Can God control evil spirits?

Good afternoon (or whatever time you read this). I hope your Sunday has been blessed- and your Wednesdays ever weird.

It certainly got a little weird this past week, as my latest episode tackled the question of how God rules the world via the Divine Council. It was the second in a three-part exploration we’re undertaking right now on the Divine Council.

If you’re not familiar with the Divine Council, this information can be a bit paradigm-shifting. We analyzed I Kings 22, the Bible story that probably goes the most in-depth on how God has “staff meetings” up in heaven to direct the affairs of earth. And one of the most shocking lines is where God sends “lying spirits” to deceive Ahab.

I Kings 22:21-22 - 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will persuade him.’ 22 The Lord said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the Lord said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’

It’s not that shocking, though, when you consider that God does similar things repeatedly throughout the Bible. There are often spiritual causes behind physical events, and I would say this is especially true in the realm of geopolitics.

Still: these are deceptive spirits, and it’s quite hard to wrap our minds around God partnering with or directing lying spirits to enact His will.

But today, let me give you three examples (and maybe more) when God did just that.

An evil spirit sent to Saul

While David was a ruddy teenager and ministering to King Saul with his music, Saul at times became quite perturbed and was inclined to start hauling spears around. We’re all familiar with this, but why was Saul acting in this way?

I Samuel 16:14 - Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.

The Holy Spirit left Saul. A harmful spirit came instead. And not just a harmful spirit; but a harmful spirit “from the Lord.” God sent a harmful spirit. Let me give it to you in the King Jimmy version:

KJV - But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.

Woah, I just made it worse, didn’t I? An evil spirit. And in this context, evil means “harmful,” not necessarily that the spirit itself was evil, but that his mission was to bring harm to Saul.

Letting Satan have Job

I don’t think I’ve really covered Job yet on the podcast, but there are certainly some odd things going on in chapter 1. I will assume you know Job’s sad story, but have you ever dwelt on these verses in the first chapter:

Job 1:6 - ⁶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.

The Sons of God are the divine beings tasked with operating the world. I imagine they’re gathering for one of these “staff meetings” like we read in I Kings 22. But who strolls into the meeting? Satan himself.

And does God immediately kick him out? No. They literally have a conversation, and God decides to let Satan have access to Job’s life.

Job 1:12 - ¹² And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

It really challenges some of the assumptions we have about the relationship between God and Satan. After all, Satan is the big bad, right? Why is God even giving him the time of day? The Spiritual is a lot more complicated than many of us assume.

Using Satan to tempt David

Here’s one more: there’s a parallel account of the story where David takes a census in II Samuel 24. The problem with Satan’s census was that it was prideful; he wanted to know how many people he had under his control.

But whose idea was it to take the census in the first place? That’s where it gets a little- again- complicated.

II Samuel 24:1 - Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

OK, so it was God who provoked David to do the census in the first place, right? But like I said, there’s a parallel account of this story, and it’s found in I Chronicles.

I Chronicles 21:1 - Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.

Woah, what? Is that a contradiction? I mean, one version of the story says God, the other version says Satan…. that’s about as opposite as it gets.

Unless: God was using Satan to accomplish His greater purposes. And it turns out, that’s exactly what God was doing. In fact, that is why God even bothers to keep Satan around. Satan is a tool that God can use when needed.

Satan is a sneaky, devious monster. But God is the master tactician, and He can even use Satan for His purposes.

I actually did a whole episode before on this story, which you can find right here. Here is what I said at the end of that episode:

God uses Satan. There is nothing the devil can do to your life that God didn’t allow to happen. And I don’t understand it all myself either. But someday I’ll see God, like Job did. And I’m sure I’ll have a similar reaction. All these questions will just melt away.

And if you’d like to understand what God’s greater purposes in II Samuel 24 were, I actually addressed them in a sermon I recently delivered at the church where I am filling in as an Interim Pastor over the next few months.

But we don’t have to feel threatened by the idea that God is sovereign even over harmful or “evil” spirits. Perhaps some of our preconceptions are threatened, but the Bible is clear.

As you’re reading your Bible, you’ll notice more and more “throwaway lines” like this, when Ezekiel is warning that you must get rid of any idols of the heart if you want to consult a prophet or properly hear a word from the Lord.

Ezekiel 14:4, 9 - Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols…And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

Or this which I read just this morning in the story of Abimelech, Gideon’s deranged son:

Judges 9:23 - And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech…

Or when King Hezekiah is asking for Isaiah’s help in repelling an invasion by the Assyrians. God said this in:

Isaiah 36:6-7 - Don’t be afraid because of the words you have heard, with which the king of Assyria’s attendants have blasphemed me. I am about to put a spirit in him and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”

What kind of spirit- good or bad? I don’t know, but it ultimately doesn’t matter. God is sovereign over all. Even Satan can only work within the parameters that God allows him to.

And I’ll leave it there for today. Plenty to think about. Join me again on this next Wednesday as we wrap up this mini-series on the Divine Council!

-Luke