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St. Paul tells his friends at Thessalonica that he was anxious to revisit them, and that he made the attempt to do so more than once, but that he was hindered by Satan. The direct impediment may have been the opposition of his enemies (Acts 17:13, 14); or it may have been bodily sickness - "a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan." Whatever this immediate and visible hindrance was, the point of interest to us is that St. Paul attributed it to Satan. Let us consider the hindrance thrown in the way of good work by Satan.

I. SATAN HINDERS THE WORK OF THE GOSPEL.

1. The hindrance is to be seen in all times. Doors are shut; enemies are raised up; misunderstandings throw mission work into confusion.

2. The source of the hindrance may be discovered by its character. "By their fruits they shall know them." The excuse may be the preservation of order, the restraint of excesses, or conservative respect for old ways. That the real source of opposition is Satanic may be known when

(1) bad men are the agents,

(2) a good moral reformation is frustrated.

3. This hindrance converts mission work into a warfare. The Church becomes an army. The forces of light and darkness are drawn up in battle array. New territory cannot simply be claimed by planting the standard of the cross upon it. It must be fought for and won in conquest.

II. SATAN'S HINDRANCE IS INDEPENDENT OF THE CHARACTER OF THE CHRISTIAN LABORERS. Of course, if these men receive Satan into their hearts, so much the more effectually will their mission be frustrated. They become traitors who destroy their own cause by opening the gates of the citadel to the foe. Sin indulged by the servant of Christ is treason. This is a certain and fearful hindrance to success. But the Christian laborer may be faithful and may stilt be hindered by Satan. In the old tradition Satan dared to oppose the archangel Michael Shall we be surprised that he opposes a man? Satan resisted and tempted Christ. He hindered St. Paul. Therefore do not let us think that all difficulties will vanish if only we are true and faithful. Satan may hinder us, though we are innocent, through the wickedness of other men.

III. SATAN'S HINDRANCE IS OVERRULED BY GOD'S PROVIDENCE. Here St. Paul writes of Satan hindering him. In the Acts St. Luke tells us how, when the apostle and his friends "assayed to go into Bithynia... the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not" (Acts 16:7). Is it not possible that sometimes the two influences may have concurred in effecting the same results though originating in the very opposite sources and prompted by contradictory motives? Thus the messenger of Satan that was sent to buffet St. Paul was the means of applying a wholesome discipline and of saving him from undue self-exaltation. Thus, too, though Satan troubled Job, with the object of showing him to be a hypocrite; the great trial proved to be for the glory of God as well as for the honor of his servant. Satan tempted Christ, and so made him the better High Priest for us. Satan compassed the death of Christ, and thereby led to the redemption of the world. Satan's hindrance to our work may be overruled for its more full accomplishment in the end, just as the east winds of early spring help to secure a good fruit harvest by checking the too-early development of bud and blossom. Moreover, all this hindrance is but temporary. Satan's reign is for a season only. And when the hindrance is removed the final result will not have suffered for the delay. Perhaps it will even come the quicker for the temporary hindrance, as, when once it bursts its bounds, the stream rushes out with the more vehemence for having been dammed up. Let us not be impatient. Remember that God has all eternity to work with. - W.F.A.

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KJV: Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.

WEB: because we wanted to come to you—indeed, I, Paul, once and again—but Satan hindered us.