Table of Contents
Today we look at the four chapters in Section 8 of the book titled If God Is Good by Randy Alcorn. This section looks at God’s allowance and restraint of evil and suffering.
I hope you have been following along in this book study. You can find posts of previous chapters under the heading Bible Studies in the menu above. Unless otherwise noted, the Scriptures Alcorn uses are from the NIV Bible.
Chapter 30 -Why Doesn’t God Do More To Restrain Evil and Suffering?
Perhaps we should consider the following…
- Why does the chaos that breaks out in some corner of the world always prove the exception rather than the rule?
- What has kept infectious diseases and natural disasters from killing 99% of the world’s population rather than less than 1%?
- Why haven’t tyrants, with access to powerful weapons, destroyed this planet?
2 Thessalonians 2:7 declares that God is in fact restraining lawlessness in this world. Moreover, for this we should thank him daily!
“For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.”
If God permitted people to follow their every evil inclination all the time, life on this planet would screech to a halt.
Sometimes God permits evil by giving people over to their sins and this itself leads to the deterioration and ultimate death of an evil culture, which is a mercy to surrounding cultures. Consider Romans 1:24-32
“Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts … They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised… Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they do what ought not to be done.
They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”
Many children suffer; Why doesn’t God protect them?
We don’t know the answer, but we also don’t know how often God does protect children. The concept of guardian angels seems to be suggested by various passages such as the one below.
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” – Matthew 18:10
There are times in Scripture when God gives us a brief dramatic look into the unseen world in which righteous angels battle evil ones, intervening on behalf of God’s people.
Daniel 10:12-13 – … “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.”
Daniel 10:20 – “…Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come.”
How many angels has God sent to preserve the lives of children and shield them from harm?
Show Me a Miracle…
God exercises wisdom and purpose by not always intervening in miraculous ways.
God brings down fire from heaven on occasion (see Numbers 16:35; 1 Kings 18:38 ). He even opened the earth to swallow up his enemies (see Numbers 16:31-33). Did this result in people turning to him in the long run? No.
Jesus fed the multitudes, and many followed for a while, but they turned away recoiling from his demanding words (see John 6:1-66).
Abraham told the rich man that his brothers “Will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead” (see Luke 16:27-31).
We say, “Show me a miracle and I’ll believe,” yet countless people who have seen miracles continue to disbelieve. In our eagerness to see greater miracles, we regard “natural processes” as minor and secondary, thus missing God’s marvelous daily interventions on our behalf.
A Perfectly Just World
No matter how much God reduced world suffering, we’d still think he did too little. Our birthright does not include pain-free living. Only those who understand that this world languishes under a curse we’ll marvel at the beauty despite that curse.
Fallen beings could not survive in a perfectly just world where God punished evil immediately. Do you believe the world would be a better place if people immediately paid the just penalty for every sin? In God’s sight, every evil is a capital crime.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23
The woman who tells a “little white lie,” the teenager who shoplifts, the greedy man, and the gossiper, all would instantly die. D. A. Carson writes,
“Do you really want nothing but totally effective, instantaneous justice? Then go to hell.”[1]
God restrains suffering through our limited lifespans. To say God takes too long to bring final judgment on evil and suffering imposes an artificial timetable on someone time cannot contain. God’s Son entered time in his incarnation. Though he understands our impatience, he won’t yield to it, and one day we’ll be grateful that he didn’t.
Chapter 31 – Why Does God Delay Justice?
For many, the most difficult problem with evil is its persistence, prompting the question, “How long, oh Lord?” However, Scripture assures us justice is coming.
“For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” – Ecclesiastes 12:14
“For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed” – Acts 17:31
But why a future day of judgment? Why doesn’t God simply reward each good and punish each evil as it happens? Barbara Brown Taylor phrased it,
“What kind of a God allows the innocent to suffer while the wicked pop their champagne corks and sing loud songs?”[2]
We may say, “Yes, Lord, we accept your wisdom in permitting evil and suffering for a season, but enough is enough. Why do you let it continue?”
