How can you differentiate between what are God's works and what are Satan's attacks if in the case that the event is bad. Sometimes God puts you through tough times so that He can reveal Himself more easily to you, but how do you know that those tough times are not created by Satan? When Satan attacks you, how do you know that's not God trying to reveal Himself to you?
This is a very thoughtful question. Sometimes we unwittingly go through our problems and struggles in life not seeing that God has a greater purpose for our suffering. Or we lose sight of the spiritual, and are convinced that all that exists is what we see: the physical. There are a few points I’d like to make from the Bible:
Satan DOES attack
There IS indeed spiritual warfare; it’s real. Eph 6:13 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.” That is to say, that Satan is at work, tempting, lying, fixing circumstances against Christians. However, that is not to say that Satan is to blame for every bad thing that happens to us.
God DOES work
It is also true that God tests us to grow our faith. He is not as concerned with our physical or financial wellbeing as he is with our faith. 1 Peter 1:6-7 says, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” How exactly does this work? Well, somehow, when we go through trials in life, it forces us to not look within and be so self-absorbed. When our eyes are off of ourselves and our ambitions, we can focus them on God. It’s sort of like a wake-up call to us when we get so caught up in our routines. Though it’s natural to want to avoid pain and suffering, Paul argued that it was good for us to see the bigger picture and take joy in it. Romans 5:3-4 says, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
God uses EVERYTHING
Here’s the kicker: to God, everything can be an opportunity for Him to reveal Himself more to you. Whether it is an intentional attack from Satan (spiritual warfare), or whether it is God putting you through trials to refine you, they serve one and the same purpose: His glory through our sanctification. In both causes of suffering, our response ought to be the same: to turn to God. And in that lies our true source of comfort from the pain.
How do we know everything can be used as an opportunity for God? Well, I’ll point out one great example that you should look into if you have the time. In the story of Job, Satan needed to ask for permission from God to inflict suffering on Job. God allowed it in his sovereignty and love. After losing several family members and all of his earthly riches, by the end of the book, we see that Job’s faith had been proven strong and was even bolstered by his experience of trial. All this was possible, even though it was Satan’s idea to test him. A great theme in the story of the entire Bible is how God turns “bad things” (such as spiritual warfare and opposition from Satan) into good things for His purpose. Job was an example of this. You can also see this clearly in the story of Joseph (Gen 37-50). Perhaps the greatest examples of these are in the life of Jesus, how God turned a suffering betrayed saviour into the hope for our world. When you believe in a sovereign God, that transcends time, sees everything, is more powerful than anything… it should all make sense how God is able to use everything for our good, and ultimately, His glory.
[Answered by Mark Cheng, Agape Counselor]
