by Jerry Senn
“We endeavored … eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, … because we wanted to come to you—I Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us” (1 Thessalonians 2:18). Can you hear the urgency in Paul’s words and his frustration at being “hindered” by the powers of darkness?
Let’s remember, from the story of Job, that Satan can only touch the lives of God’s Children with God’s permission. (Job 1:6-12). So, all the road blocks and hindrances preventing the achievement of our worthy goals. may be Satan, the enemy of our souls at work. However, God’s never forsakes his own who trust Him.
One poet and song writer put it this way:
When God wants to drill a man
— Oswald Sanders
And thrill a man,
And skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;
When he yearns with all his heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch his methods, watch his ways!
How he ruthlessly perfects
Whom he royally elects!
How he hammers him and hurts him
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;
While his tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands!
While his good he undertakes
How he uses whom he chooses
And with every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try his splendor out—
God knows what He’s about.