The Bible echoes the same sentiment. Jeremiah said,
“You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.” – Jeremiah 12:1-2
However, if you think it’s wrong for God’s people to ask him why he withholds judgment, then consider what John witnessed when taken to heaven:
“When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers, and sisters, were killed just as they had been.” – Revelation 6:9-11
Even “righteous men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:23) don’t fully understand why God postpones his judgment. God tells them to “wait a little longer” until the final martyr’s murder. Jesus said,
“And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.” – Luke 18:7-8
Once God acts, he will act quickly. But Jesus spoke these words 2000 years ago. God’s idea of quick justice certainly differs from ours.
God is Not a Vending Machine
God does not have vending machine justice in which a coin of righteousness immediately produces reward or a coin of evil yields swift retribution. Packaged theologies seek to neatly account for everything, but as Job, Psalms, and the prophets repeatedly demonstrate, that’s not how life works.
Yet God doesn’t delay justice for as long as we often imagine. The wheels of justice may seem to turn slowly, but they turn surely. Some rewards of goodness and punishments of evil come in this life. And though ultimate rewards and punishments await the final judgment, considerable justice, both reward and retribution get dispensed upon death, when God’s children immediately experience the joy of his presence and the unrepentant suffer the first justice of Hell (see Luke 16:19-31).
What we consider too long is not too long by God’s standards. God explains the postponement of his judgment upon sin, allowing evil and suffering to continue before he brings it to an end this cursed world:
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” – 2 Peter 3:9
Shall we willingly endure the suffering of further delay so that others may obtain the mercy God extended to us?
Delayed Justice
God delays justice not to make our lives miserable but to make our lives possible. Since sin demands death (see Romans 3:23), if people are to live, justice must wait.
Throughout history God has delayed justice, both upon believers and unbelievers, to give them time to come to him, grow in Christlikeness, and trust him more deeply. Human parents, with good reason, frequently delay justice for their children. God delays justice for a greater duration and on a larger scale, but it’s the same principle. So, if we can rightly delay rewards and punishments, why shouldn’t God?
God’s offer of grace requires that he postpone judgment against evil, to grant more time for people to respond to the gospel. In the midst of Babylon’s conquest of Israel, Jeremiah said,
“Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23.
Each day God’s loving and compassionate delay of our judgment keeps us from destruction. Every morning he renews his grace, faithfully keeping us from the fate we all deserve, long enough for us to have the opportunity to repent and surrender our lives in dependence upon him.
Wait Patiently
We should wait patiently and live godly lives, knowing a relatively short time remains until God will make everything right. Many passages promise rewards in Heaven. During the delay between now and then, we store up rewards. God promises his eventual intervention as a reward for his people’s patience.
“From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.” – Isaiah 64:4 ESV.
James calls upon us to exercise the faith and patience of a farmer.
“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!” – James 5:7-9
Why does the call to patience about the Lord’s coming justice immediately precede a warning not to sin? Because the same judgment that will bring us reward will also hold us accountable.
Knowing that the Judge stands at the door should motivate us to repent now and live righteously until he comes through that door. Moreover, the duration of suffering in this world is temporary; the correction of evil and the relief of suffering will be permanent.
In Due Time
Everything in God’s plan has a proper time; the gap between the present and that proper time tests and cultivates our faith.
- God says he will repay the wicked “in due time”:
- “Vengeance is Mine and recompense; their foot shall slip in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things to come hasten upon them.” – Deuteronomy 32:35
- Just as he will lift up the humble “in due time”:
- “Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” – 1 Peter 5:6
- No one could harm Jesus because His hour [time] “had not yet come”:
- “At this, they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.”- John 7:30
- “He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.” – John 8:20
God intends to “bring all things in heaven and on earth together under… Christ.” That plan will “be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment.”- Ephesians 1:10
Though we often wish God would move sooner God is always right on time.
