The Satanic Will

During my youth there was a rise of overt satanism.  Occult symbols and practices were expressed in children's cartoons and there were reports of cats being used as sacrifices.  Satanic imagery was employed in artwork and lyrics of rock musicians which shocked the conservative public.  A personal example is when my family arrived early to church on a Sunday morning to find large pentagrams etched onto the doors of the building and also discovered "666" carved by vandals on the communion table.  Though the sensational reports of satanic activity these days is rare, Satan continues to lie, steal, and destroy.

I was reminded of this reality when I read a passage of scripture toward the end of King David's life in 1 Kings 1:5:  "Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, "I will be king"; and he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him."  Like Absalom his brother before him, Adonijah the son of David proudly exalted himself and declared, "I will be king."  He felt entitled to the kingdom of Israel.  The tone of his statement bears a striking resemblance to Lucifer's claim (also called Satan or the devil, among other names) in Isaiah 14:12-15:  "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! ¹³ For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; ¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' ¹⁵ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit."

God created Lucifer perfect yet pride was found in him that asserted, "I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne; I will be like the Most High!"  One of the modern satanic maxims taps directly into this satanic will:  "Do what thou wilt shalt be the whole of the Law."  Don't we live in an age which exalts self, which urges people to follow their hearts, to do or be whoever they want to be--without acknowledgement of God or humility before Him?  James exposed the wickedness in boastfully asserting our will without faith and submission to God in James 4:13-17:  "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; ¹⁴ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." ¹⁶ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil."  Boasting isn't just the tone we use but relates to sinful motives in our hearts.

James followed the example of Jesus Christ who did not rail upon the sins in the world but exhorted people to personally repent for their own sin, pride, and boasting.  James wrote to believers who needed correction from a self-willed perspective so they might repent of evil and adopt a humble, God-honouring one instead.  It is interesting to me James encourages people to say, "If the LORD wills, we shall live and do this or that."  This emphasises our connection to Jesus Christ through faith and the Body of Christ the church.  If we are in Christ we are never alone!  This is not to suggest Christians are obliged to speak to pastors or ministers in the church to run their plans by them for approval, but that we are in submission to God.  God is the one being Who is not presumptuous, boastful, or proud when He says, "I will!"  The satanic "I will" is a subtle (or not so subtle!) way of playing God, a vain boast we ought to repent of.  We should choose instead to humble ourselves before God like Jesus:  "Not my will but Yours be done."