Or, The REAL Problem of Little Faith
Scripture: Selected Scriptures
Date: August 31, 2014
Speaker: Jim Martin
If an atheist tried to prove to you that God does not exist what do you think would be the biggest gun in their arsenal of arguments? What slam-dunk, irrefutable proof would they give that our God is just a figment of your imagination?
They might argue that there is just too much scientific evidence against Creationism and therefore the Bible and all its claims about God are false. They might point out that God is not an observable phenomenon scientifically speaking and therefore He does not exist. Perhaps they would look to those who claim to believe in God and point out all the obvious sins and hypocrisy and say that proves that God does not exist.
There are lots of arguments an atheist could use to shoot down the case for God but what would be the biggest gun of all? I think, when the atheist wants to pull out his biggest and baddest bazooka-sized argument, he will usually point to the existence of evil in the world as the ultimate proof that God does not exist.
The atheist will say “If God is so good and so powerful then why is there so much suffering in the world?”
The reasoning goes like this:
If God is really good then He must not be all powerful because certainly He would put an end to all the suffering in this world. This is an assault on God’s attribute of omnipotence. Or, if He is all powerful then He must not be all good as people say because He could stop the suffering but He doesn’t. This is an assault on God’s character.
This seems like a pretty good argument…from a human perspective.
This logic leaves a lot of Christians hemming and hawing trying to come up with an answer. The forcefulness of the argument leaves them looking like a deer caught in the headlights. They frantically run through the catalog of Bible verses in their head trying to come up with an answer. Finally they remember the one verse that settles all debates like this. With great confidence they throw out - The secret things belong to the Lord - Deuteronomy 29:29
What a great verse! Whenever we are stumped in a debate we can choose the nuclear option and quote Deuteronomy 29:29. Bam! End of debate. Game set match. I’m being a bit facetious here. Deuteronomy 29:29 is an awesome verse because it keeps us humble and reminds us that we are not God. We only get to know what He has revealed to us. In our discussion about the problem of evil it is important to keep reminding ourselves that we do not have as full and comprehensive an understanding of the situation as God does. Often we make the mistake of thinking we have all the facts when we rush to judgment.
But, is Deuteronomy 29:29 the best we can do when trying to address the question of evil in the world? Is there no other biblical evidence we can look to for answers to this seeming problem? I believe there is more that can be said about this topic otherwise this sermon is over and we can move on to communion.
I want to point out a couple of things right up front so you’ll understand what over-arching principles or thoughts shaped my message today. First, I believe that the bible does give us answers as to the nature and origin of evil and even its purpose. Second, we will follow the principle of using what is clear in Scripture to help us try to understand what isn’t so clear. This is important. Some take obscure verses and try to use them to undermine verses that are crystal clear. Third, no study of Theodicy will ever give us a full understanding of God’s reasons for allowing evil to exist. Deuteronomy 29:29 does still apply to our study of this topic. God has only revealed what He has revealed and it isn’t everything He knows or why He does what He does.
This leads me to the final guiding thought. At some point a person will have to stop dealing with the “How come?” and come to terms with the “What is.” We can only discuss so long why the world is round and not flat but at some point it becomes a fool’s errand to continue the discussion.
If we demand God to give a full accounting of His dealings with His creation we have become His judges. You’ll recall how Job’s friends attempted to speak for God and act like His defense counsel, as if He needed men to defend Him. God wasn’t too pleased with men acting like He needed defending. We can only know what He has revealed and then the only proper and sane response is to fall on our faces and worship Him.
Theologians have placed the discussion on how evil can exist in a world controlled by an all good and all powerful God in the theological bucket labeled Theodicy. Theodicy is made up of two Greek words, theos which means God and dike (dih-kay) which is the root word for just or justice. Theodicy attempts to explain how God can be all righteous and still allow evil to be as pervasive as it is.
As we grapple with the doctrine of Theodicy there is a tension that is created between the notion that God is good and powerful and the existence of evil. We don’t like that tension. It assaults our sensibilities. Some have such a problem with this seeming dichotomy that they come up with silly teachings to try and get God out of this box they presume He is in.
Christian Science teaches that evil and sickness are really just illusions. It isn’t real. This is an attempt to somehow spiritualize away the reality of evil. One consequence of this foolish thinking is that people have suffered needlessly and even died because they avoided medical treatment because going to a doctor would be an admission that there is such a thing as physical illness.
Another attempt to ease the tension in this doctrine is to decide that God can’t prevent evil because He does not know when it is going to happen. All He can do is respond once the evil occurs. A current example of this teaching is called Open Theism. Open Theists hold that God’s foreknowledge is not exhaustive. He only has a general sense of the future and He will ultimately prevail but in between now and then men, acting as free moral agents, will do things God did not see coming. Those who hold to this view reject what they call divine timelessness and instead preach dynamic omniscience. In essence God sort-of sees what’s coming but He can still be taken by surprise.
