Many people have lost their faith in a loving, all-powerful God that has our best interests in mind because of experiencing or learning of evil. I define evil very broadly here. In this case it is not only willfully harming someone, it is also a dysfunction of the natural order that creates cruel suffering or inequity.
I have written other articles in this blog about why evil exists. Since God has explained that the God-created order of things has been disrupted by Satan’s rebellion, a natural sinfulness that is now a genetic part of mankind, and what is vaguely defined by God as “the curse”; I do not find the existence of suffering as a proof for the non-existence of God. I don’t find personal suffering as a statement about whether God loves you or not. But any of us can be scandalized when we see just how ugly the world can be. We assume, somehow, that God should put lower limits on such things. To not do so seems uncaring.
The classic story about this is the book of Job. Job is likely the oldest recorded story in the Bible. That demonstrates that this is question has been around for a long time.
Job was a good guy. God was actually proud of him, though he still had to be sinful at some level. Satan enters this story asserting that Job is only obedient to God because God has blessed him so greatly. (For more on what Satan is go here: https://afterdeathsite.com/2020/09/01/satan-and-the-afterlife/. ) So a test begins.
God allows Satan to strip Job of all of his wealth and family in a single day. God allowed this. Satan executed it. There was an upper limit. Job’s health was off the table temporarily. Isn’t this just mean? God had provided all of the things he allowed to be taken away. God also knew it would be temporary. It is also a part of a struggle between God and Satan that exists to this day. Job also was good but not sinless. Job would eventually need Jesus. These are important points, but they don’t answer all the questions.
Job passes with flying colors. He correctly notes:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Job 1:21 (ESV)
Next Satan wants his health, and it is granted. Job’s wife had seen enough. She is scandalized: “Curse God and die” is her advice. Many people take her advice at a certain point in their encounter with evil. Job disagrees, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil.” Job understood that the rebellious and fallen human species should expect both, even though evil does not directly come from God’s hand.
Job’s friends insist that he has earned this somehow. Job denies it and that is basically true. The dire circumstances are not the result of Job doing something wrong. While there can be situations that people get direct, temporal punishment from God, it is not that common. It is not the case here. It usually can be attributed to Satan, sin or the curse. It is possible because we are fallen creatures in a fallen world. If God is intentionally striking you, you will know from probably multiple sources.
Job finally has had enough. He has done better than I would have. He accuses God of injustice. Many people are at a similar point and conclude either the same thing or that God doesn’t exist. It is in Job 38 that God answers Job and us. God speaks to Job out of a whirlwind. I would summarize this way. You don’t have all the information. You can’t assess where evil comes from and what level it should have been restrained. You don’t know what has already been restrained. It isn’t your call.
And it isn’t. I don’t know the rules and even why Satan can be here among people on Earth. I know that God can constrain evil and therefore my prayers are often directed in that way. I don’t know why the answer is “no” sometimes. I know that God has already put in place a means of deliverance from the ultimate form of suffering and that is Hell. Jesus’ sacrifice for my sins is all the evidence I need for a loving God, who is out for my benefit. The cause of evil is still human sin, Satan, and the curse (which I currently understand as God letting this world move by cause and effect within limits).
I do understand that God’s ultimate act of constraining evil will be with the New Earth post-judgment day and not before. Until that time I can only trust God, look for His help, know that He cares, and not add to the misery of this world myself.
Giving Christ 