15 You and this woman will hate each other; your
descendants and hers will always be enemies. One of hers will strike you on the
head, and you will strike him on the heel.” — Genesis 3:15
(CEV)
If you don't believe in God and the Devil, I wouldn't say
you're crazy, but you're intellectually malnourished. —U.S. author,
Norman Mailer (1923–2007)
The little verse in Genesis, quoted above, serves as
something of a springboard for the rest of the Bible. It condenses the
conflict between good and evil, between right and wrong, and provides a shot of
encouragement that at some point, there would be an answer to it all.
If you are familiar with the fall of man, you’ll recall
that it’s about Adam and Eve and their inability to keep a single, simple
command. “Don’t eat of that tree,” God said. There were plenty of
other trees from which to eat, but the one became the tool of the Devil, an
instrument of temptation, and the mechanism by which sin entered into the
world. Make no mistake, we’re led to understand that without the Devil,
Adam and Eve would likely have been happy to obey. When the Devil comes
onto the scene, bad things happen.
Read the book of Job. You’ll meet God’s best man,
whom God believed could stand up to the Devil’s test. The first test was
taking away all Job’s blessings. Four messengers came in succession,
bringing all the terrible news. In the second messenger’s report, there is
something interesting. He said that the fire of God fell from heaven and
burned up sheep and servants. It seems to me he implied that God did this
terrible thing. But God didn’t do it. He surely allowed the Devil
to act against Job, but he didn’t do it. So often, we follow suit with
this messenger and fail to give the Devil his due. We blame God, but not
Satan.
In fact, over the years, I’ve heard God blamed for more
terrible, horrible, painful things that I’ve ever heard the Devil blamed
for. I just don’t hear a lot of people wondering, “Why did the Devil do
this to me?” You will hear, “Why did God do this to me?” I have to
wonder if we’ve got things backwards.