Again, the goal is to give God some wiggle room so He can still be all powerful and all good even though evil exists. The reality is that the Bible does not ever attempt to remove the tension that Theodicy raises. It makes it clear that evil exists and that it is part of God’s ordained will and God is all good and all powerful. So what can we say about evil and what can we say about God as it relates to evil?
When we talk about evil in the world we can divide it into two broad categories. Category one is called moral evil. This is evil that is committed by some moral agent. That agent can be Satan and his demons or it can be man-generated. Murder, lying, stealing and hatred are all examples of moral evil. The current genocide being carried out by the Islamic group ISIS would be an example of moral evil.
The second category of evil we could call natural evil. This is the evil that comes from a world in its corrupted state. Examples of this would be diseases, earth quakes, floods, droughts and such. The recent Oso mudslide is an example of natural evil.
We should note that natural evil is a consequence of moral evil. The evil that comes from nature is a direct consequence of Adam and Eve’s sin and, by extension, our sin. Romans 8:20-21 tells us “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” God told Adam that one consequence of his sin would be that his labor would be hard and that the ground would produce thorns and thistles. Because of Adam’s sin all of the earth is experiencing corruption from its original design.
It is important in our understanding of evil to note that evil is not something that exists on equal but opposite footing to God. Evil is not the Yin to God’s Yang. Do not think of it as the Dark Side of the Force vs the Light Side in Star Wars.
Evil is better understood as the absence of something. That something is God’s holiness or goodness.
Consider light verses darkness. Darkness is not the opposite of light. By that I mean we don’t turn on the dark when it is time to go to bed. We turn off the light. Darkness is the absence of light. We don’t make a room darker by adding more dark. No, we reduce the amount of light in the room through dimmers or shades.
Another example is hot and cold. Cold is the absence of heat. Air conditioners work by pulling heat from a room which lowers the temperature in the room. They don’t add cold to a room. You can’t heat a room by taking out cold. You add more heat.
So, in order to get more evil, all you have to do is remove God’s holiness. This understanding of evil tells us then that evil is not something that was created. God did not create evil. That would be a violation of His character. He does, however, will it to exist and uses it to serve His purposes. Evil is the result of sin.
A question that comes to mind at this point in the discussion is “Why doesn’t God stop evil?”
What would it take for God to stop evil? Based on what we have just been saying God could only stop evil by forcing all men to be holy like He is holy. I was talking with someone about the problem of evil and they mentioned someone else had asked them why God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden in the first place.
Isn’t God somehow culpable for evil for having put the tree in the garden knowing Adam and Eve would be tempted?
To try and answer that question let’s start by first recognizing that evil did not start in the Garden. It had already been introduced by the fall of Satan and the rebellious demons. Mankind just joined the club later.
Secondly, God did not place the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden to tempt Adam and Eve. James 1:13-15 tells us “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
Going back to our principle of using the clear to understand the unclear we can definitely say whatever God’s purpose was in placing the tree in the garden, it was not for the sake of tempting Adam and Eve to do evil. It was their own desire to be like God according to Genesis 3:5 that lured them into sin. It is likely that the tree was placed there as a test of Adam and Eve’s faith and obedience. The Bible does teach that God tests our faith to see if it is genuine or not. Hold on to that thought because it is critical as to how we are to respond to evil.
So why didn’t he stop them before they sinned and ate of the tree? God could have done that but how much joy and glory would there be in creating a people who are incapable of sin? Consider the conversation God had with Satan about Job. The account is found in Job 1. It tells us one day Satan was in the presence of the Lord and the Lord asked where he had been. Satan said he had been roaming the earth checking things out. God asked Satan if he had noticed Job and described him as “a blameless and upright man, who fears the Lord and turns away from evil.”
Satan responded saying, in essence, “Yeah, right. He’s only a goody-two-shoe because you have made his life so sweet and pleasant. Give him a little grief and he’ll curse you to your face.” You know the rest of the story. God gives Satan permission to harass Job severely but Satan never gets him to completely break and curse God.
Was it during Job’s time of ease or his time of trial that produced the most glory? Which resulted in the most spiritual growth for Job? This example reveals one of the purposes for God allowing evil to exist. Evil, in the form of trials and tribulations is what causes growth to occur. We are told in James chapter 1 : “Consider it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trails knowing that that testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its result that you may be found perfect and complete lacking in nothing.”