Justice Delayed, Not Justice Denied
The Bible never promises immediate justice, but ultimate justice; whatever we sow we will eventually reap. Jesus said,
“A time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.” – John 5:28-29
God says that though the final judgment for evil doesn’t come here and now, he keeps track of all evil. One day he will judge it decisively.
“Because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.” – Romans 2:5-6
“A man reaps what he sows.”- Galatians 6:7
“What goes around comes around” means the same thing of course, “what goes around” doesn’t always come around immediately. But the expression doesn’t say when it will come around, just as Galatians 6:7 doesn’t stipulate when a man will reap what he sows.
Chapter 32 – Why Doesn’t God Explain His Reasons?
When I need a point-of-view adjustment, I read the last five chapters of Job. God’s powerful self-revelation to this man who endured such terrible suffering offers great perspective. At the end of the book, the focus shifts from Job’s suffering to God’s majesty.
Insisting on knowing the unknowable dooms us to frustration and resentment toward God.
When God takes the microphone in Job’s final chapters, we might expect him to defend why he allows evil and suffering. However, that’s not what God does. He simply demonstrates the absurdity of making ourselves his judge.
We lack God’s omniscience, omnipotence, wisdom, holiness, justice, and goodness. If we insist we have the right, or even assume we have the capacity, to understand the hidden purposes of God, we forfeit the comfort and perspective we could have had in kneeling before his vastly superior wisdom.
God is infinite; we are finite. He is the Creator; we’re the creatures. Shouldn’t that say it all?
Where Were You When…
God never faults Job for being finite, only for failing to recognize that he has no right to pass judgment on the wisdom and goodness of an infinite Creator. Instead, God asks Job,
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!” – Job 38:4-5
While this doesn’t answer the question of evil and suffering, it does suggest God’s answer is beyond our understanding. One day we’ll know far better than now. But even in eternity, God will still be infinite and will still be finite.
Job’s humble response to God’s self-disclosure gives us a timeless model for approaching the problem of evil. Job quotes God’s questions back to him, showing he got the message. He humbles himself before God, having seen the almighty as he really is. Realizing his own smallness, Job says, “I repent.”
God values Job’s faith to the extent that he leaves out what to us seems critical parts of the explanation: God’s wager with Satan, and the fact that God had defended Job as blameless. But the Creator knows what Job needed to know and what he didn’t.
He knows the same about us. God’s response to Job satisfies Job and therefore should satisfy us.
Our inability to understand all God’s purposes in evil and suffering should not surprise us. Sometimes we make the foolish assumption that our heavenly Father has no right to insist that we trust him unless he makes his infinite wisdom completely understandable to us. This lays an impossible demand upon God, not because of his limitations, for he has none, but because of ours. Isaiah 55:8-9 states:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
What we call the problem of evil is often the problem of our finite and fallen understanding. We assume God should answer our questions. However, sometimes our questions can’t be answered. If the problem of evil were the only thing we didn’t understand, our complaint might get sympathy. But we are veterans of not understanding, aren’t we?
Children don’t understand why their parents won’t let them stay up late, eat cookies in bed, or feed chocolate to the dog. They don’t understand why we discipline them, make them clean their rooms, or take them to the dentist. One day, when they grow up, they will.
And so will we.
Character Building
God has revealed just enough of himself to give us reasons for faith, but not enough to make faith unnecessary. In Eden, God could have explained more to Adam and Eve. Certainly, he could have enlightened Abraham more. But if God made himself so readily apparent in everyday life that we couldn’t doubt him, it would change the nature of faith. We’d lack a vital element of character building. Paul Tournier said,
“Where there is no longer any opportunity for doubt, there is no longer any opportunity for faith.”[3]
God must give us room, not crowd us and micromanage us. Distance is necessary for faith to develop. If we can’t help but be aware of him, there wouldn’t be any spiritual growth. God doesn’t force himself on us. He invites us to take the initiative with him:
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” – James 4:8 ESV
Chapter 33 – Do We Fail to Understand That God is God and We Are Not?
