: we all have bad days.  Even the godliest homes can be turned upside down by a broken washing machine, or some other unexpected inconvenience in our complicated lives.  But trust me that Satan is always interested in opportunities he might have to use these kinds of things for his purposes.  Indeed, he is a “roaring lion” roaming everywhere to feed his appetite for destruction (1 Peter 5:8).