The temptation at this point might be to look at the fall of Satan or the fall of man and conclude evil came about solely as a result of created beings making a free-will choice to rebel against God and that God had no control over the situation. This fits with Arminian theology and it would go a long way towards letting God off the hook. God could say “Hey, I just created humans. They’re the ones making the bad choices.” But, is that what the scriptures teach? Is the occasion of evil outside of the purview of God?
To answer that question let’s now consider some of the things the Bible teaches about God. These are some more of the clear things we will use to shed light on the unclear. Let’s read again Isaiah 45:5-10:
“I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, 6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. 7 I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things. 8”Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the LORD have created it. 9”Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? 10Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, “With what are you in labor?‘”
That sure doesn’t sound like evil is outside of God’s sovereign jurisdiction. Evil cannot happen unless God lets it happen. Consider Proverbs 16:4 “The Lord has made all things for Himself, even the wicked for the day of evil.” God created the wicked? Note this does not say God created evil. It says he created those who would be allowed to do evil. Remember, evil is the absence of holiness. Evil emanates from fallen beings that God allows to exist and whose purpose is to do evil and ultimately be judged. This verse also tells us that the wicked fit into God’s purpose as opposed to operating outside of His purpose. Remember that the wicked are not good people that God corrupted. They are corrupt people God elected not to redeem.
We are starting to see the truth that God has chosen not to grant everyone the grace to repent from their sin. The result is evil.
In Daniel 4:34-35 Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges the sovereignty of God with these words after having been disciplined for a season “for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; 35all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
These, and other verses, make it very clear that God does whatever He wills and nothing happens apart from His will, including evil. This truth might grate on some who will say that God is somehow unjust in how He executes His will. The Apostle Paul refutes that notion in Romans 9:14-18 “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.”
At this point Paul is anticipating the next objection which is if God determines everything why then does He still judge mankind. Continuing on in Romans 9:19-25 “You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for gloryó 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?”
Verses 19-21 once again declare God’s absolute rights over His creation. Paul points to the absurdity of the piece of clay shouting at the potter saying “Hey! Stop pushing me around. I don’t want to be an ash tray! I want to be a candy dish!”
In verses 22-24 we see once again God’s ultimate purpose and how even evil is being used by God to achieve that purpose. God’s ultimate purpose is to put His glory on display and to share that glory with those creatures He has chosen to show mercy to. He is taking His own time to fully reveal that plan which means He is holding back His wrath on the wicked until the right time.
At this point some will say “Why doesn’t He choose to make everyone vessels of mercy?” It’s not fair that He only picks some. I don’t dare claim to know all that is in the mind of God but let me make two responses to that question / accusation.
First, will the clay say to the potter “What have you done?” God is God and we are not. We can waste our breath on “How come?” or we can yield to “What is.” Second, isn’t it we who have a faulty sense of justice? Isn’t the real question “Why does God choose any to be vessels of mercy?” We all like sheep have gone astray. There is none, no, not one who is righteous. All men are under condemnation from birth. I will forever be grateful that God isn’t fair. You and I would have been destroyed long ago if God was fair.
What else can we learn about God that is clear in the Bible? How about the fact that He is love and that love for His chosen ones is what motivates Him? 1 John 4:7-12 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” You can’t escape the clear fact that God is love and He is motivated by love. He wants to share Himself with His chosen ones.
Evil plays a role in that process in that it reveals more of the righteousness of God. Paul says in Romans 3:5 “But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say?” God’s holiness shows up in bold relief against the backdrop of sin. Every time we confess and He forgives it magnifies His mercy. Holiness would be a meaningless abstraction if there wasn’t evil to contrast it with. Satan is trying desperately to douse God’s glory through evil. His attempts only serve to increase God’s glory much like water only serves to spread and increases a grease fire.
There are many examples in the Bible where we get to see God’s end game where evil intent results in good outcomes. It was evil when Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery and he was unjustly put in prison. Then God gave favor to Joseph in the eyes of Pharaoh and used him to save the Egyptians from starvation. When the day of reckoning with his brothers came they were terrified but Joseph was kind to them and told them even though what they did was evil God used it for good.
It was evil when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah and took many captive to Babylonia. But then God took a fourteen year old boy named Daniel and used him greatly to, among other things, set the stage for Ezra to eventually be given permission by a pagan King to start rebuilding Jerusalem.
Of course the greatest story of good coming from evil is found in the death of Christ on a cross. Talk about injustice. No one has ever experienced more injustice then Christ did and that was God’s will for it to occur. Think about that when you are tempted to think God is just a bully towards His creation. If his motivation was to watch His creation squirm under evil then why did He sacrifice His son? Evil men kill other people’s sons for their own benefit. Only God kills his own son for other people’s benefit.
And then there is the persecution of the early Church where many were put to grisly deaths but the result was the spread of the Gospel far and wide. Many here today could rise up and tell stories of how God took seeming tragedies and hardships and turned them into huge displays of His power and glory.
