So why does God intentionally allow evil as in the case of Job? This is
not a question that the Bible answers fully. However, the Bible does give us
some insights into the question. God says he himself is . . .
"The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and
creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these (Isa 45:7)."
So we should avoid the temptation to defend God by not laying any
responsibility at his feet for calamity. Job's friends vehemently defended
God, not wishing to lay any of the evil that befell Job at God's feet.
However, from our vantage point as readers, we can see that God
intentionally allowed Satan to afflict Job. In the end, they had spoken
wrongly of God.
Even brutal, wicked Assyria's attacks on Israel demonstrate that God is
behind calamity. God refers to Assyria as, "the rod of my anger and the
staff in whose hands is My indignation (Isa 10:5)." These texts clearly
indicate that God is responsible for both well-being and
calamity.
This seems to contradict passages such as Psalm 34:8 which says, "O
taste and see that the Lord is good." If he is good, why does he create
calamity? Unlike eastern religions that deny the existence of evil and
suffering by claiming them to be illusions, the Bible teaches that God uses
calamity and suffering.
"... the Lord your God has led you ... testing you, to know what was in
your heart, ...He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna
... that he might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone,
but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord ... the Lord
your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. (Dt
8:2-5)."
All of the discomfort in the wilderness was not without some purpose. God
always has a purpose in suffering. We see this in Paul as well.
"... to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the
flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-- Concerning this I implored the
Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, "My grace is
sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. (2 Cor 12:7-9)."
Most believers understand that God uses difficulties for our good. God
disciplines his children as a father, and we all understand that discipline
is about training, not punishment. Good and bad children alike receive
discipline from good fathers, and eventually learn self-discipline.
However, the difficulty many have is not that we suffer evil and
calamity. Often, the difficulty comes when it is excessive. Just as it is
senseless (and illegal) to punish a child excessively, it sometimes seems
senseless when the Lord's discipline is excessive. What are we to do when
the difficulties we face don't make sense? We will explore this question
next week.