“It is the grand design of Satan to lessen our opinion of God’s goodness… He seeks to hide God’s goodness, and to represent him as a God that delights in our destruction and damnation, rather than in our salvation.”

God is slandered daily. Satan, who is a liar and the father of lies, makes sure of it. One of his favorite lies to spread about God is that he doesn’t love us, that he wants nothing more than for us to suffer and die. Satan wants us to think that God is more like the elder brother than the father of the parable of the prodigal son. As Thomas Manton said,

“It is the grand design of Satan to lessen our opinion of God’s goodness… He seeks to hide God’s goodness, and to represent him as a God that delights in our destruction and damnation, rather than in our salvation.”

Regrettably, we are easily deceived by this pernicious lie. We are susceptible to it when we are made aware of our own sinfulness or drowning in a sea of our own guilt. We sense that God will not forgive us because of who we are; or because of what we have done; or because we have committed the same sin countless times. The puritan John Ball noted that Satan…

“…will not spare to suggest to the contrite and humbled soul, that God cannot or will not forgive his transgressions, which have been most heinous for quality, many for number, and in which he has long lived and continued.”

We may also be prone to believe Satan’s lie when we reap what we have sown. We may be incarcerated, divorced, sick or unemployed solely due to what we have done.  Experiencing God’s providential retribution not only increases our sense of guilt and shame, but may create doubt regarding the mercy and kindness of God.  We might wonder: “How could God forgive me, when I cannot even forgive myself?”

Still further, we may be inclined to believe Satan’s lie when we witness or experience God’s wrath upon this rebellious world. The Westminster Shorter Catechism rightly teaches that all the miseries in this life and death itself are part of God’s wrath and curse for sin. The undeniable fact that we will all suffer—to one degree or another—and then die seems to suggest that God is not for us, but against us. How can God be kind, loving and forgiving towards sinners when they all experience his wrath and curse for sin?

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