Does Satan Want Us to be Miserable?

In my last post, I asked whether God wants us to be happy, and argued that God has far more important desires for us than happiness. As a follow-up, I would like to consider what is perhaps the opposite question: does Satan want us to be miserable?

I believe it is often assumed that He does. Whenever something goes wrong in our lives, it is tempting to attribute it to the work of Satan. If we lose a job, become ill, have a bad day, or encounter other difficulty, we often say that we’re “under attack”, attributing it to Satan (whether consciously or subconsciously). We assume that if God’s ultimate goal is the best for us, Satan’s ultimate goal must be the opposite of this, which would mean he wants nothing more than for us to be miserable and unhappy, afflicted with as many trials as possible. But I would like to argue that in an overall sense, Satan’s goal is not for us to be miserable, and in fact, often I believe he wants us to be happy!

C.S. Lewis, in The Screwtape Letters, portrayed the fictional correspondence between Screwtape, a senior demon, and his nephew Wormwood. In each letter Screwtape offered Wormwood advice on how to achieve his ultimate objective, which was to prevent the man to whom he had been assigned from becoming a committed follower of God. Screwtape frequently warned against causing too much difficulty in the man’s life, since this had a high probability of driving him closer to God, not further away. Instead, he advised that Wormwood ought to do his best to ensure the man had a comfortable, carefree life, the kind that would make it easier to push God to the back of his mind.

I believe this is an insightful glimpse into Satan’s desire for us. Often, it is when we are most miserable and struggling that we become closest to God. Satan cares less about temporary difficulties than about eternally preventing as many as possible from joining God in Heaven, and this end often is accomplished best if we are happy, in good health, needing nothing, and fully satisfied.

Does this mean that we should be suspicious of and reject good things in our lives as possibly being sent by Satan or playing into his hands? Certainly not. I’m also not suggesting that Satan never is behind certain trials and difficulties we may encounter. But we need to keep in mind that suffering often is highly beneficial to us, providing an opportunity to draw closer to God and grow in maturity and character. Also, we should always be on our guard during the easier times in our lives, knowing that at these times we are most vulnerable to complacency. We must avoid becoming too relaxed and forgetting about our ongoing dependence on God, as well as the fact that life is not about enjoying ourselves, but about offering our lives in service to God.

So does Satan want us to be miserable? Most of the time, probably not. Like happiness, sadness and misery are nothing more than temporary feelings, and have little importance from an eternal perspective. Satan’s goal is to make us ineffective, not unhappy. To steal our eternal joy and fulfillment, not our temporary happiness during this life. To guard against this, we would do well to avoid placing too high an importance on our own happiness in the first place.