John Piper discussed the role of Satan in suffering on a recent episode of “Ask Pastor John.” A questioner asked his opinion about the biblical story of Job and his wife’s response to their suffering. In the biblical story, Satan approaches God and challenges him on Job’s faithfulness, insisting that Job is only faithful to God because God doesn’t let bad things happen to Job. God then permits Satan to go after Job, resulting in the loss of his wealth, all his children, and even his health. Upon seeing his continued faithfulness to God, Job’s wife criticizes him, saying to Job in Job 2:9-10 “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” Job then rebukes his wife’s attitude.

Addressing the passage, Piper stated it was a prime example of God using Satan in ways he wouldn’t expect. “In other words, God baffles Satan by making him the instrument of the very thing he hates — namely, trust in God and holiness in life. I mention this just to make sure that none of us thinks that Satan’s involvement with Job’s suffering is somehow exceptional in the Bible and can be marginalized, as though it weren’t going to happen to us,” he said. In the end, Job’s faith is only further strengthened, the opposite of what Satan intended. Piper emphasized that though Satan may cause suffering, “it doesn’t mean that the suffering has no good design from our loving Father.” He also stressed that God has the right to do so, with his ways being beyond human understanding.

Piper had previously addressed the difficulties the story can have for people when thinking about God permitting suffering in their lives. One questioner described how her daughter struggled with the fact that it was God who brought Job to Satan’s attention. “She’s deeply disturbed by the fact that God pointed Job out to Satan intentionally, thus drawing his attention to this righteous man, allowing Satan to take away nearly everything Job had. And for what purpose? Merely to prove a point to Satan and the host of heaven that Job’s reverence for God was unshakable.”

In response, Piper pointed out the level of sin in every human heart and how every human was deserving of suffering. “Therefore, no injustice from God is ever done to any human. On the earth, everyone is treated by God better than we deserve — everyone. On the horizontal plane, in relations between humans, there are horrific injustices, which God hates because God hates sin. But we have not yet fathomed the greatness of our offense against God if we think that any suffering from his hand is undeserved,” he stated. He encouraged his listener that while it was hard to understand, it was important to trust God. “God doesn’t expect us to be comforted by the suffering that following him will bring. He expects us to be comforted that all the suffering he appoints for us will be for our ultimate good, for the advancement of his wise purposes, and that he will keep us for himself through them all.”