Did God Seal Your Fate?

"The sower sows the Word. The ones on the path are people who hear the Word, but immediately the accuser comes and takes away the Word that has been sown in them."

Mark 4:14-15

It isn't right. Why should Satan be allowed to take away the Word that God planted? Many people translate Jesus' parable about the sower in this way: God did the sowing, but Satan ruined it. But that is not the full picture of Jesus' statement. This parable is not a story of Divine fatalism.

The role of Satan is to bring accusations against God's people. The name "Satan" is more of a title than a personal name, and the part of the satan is as his name describes, "The accuser." How does "the Satan" do his prosecuting work? Usually through our mouths. I was recently talking with a man going through difficulties in his marriage and his relationship with his child. He told me that he has lost his faith and that God doesn't answer his prayers. I challenged him on that point and said that we could not expect God to answer our prayers when we haven't surrendered our lives to him. But to this, the man insisted that he wasn't "chosen" by God to believe, and he only ever gets the cold shoulder from God. So, in the end, according to this man, his lack of faith in God is God's fault and responsibility. God didn't answer His prayers, and God didn't choose him to have faith. The man I spoke with is a Calvinist and represents one of the sad examples of the problems with Calvinism. I do not doubt that many good Calvinists would say that this line of thinking is in error. They would argue that John Calvin himself would disapprove. Yet, I can't help but see my friend's line of thinking as the logical conclusion of Calvinism. Many people who have sat under Calvinist teaching have assumed this exact position either consciously or subconsciously. In the above scenario, the irony is that the "accuser" or the "Satan" who is bringing a charge of failure is not an outside force working its compulsory will on the would-be believer. Instead, this is a story about a man conspiring with the devil in his accusations against God.

Whenever we face the choice of repentance or pride, the accuser is always near to help us shift blame from ourselves to someone else, including or even primarily, God. (The only being that the Satan likes to accuse more than you or me is God Himself.) But, in reality, the Satan may suggest things to us, but the actual doing is our own. We are those who make the choices, whether in words or deeds.

On the day you and I face judgment for our actions and inactions, we will be the ones on trial, not the accuser, who made the suggestions. There will be no blame-shifting and no scapegoating on that day. The accuser will be in the courtroom on that day, too, but he will turn his attention away from God at that moment (which is a futile mission anyway) and focus it on you. It is the Accusers job to accuse. He never plays defense, which is the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus described the Holy Spirit, whom He would send to live inside His followers, as "the advocate" or the defense attorney. You must invite Jesus into your life because He is the only person who can deliver you on that day. Woe to the man who puts the Advocate on trial by accusing God of his own lack of faith! That man will be guilty of attempting to murder the one friend who could have helped him.