
Is the obstacle in life a divine redirection or a satanic attack?
That’s the question one listener posed to theologian and pastor John Piper on a recent episode of the “Ask Pastor John” podcast.
The listener, facing what he described as a spiritual and situational “roadblock,” turned to two seemingly contrasting biblical accounts: 1 Thessalonians 2:18, where the Apostle Paul says he was “hindered by Satan,” and Acts 16:6–8, where Paul and his companions are “prevented by the Spirit of Jesus” from entering Asia.
“[H]ow do you distinguish between being hindered by Jesus versus being hindered by Satan? Or does it even matter?” he asked.
That question, the 79-year-old chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, said, “takes us into one of the deepest mysteries of providence,” adding, “There is no circumstance in your life where God’s governance is not decisive. It’s always decisive.”
Quoting Ephesians 1:11 — “[God] works all things according to the counsel of his will” — Piper emphasized that even when Satan acts, God is ultimately in control.
“God has many different ways of seeing to it that things happen or don’t happen, but whether something happens or doesn’t happen is ultimately in God’s hands.”
Piper, the founder and teacher of Desiring God, acknowledged the complexity of using words like “permit” when describing God’s relation to Satan’s activity: “Since God does nothing aimlessly, pointlessly, therefore His permission is always a plan, a design. He knows what’s coming. If He permits it, it’s designed, it’s planned, it has a purpose.”
Piper turned to the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot.
“John 13:2 says, ‘[Satan] put it into the heart of Judas … to betray him.’ Luke 22:3–4 says, ‘Satan entered into Judas,’” Piper noted. “On the other hand, John 17:12 says that Judas was not kept back from the betrayal by Jesus, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.’”
That Scripture fulfillment, Piper explained, is ultimately God’s doing: “God does His Word. God sees to it that Scripture happens, in the case of Judas.”
According to Piper, the betrayal of Jesus involved multiple actors: Satan, Judas and God, each with different intentions. “Satan meant it for evil. God meant it for good — indeed, for our salvation,” he said, echoing Genesis 50:20.
“In every temptation we face and every trial that we endure, both Satan and God are active, and they have opposite designs,” Piper said. “God is always proving your faith and your obedience. Satan is always seeking to destroy your faith and undermine your obedience.”
“You can know that with absolute certainty,” he said. “In this moment of hindrance in your life’s direction, Satan is aiming at your unbelief and your sin, and God is aiming at your faith and your holiness.”
Piper outlined a practical process for discerning how to respond to a perceived hindrance:
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Renounce sin: “Wherever you see sin in yourself or in others, renounce it; turn away from it. Don’t let it have a decisive influence on your decision.”
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Evaluate the fork in the road: “Should I accept these hindrances as from Satan or from God? Should I try to overcome it, or should I yield to it?”
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Consider one’s gifts, opportunities, desires and fruit: “Which direction has God prompted me by the Spirit to want deeply and persistently? What fruit could come from either of these paths?”
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Apply Scripture and seek counsel: “Saturate all of those factors with biblical principles and with prayer for God’s help while you listen to the godly counsel of other people.”
“If you do those things, God will make it plain whether you should embrace the hindrance or overcome it,” he said.
In a previous episode of the podcast, Piper said God uses Satan to strengthen and purify believers during times of trouble despite the devil’s evil intentions.
God baffles Satan by making him the instrument of the very thing he hates — namely, trust in God and holiness in life,” Piper said, adding that “if we see Satan’s hand in our suffering, it doesn’t mean that the suffering has no good design from our loving Father.”
Piper noted that God “has the right to bring comfort and calamity into our lives” and that “He owes us nothing” and “we don’t deserve anything from Him.”
“We can’t negotiate with Him. He has done us no wrong,” he adds. “His ways are high. We will understand by-and-by, even if we don’t now.”
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com