Answering the Question of Evil - Part 2
"Why do I face trouble?"
Although this is not a primary theme in the book of Job, it is mentioned, and is a prominent theme elsewhere in the Bible as an answer to the question of evil. Job tells us that God uses trials to test His servants. The first answer above came from the author of the Book of Job, the second answer came from Job’s friends, and now we have a third answer recommended by Job.
Although he does not understand completely what is going on, and he prefers death to what he is experiencing, he can still attest while in the midst of the valley–he will come through on the other side a better person.
"But [God] knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).
What an amazing perspective to have! Job is not looking back on the tragedy. He is patiently dealing with the arguments of his conceited, so-called friends that are accusing him of guilt. And he concludes that this is just a furnace that is melting away the dross his dross. This is just a fiery trial of testing through which he will be become a more pure, more valuable, more useful instrument.
Try to think of the positive that the Lord is working in your life and if you don’t see it immediately, trust that God is doing it in any case. In our church in Brooklyn we had a dear believer who was a beautiful testimony of this. While putting herself through Nursing school–coming close to finalizing her degree, she looked in the mirror one day and noticed a black spot right in the middle. This black spot did not go away but continued to expand until she completely lost her vision. Because of this she lost her occupation, and shortly after this, her husband left her. What a difficulty! Why would God allow such a tragedy? Sandra did not allow this to stop her.
She secured a dog to help her and finished a degree in a different area – social work. What a brave lady, taking the subway from borough to borough with her somewhat disciplined companion dog. Anyone who knew her, would agree that Sandra was such a joy to be around, never allowing to let her circumstances ruin her. They actually made her a stronger and more respected testimony to the Lord. I am amazed and humbled by her faith.
A similar testimony is given by Ron Hamilton – a Christian minister that influenced me in a great way as a child. As a young man, he went through a trial of cancer in his eye – he did not lose his vision but lost his left eye and had to wear an eye patch. As he returned to church everyone called him patch the pirate. He began making Christian character building stories and inspirational children’s music as “Patch the Pirate”. The Lord has used his ministry all across the world to instruct both children, families, and churches. As he reflected on God using this trial for good, Ron wrote the words to the song “Rejoice in the Lord.”
Now I can see testing comes from above,
Allow your trials to grow you. Keep from stumbling over them and instead use them as stepping stones in life. I trust you are able to trust in the Lord today and His ability to triumph over tragedy.
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
The greatest example in world history is the example of Jesus. Here is God’s only Son–perfect in every way. And yet God the Father did not hold back evil from coming upon Him. Even though the Father could not have loved the Son more, He allowed Jesus to suffer the greatest evil ever suffered.
Why? Why did Jesus die under the wrath of the Father? Because Jesus was paying the penalty for your sin and for mine. Great good was coming out of the great evil of the cross. Here we see the greatest agony and the greatest good in one event. So we know that although we hate evil, if God does not hold it back from Himself in order to bring good, we too can endure evil to bring ultimate good to others.
God’s suffering allows Him to bear with us in suffering. “If we embrace the Christian teaching that Jesus is God and that he went to the Cross, then we have deep consolation and strength to face the brutal realities of life on earth. We can know that God is truly Immanuel – God with us – even in our worst sufferings.”[1]
However, the view is not too comforting unless you are a believer. If you are a believer, this reason will minister peace to your soul. And this is actually what God answers Job in His discussion with him.
As the youngest, Elihu could not speak until the other men were through–that was the way their culture respected age (our culture could learn much from that principle). In this case, the youngest knew what he was talking about. But he was very angry. Angry at the friends for not helping Job. Angry at Job for casting aspersions at God’s name for suggesting that what he was going through was wrong.
You could summarize Elihu’s message (Chapters 30-37!) as God is great you can’t fault Him or His ways. His ways are not our ways so although we cannot understand them we have to trust Him. The main emphasis is upon God’s greatness.
"Behold, let me tell you, you are not right in this, For God is greater than man” (Job 33:1-12).
You can see what Elihu is doing here. He is trying to get Job’s eyes off his problems and on to the greatness and majesty of God. And this is pretty much his only answer – “God is great! Job, you are asking God ‘Why, Why, Why?’ . . . Let me answer you with a phrase. God is not a man. God is great. Get your eyes off of yourself and on to the greatness of God. Look at how great He is! You cannot find fault with Him. You cannot even conceive of Him or understand Him!”
If you read chapters 38-42, this is God's answer too. And I think you will see that this is something of a panacea, a cure all, of all evils and problems that you will face in life. That is why this book is so profound.
God's response to Job’s questions about the evil in his life is His own (God’s) greatness. And God focuses on one primarily aspect of His greatness - His creative control of all things. God speaks in a great poem about His creative activity, and asks Job many questions about what He has created and shows how small Job is in comparison. If you take time to count them, in chapter 38 there are 28 question marks. In chapter 39 there are 13 question marks. In chapter 40 there are 6 and in chapter 41 there are 16 more question marks. That’s a total of 63 question marks . . . and even more questions within the question marks. God asks Job questions about geology (chapter 38), biology (chapter 39), and two interesting animals in chapter 40-41. Job what do you know about these things?
“Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: ‘Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand’” (Job 38:1-4).
Job's response is to the greatness of God is cathartic. God is so great he had no need of any answer to his suffering . . . I’ll just keep my mouth shut and glorify You for Your greatness.
This is a wonderful lesson for us.
“Then Job answered the LORD and said, ‘Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth. Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; Even twice, and I will add nothing more’" (Job 40:3-5).
And so Job's problems melted away in the glory of God. And so this is more of a way to deal with tragedy and evil than it is an answer to the question. This gives us a release. It tells us how to deal with the stress and pain of evil. Put your eyes on the greatness of God.
The greatness of the glory of God gives perspective on how small you are and therefore how small your problems are. And so Job repents of his demanding spirit and he sits in silence. This is the primary salve for a sorrowful soul. This is the answer for really every problem of life. Get a view of the glory of God.
I love to visit the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens; it is probably my favorite spot in NYC. Its immense, 52 acres are filled with different gardens-beautiful gardens like the rose garden with 5,000 rose bushes and 1,400 different kinds of roses. Also, there is a fragrance garden, a children's garden, an herb garden, more than 200 cherry trees - which are brilliant when blossoming together. So in this garden there is nearly unlimited beauty that points to God's magnificence in creation.
What if I went there and shortly after
coming in to take a nice stroll I stepped up to one of these brilliant double
bloomed cherry blossoms and pick off a pedal to smell it. I smell the pedal and let it fall from my
hands and begin to walk away - I stop and look back and see that someone has
rushed over and picked up the pedal from the flower. And the man that picked up the pedal seems
despondent.
The little angry man tries to put it back on the blossom only to see it fall again. So he goes off the deep end screaming in horror at what has happened! He takes pictures as he documents every little detail. He ignores me completely and storms off to the curator of the park to sling outlandish accusations.
He blames him for my actions. He starts belittling him and threatening him. “You people don't know what you are doing! You don't know how to run a garden! Why don't you get control of the people walking in here and you can't let this happen? Why can't you stop this terrible mess?”
His tirade increases still as he threatens to sue the gardens for the negligence. He documents his claims on his blog and sends out a press release – “Blossom plucked of rare beauty in full bloom!”
Would he get much of a hearing? The mad little man would not be taken seriously. In fact, we could put are arm around him and say, “Look, friend, there are hundreds of thousands of beautiful blooms and they are all being maintained as well as possible - you can come back and enjoy them each year! Here is another blossom over here – smell this one.” Or at least find fault with me. I’m the one that caused the evil, not the curator of the whole park.
That pedal was small and almost insignificant in comparison to the beauty of the whole. So when you step back and view the whole garden - the pedal is minor. And I think that is the perspective Job has. He looks at his life and realizes - he is just one pedal on the blossom of a beautiful tree of God’s goodness.
If he examines how huge the garden is and how detailed and how well maintained the pedal is not very significant. If someone comes and plucks the pedal of his life. The blame should not go to the Creator, but the individual who crushed the pedal.
At first, Job is up in arms at the pedal of his life that has been snatched away by the whim of the devil. And he is tempted to find fault with God for allowing it. So, instead of God answering him as to the direct cause, God puts His arm around Job and guides him around the rest of creation, showing him all the different aspects of that garden.
Instead of addressing the specific issue God gets Job's mind off of himself and his problem - because even though it was a great tragedy . . . in comparison with how great God is and how majestic He is it was not that big an issue.
And so Job is humbled - as God gives him a tour of the garden of creation Job concludes – “I am insignificant.”
We have looked at four reasons so far that there is evil in the world, but we still have to look at one of the most helpful ones given to us in the book of Job.
Job’s story ends well. The final chapter tells us that the Lord repays Job twice what he lost.
“The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold... The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning” (Job 42:10-12).
Of course, this does not always happen, but it does teach us a valuable principle. No matter what happens in this life, we know that suffering is temporary. God will eradicate all evil one day.
We should not take the presence of evil as God’s approval of evil in the world. We know the end of the story. He hates evil so much that He came in human flesh to bring us out of the evils of sin. It took His life – His suffering the greatest evil to bring us out of evil one day. And so His death is for our life. He came to suffer evil in order to put an end to evil forever.
I never like when someone tells me the end of a movie or book. Some people like to look at the final chapter to see how things work out. That normally bugs me. But not in this case! In this case, we read the end and see that God does away with all these trials, pains, all evil.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth… And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new’” (Revelation 21:1-5)!
This is God’s desire, His end goal. Don’t let His patience and forbearance with evil today be misinterpreted as acceptance.
As we consider the problem of evil and
its effects on our lives it is never an easy issue to deal with. Usually this question brings up deep seated
pain or loss from our past and should be considered patiently. The Lord gives us several examples of
suffering in Scripture that come along side us like a friend that has walked
the same weary road and can give us a shoulder on which to cry or a hand to
hold to gain stability in moving forward.
Job is just such an individual.