But, let’s face it, there are times when evil touches our lives and God’s purpose in it is not evident. There is no awesome rest of the story of how God raised up something wonderful from the ashes. What then? Does that mean that God is only at work through some evil situations but not others? What does the Bible say about those cases? How about Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Notice Paul doesn’t say “We hope that all things work for good.” We know. It is a sure thing. We may or may not get to see how it works together for good but we at least know it does. This is one more verse that adds to our clarity that God is good and is sovereign over all events.
You have heard the illustration of how our life is like a tapestry that God is weaving and for now we only get to see the underside where all the knots are but some day he’ll show us the finished product. There is a poem by Benjamin Malachi Franklin where this illustration comes from. It goes like this:
My Life is but a weaving
between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colors
He worketh steadily.Oft times He weaveth sorrow
And I, in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper,
And I the under side.Not til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver’s skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.He knows, He loves, He cares,
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives His very best to those
Who leave the choice with Him.
Are we willing to be used for God’s purposes even if it entails enduring evil? When I am feeling afflicted by some form of evil and I can’t see what God could possibly be doing through it, I find encouragement in Hebrews 11 - the chapter often called the Hall of Faith - where saints before endured amazing hardship without getting to see the ultimate purpose. Here is just a snippet: “Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated 38 of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.”
Wow! And I thought I had a really evil week because my refrigerator died and I needed to work on this sermon.
Did you notice those last few verses? They went to their grave not yet having received the promise? Why? Because God still had more work to do to bring us, here in this room, to faith in Christ and apparently evil was a part of that plan. How much praise and honor to God do you think those martyrs generated in their death? How much praise and honor do you think they are going to receive in the resurrection?
I titled my sermon The Problem of Evil but the subtitle I used is the better title: The Real Problem of Little Faith. I told you at the start of this message that I don’t claim to have all the answers that the doctrine of Theodicy raises. I too wonder at times what on earth God is doing. There are times I can identify with David when he wrote in Psalm 10:1 “Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” Just because we feel like God is hiding Himself does that mean He is? Of course not. God is actively involved in all the affairs of men to accomplish His good purpose. We mean some things for evil. God always means things for good.
##Our Response Options##
When grappling with the problem of evil in the world our response to God comes down to two basic options:
One, we can put on the judges robe and white wig and call God to the witness stand to give an account of His dealings with man. We can bring charges against God of being cruel and unfair based on our infinitesimal understanding of time and eternity. We can jump up on the potter’s wheel like an indignant little Gumby and shake our little clay fist at God and squeak out our objections to what He is doing. We can call God a liar even though His word clearly tells us that He is good and just and that all things are at work to fulfill His good purposes. That’s one option for how we can respond to the problem of evil.
A second option is that we can acknowledge that we don’t have the wisdom to fathom the depth of God’s plans. We can choose to live by faith like Job did when, after having lost everything and being counseled by his wife to curse God and die, said “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord. Though he slay me yet I will hope in Him.” We can follow the example of Jesus who for the joy set before him despised the shame and the insults and the pain and endured all the evil of the cross so that God’s plan of salvation could be accomplished.
We can admit that our faith is weak and that we need the grace of God to strengthen us in the face of so much evil. We can use the evil we see and experience to drive us to our knees in prayer clinging to God and long for the day He removes us from its presence.
Which options will you choose? Even though I have presented two basic options there is really only one option for the Christian who lives by faith. If you find yourself really angry at God about all the evil you see in the world might I suggest that the problem isn’t really about evil. The problem is weak faith or possibly worse the absence of faith.
In closing let me read for you one of the most beautiful prayers of faith recorded in scripture found in the book of Habakkuk. The entire book of Habakkuk is a back and forth exchange between the prophet and God about the impending judgment that was about to fall on Judah. Somewhere around the early 700s BC God had used the Assyrians to punish Israel. From man’s perspective it looked like an evil nation attacking Israel. And they were evil. They were also God’s agents to carry out His will.
Fast forward to around Habakkuk’s time and God is now setting the stage to use the Babylonians to discipline Judah and the Assyrians for their sin. Habakkuk is struggling to understand what God is up to. See if you can relate to his struggle. In chapter one he wrote: “O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? 3 Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. 4 So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.” Sound familiar?
After a few chapters of back and forth Habakkuk realizes that he isn’t about to change God’s mind. With resignation he writes “I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.” Habakkuk is so afraid of the impending doom his knees are shaking. So how does he respond? Does he curse God and wait to die? No, he prays and this is what he prays:
”Though the fig tree should not blossom, And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail, And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold, And there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places.”
That is how to respond to the problem of evil.