Where the Devil?

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Job 1:6-7 (NRSV)

One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”

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Very superstitious, nothin' more to say
Very superstitious, the devil's on his way

"Superstition" written and recorded by Stevie Wonder from "Talking Book" 1972

One of the more liberal ministers and preachers from the 70's and 80's, William Sloane Coffin believed that as there is a real God--not just a concept of God--there was also a real Satan--not just a concept of Satan. Frankly, this isn't a belief that you would associate with a very liberal protestant minister, and reading his reasoning was amazing.

This is not the place to discuss the "reality" or the "truth" of an embodied devil called in Job "Satan." As far as names go, "Satan" means accuser. Specifically, in the Hebrew scriptures, this character is known as The Satan, The Accuser.

Is he "real?" Is his physical existence "true?" As for me, it doesn't matter, that's right, I think that it really doesn't matter whether we believe in a physical satan or not. I believe this for the simple reason that even if a physical satan isn't real, The Accuser is all too real. In our world there are people who try to convince us that things that are real aren't and vice versa. There are people who tell the children of God that they are not loved. There are people who believe that the only way to give love it by abuse, and even worse are those who have been so abused that they believe it is the only way to receive love. There is danger and evil used to separate us from God. There is addiction and abuse separating us from one another.

Even if there is no Dante's "Inferno" version of the Devil, it is still True that Satan, the Accuser exists. It may not look like you, or me, or a Satyr, but the truth of Satan is quite real. There are accusers ready to harm us. Yes, Satan is “going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” Of that, there is no doubt.

The joy of it all is that even when the devil's on his way, the Lord our God is on the stay. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. Beware for it is as Stevie sings, "When you believe in things that you don't understand then you suffer, superstition ain't the way." Not sin, not death, not the worst Satan can dish out, not the worst our friends can say about us. That is just one of the important lessons from the story of Job.