Get Thee Behind Me Satan...

Father, Son, and Holy Coincidence...

So, I often wonder if we put too much stock in the role of Satan in our lives. Although I guess the same could be said of God. How often do we take the events of our lives and attribute them to super natural type forces? Is every minor event of our lives the preplanned work of God or Satan... or even karma? It seems a little silly to say that hitting every red light on your way to an important interview (when you are already running late) is the work of Satan or bad karma. Sometimes... things just suck and that's life. Where is the line between coincidence and external influence?

I've been thinking about this for the past few days a lot because I'm sick. Not just mild cold sick... but the running a fever, aches, chills, sore throat, leaving work early kind of sick. It sucks on a couple of different levels. For one thing, I'm new at my job and I don't want to come across as a problem this early in the game. Yet, perhaps the thing about all of this that upsets me the most is that being sick is incredibly discouraging and frustrating. In the past week or two I've been ready to take on the world... I'm teaching myself how to play the guitar, reconnecting with my faith and getting back into regular worship, and just overall taking charge of my feelings and that kinda junk. So, I was basically walking on sunshine and praising God throughout the day.

Then I got sick.

It's so much harder to praise God for the goodness in this life when you feel like an old pile of dog turd. Which is what got me thinking about the overall theme of this post... what role does Satan have in our lives? Do we attribute too much in our lives to work of Satan or God? It doesn't seem unrealistic to say that Satan would have done something to knock me down a few pegs or keep me from praising God. In fact, it seems like something that is right up his alley. Does that mean I should blame Satan for getting sick? I guess I could trace it right back to the fall of man way back in Eden... pain was introduced to mankind and that was clearly on Satan. What a punk...

I don't know that I have an answer to any of this stuff. I guess I could attribute everything that happens in my life (be it good or bad) to coincidence but I feel like that would be cheating God. To take the blessings of my life and simply attribute them to coincidence would be bogus of me. On the same token, to dismiss all bad things (even the small stuff) as coincidence seems like it would lead me to really underestimate the power of Satan.

My solution for the current problem is this. In all things I will rejoice in God. In the good, be they big or small, I will thank God. In the bad, I will do my best to stay ever mindful of the presence of God... to thank Him for the day and maybe ask Him for help in remembering to be grateful of the blessings He has given me.

Also, I don't think it hurts to ask Him if He can help with the sore throat...