Do troubles come from God or Satan?

Luke 4:1 offers a striking image: "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil." Jesus, led by the Spirit into the wilderness, endures forty days of torment and temptation by Satan.

This raises a question we all wrestle with in times of suffering: do our troubles come from God, or from Satan? The Bible's answer is both.

Jesus in the Desert by Gustave Dore (1865)

God is not the author of evil. That is Satan's work — the great adversary who seeks to harm and destroy God's people. But here is a profound truth: in His infinite wisdom, God permits Satan to bring grief and hardship into our lives, and He does so for a purpose — our good. He allows pain not because He is abandoning us, but in order to build us up and draw us close to Himself.

This is difficult to accept. That a loving Father would allow evil and injustice into our lives strains our understanding. But when we receive it by faith, we are comforted and strengthened. We can endure any trouble and hardship because we know that behind the pain stands our Father — holding us, shaping us, and caring for us.

Let us trust him!