52. Why evil spirits assault us
52. WHY EVIL SPIRITS ASSAULT US
Why do demons assault us? And why does God allow them to?
The Apostle says (Eph 6:12): Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood but against Principalities and Powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.
Two things may be considered in the assault of the demons: the assault itself and the ordering thereof. The assault itself is due to the malice of the demons, who through envy endeavor to hinder man’s progress, and through pride usurp a semblance of divine power by deputing certain ministers to assail man, as the angels of God in their various offices minister to man’s salvation. But the ordering of this assault is from God, Who knows how to make orderly use of evil by ordering it to good (I,114,1).
Demons assault us out of pride and envy, which are the worst of all sins because they are purely spiritual, not physical, not due to weakness. And God providentially allows this evil, as He allows other evils, because He loves us and knows what is best for us in the long run, as we do not. (Late-breaking news: We’re not God!)
And that is the most essential part of the answer to the strongest argument against God, the “problem of evil”, why bad things happen to good people. We don’t know why God allows this or that apparently pointless and useless evil to happen. But we do know that God is God and we are not, and that He is in control, as we are not, and that He is infinitely wise, as we are not, and infinitely more loving than we are. If we don’t know that, we don’t know God. If we do know that, we know why He allows demons and lesser evils: because He is infinitely powerful, wise, and good.
God’s providence can use the worst of human or demonic evil for good. God’s plans include and use the evil plans of His evil and rebellious creatures for the strengthening of His good ones. He does it in the lives of His saints, repeatedly. Not a one of them lived a life of pure peace and comfort, free from sorrows, sufferings, sacrifices, doubts, and temptations. He did it in choosing Judas Iscariot for one of the Twelve. He did it on the Cross, when He allowed the Devil his greatest triumph—for our salvation. And He does it in your life too. He is even more totally trustable than the Devil is totally untrustable.
In light of that trust, we can laugh at the Devil. He hates it when you laugh at him in light of that trust, though he loves it when you laugh at him in light of your own naïveté and overconfidence.