Saturday, May 3, 2008

Satan's Feeble Attempts to Thwart God's Plans

I have been thinking about the many times it is recorded in the scriptures that Satan has tried to thwart the plans of God.
--In the garden of Eden, Satan tempted Eve to eat the fruit of the tree.
--When Moses was born, Satan put it in to the heart of Pharoah to kill all baby boys. Moses' mother hid him in the bulrushes, and God preserved Moses' life.
--While Moses was up on the Mount receiving the ten commandments, Satan put it in to the hearts of the children of Israel to worship a golden calf.
--When Jesus was born, once again, Satan put it in to the heart of the King to have all baby boys killed. Joseph was warned in a dream to flee so that Jesus' life would be preserved.
--When Jesus had fasted for 40 days, Satan thought he could tempt him at his weakest point. He came and tried to tempt Jesus to worship him. He also tempted Jesus to use His power to make bread of stones, or cast himself down from the mountain so that angels would come save Him. Satan tried all kinds of ways to tempt Jesus.. What he didn't know, is that fasting actually strengthens us spiritually, so although Jesus was physically weak from not eating, he was spiritually strong from fasting.

Can you think of other times in the scriptures when Satan tried to thwart God's plan?

1 comment:

Fromagette said...

Well, if we consider God's "work and glory" is "to bring to pass the exhaltation and eternal life of man", any time Satan tries to tempt us, to lead us astray of God's plan, he is trying to thwart it. But as for Satan actually trying to thwart the plan as it is being put in place (the Fall, Atonement, etc) I can't think of anything else.