If God had not made a world or if he’d made us machines, he could have prevented all tragedies, but he had a higher purpose than merely avoiding what’s bad. Aquinas quoted Augustine as saying,
“Since God is the highest good, he would not allow any evil to exist in his works unless his omnipotence and goodness were such as to bring good even out of evil.”[4]
Gregory Boyd writes,
“It’s very difficult to see how some of the more horrendous episodes of evil in this world contribute to a higher good.”[5]
His conclusion is, therefore, that they don’t.
While Alcorn agrees “it’s very difficult to see.” He also states that it may well be impossible to see. But the question isn’t whether we can see it, but whether God can do things we cannot see.
Both scripture and human experience testify to the surprising good God can bring out of evil and suffering. God calls upon us to trust him, that he will work all evil and suffering in our lives for good. We can learn to trust God in the worst of circumstances, even for what we cannot currently see. Indeed, that is the very nature of biblical faith (see Hebrews 11:8, 13, 27, 32-39).
Christian Reger spent four years in Dachau, the notorious Nazi concentration camp. In his first month, he abandoned belief in a loving God. Yet even though God did not deliver him from the horrors, Gregor began to realize God hadn’t left him.
“God did not rescue me or make my suffering easier, he simply proved to me that he was still alive, and he still knew I was here…. I can only speak for myself. Others turn from God because of Dachau. Who am I to judge them? I simply know that God met me. For me, he was enough, even at Dachau.”[6]
Is God enough for you, even where you are?
God’s Wisdom Versus Our Arrogance
We reveal a staggering arrogance in assuming God owes us an explanation for anything.
God understands our curiosity but owes us nothing. To demand an explanation is to hold God accountable to us. What arrogance to say, “If I cannot understand why a loving God will permit all this evil and suffering, then there cannot be a loving God!”
God gives us not the answers we want, but the answers we need. He calls upon us to trust him even when life seems to make no sense.
As Creator, God has rights that we don’t. We tend to see God as a bigger, smarter version of ourselves. We say, “A good man wouldn’t allow all this evil if he could stop it.” If we had the power, we say, we’d stop it; therefore, so should God. But God is not like us:
“God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind” – Numbers 23:19
God says, “You thought I was altogether like you.” – Psalm 50:21
Whatever seems good to us, we think, should be good to God. Whatever we think is fair, God should do. We wouldn’t permit murders and poverty, so neither should God.
Yet we have neither the qualifications nor the authority to exercise such judgment. Not only does God’s character infinitely surpass our own, his thoughts and perspectives radically transcend ours.
Create Your Own Universe
God is doing what it takes to create the greatest amount of ultimate good, even when, for now, that requires evil and suffering.
Ignorant beings often feel unhappy and confused because of decisions made by wiser and more powerful beings. If we have sufficient knowledge, wisdom, power, and goodness to put into effect a plan superior to God’s, then we should create and manage our own universe.
We who have not formed galaxies and fashioned worlds should not be so quick to tell God how to run his universe.
Maranatha! Until next time, I am Passionately Loving Jesus, the Anchor of my Soul.
Sources
- [1] D. A. Carson, How Long O Lord? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2006), 161.
- [2] Barbara Brown Taylor, “On Not Being God,” Review and Expositor 99, no. 4 (fall 2002): 611.
- [3] C32-6
- [4] Paul Tournier, quoted in Douglas McKay, Where Is God When Life Hurts? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1992), 230.
- [5] Gregory A. Boyd, Is God To Blame? (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity, 2003), 55.
- [6] Christian Reger, quoted in Phillip Yancey, Where Is God When It Hurts? (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1990),160.
