According to the Bible, Satan’s work in the universe also involves attacking those who fear God. He is always trying to attack those who fear God. This can be seen in the book of Job.
In the book of Job, Satan falsely accused the God-fearing Job twice before God (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6). In his false accusations, he did his best to find fault with Job. However, he could not find any fault, so his accusations became slander. First he accuses (the name devil means “accuser”), and if he cannot find any fault, he slanders. He said, “Does Job fear God without cause? Have You not set a hedge around him and his household and all that he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his possessions are spread throughout the land. But stretch forth Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face” (1:9-11). This is slander.
Not only did Satan falsely accuse Job before God and slander God, he greatly assailed Job when God gave him the permission, launching an assault on the environment around Job and then inflicting great harm to Job’s body. These are different ways in which Satan attacks those who fear God.
Satan’s attacks are always from the circumference to the center; he also calls upon his subordinates. For example, the wind came from the air (v. 19), the Chaldeans came (v. 17), the Sabeans came (v. 15), and his ministers came (2:11). When Satan attacked Job, he called upon nearly all of his subjects.
Exodus shows that after God’s chosen people went down to Egypt, Satan ill-treated them, usurped them, detained them, and tried to annihilate them through Pharaoh’s hands. This is revealed in Exodus 1:8-18, 5:2-23, 8:25-28, and 10:10-11 and 24-27.
God spoke to the children of Israel through Moses, yet Pharaoh placed work more heavily upon them so that they would labor and have no heart to listen to the words which Moses spoke to them. This is revealed in Exodus 5:9 and 6:9.
When the children of Israel came out of Egypt and reached the foot of Mount Sinai, Satan still followed after them to damage them.
After the children of Israel came to the foot of Mount Sinai, the first thing Satan did was to cause them to reject God’s grace. God seemed to be saying to them, “As an eagle bearing its young on wings, I have brought you out of Egypt. You did not have to do anything, to make any move, or to do any work; rather, My grace accomplished everything for you. Now I will bear you to the land of Canaan.” However, at this point, Satan caused the children of Israel to become proud. Not knowing themselves, they rejected God’s grace and wanted to keep God’s commandments by themselves. As a result, the law was inserted. Without Israel’s rejection of God’s grace, there would have been no need to give the law.
At the foot of Mount Sinai, Satan’s most corrupting work among the children of Israel was to cause an idol to be brought into their midst; it was not an ordinary idol, but a special-made idol. They made a golden calf to worship as God; moreover, they made the calf with the gold that God intended to use to build the tabernacle, thereby making God jealous (Deut. 32:21).