He has lost everything and is grappling with his new life as he reveals
to us answers to the questions like – Why does God allow bad things to
happen? Why is there evil in the
world?
In this post, we will give three additional answers to last week’s two answers.
In this post, we will give three additional answers to last week’s two answers.
Answer 3 – God uses evil for good (Job's Perspective - Job
23:10).
Although this is not a primary theme in the book of Job, it is mentioned, and is a prominent theme elsewhere in the Bible as an answer to the question of evil. Job tells us that God uses trials to test His servants. The first answer above came from the author of the Book of Job, the second answer came from Job’s friends, and now we have a third answer recommended by Job.
Although he does not understand completely what is going on, and he prefers death to what he is experiencing, he can still attest while in the midst of the valley–he will come through on the other side a better person.
"But [God] knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).
What an amazing perspective to have! Job is not looking back on the tragedy. He is patiently dealing with the arguments of his conceited, so-called friends that are accusing him of guilt. And he concludes that this is just a furnace that is melting away the dross his dross. This is just a fiery trial of testing through which he will be become a more pure, more valuable, more useful instrument.
Try to think of the positive that the Lord is working in your life and if you don’t see it immediately, trust that God is doing it in any case. In our church in Brooklyn we had a dear believer who was a beautiful testimony of this. While putting herself through Nursing school–coming close to finalizing her degree, she looked in the mirror one day and noticed a black spot right in the middle. This black spot did not go away but continued to expand until she completely lost her vision. Because of this she lost her occupation, and shortly after this, her husband left her. What a difficulty! Why would God allow such a tragedy? Sandra did not allow this to stop her.
She secured a dog to help her and finished a degree in a different area – social work. What a brave lady, taking the subway from borough to borough with her somewhat disciplined companion dog. Anyone who knew her, would agree that Sandra was such a joy to be around, never allowing to let her circumstances ruin her. They actually made her a stronger and more respected testimony to the Lord. I am amazed and humbled by her faith.
A similar testimony is given by Ron Hamilton – a Christian minister that influenced me in a great way as a child. As a young man, he went through a trial of cancer in his eye – he did not lose his vision but lost his left eye and had to wear an eye patch. As he returned to church everyone called him patch the pirate. He began making Christian character building stories and inspirational children’s music as “Patch the Pirate”. The Lord has used his ministry all across the world to instruct both children, families, and churches. As he reflected on God using this trial for good, Ron wrote the words to the song “Rejoice in the Lord.”
Now I can see testing comes from above,
God strengthens His children and purges in
love.
My Father knows best, and I trust in His care;
Through purging more fruit I will bear.
Rejoice in the Lord, He makes no mistake,
He knoweth the end of each path that I take,
For when I am tried and purified,
I shall come forth as gold.
Job
knew too that although his trial brought him low, God would make him grow
through it. The phrase “no pain no gain”
has much weight in every area of life.
Allow your trials to grow you. Keep from stumbling over them and instead use them as stepping stones in life. I trust you are able to trust in the Lord today and His ability to triumph over tragedy.
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).
The greatest example in world history is the example of Jesus. Here is God’s only Son–perfect in every way. And yet God the Father did not hold back evil from coming upon Him. Even though the Father could not have loved the Son more, He allowed Jesus to suffer the greatest evil ever suffered.
Why? Why did Jesus die under the wrath of the Father? Because Jesus was paying the penalty for your sin and for mine. Great good was coming out of the great evil of the cross. Here we see the greatest agony and the greatest good in one event. So we know that although we hate evil, if God does not hold it back from Himself in order to bring good, we too can endure evil to bring ultimate good to others.
God’s suffering allows Him to bear with us in suffering. “If we embrace the Christian teaching that Jesus is God and that he went to the Cross, then we have deep consolation and strength to face the brutal realities of life on earth. We can know that God is truly Immanuel – God with us – even in our worst sufferings.”[1]
Answer 4 – God is great (Elihu and God’s Perspective Job
32-42)
There were a total of four friends who came to talk with Job – at least we have a record of the conversation of four of them. Three friends fixate on the idea that Job’s suffering was caused because of his sin. But one other friend – the youngest, had another view. His name was Elihu, and his view was the closest to correct.
There were a total of four friends who came to talk with Job – at least we have a record of the conversation of four of them. Three friends fixate on the idea that Job’s suffering was caused because of his sin. But one other friend – the youngest, had another view. His name was Elihu, and his view was the closest to correct.
However, the view is not too comforting unless you are a believer. If you are a believer, this reason will minister peace to your soul. And this is actually what God answers Job in His discussion with him.
Elihu’s Message
As the youngest, Elihu could not speak until the other men were through–that was the way their culture respected age (our culture could learn much from that principle). In this case, the youngest knew what he was talking about. But he was very angry. Angry at the friends for not helping Job. Angry at Job for casting aspersions at God’s name for suggesting that what he was going through was wrong.
You could summarize Elihu’s message (Chapters 30-37!) as God is great you can’t fault Him or His ways. His ways are not our ways so although we cannot understand them we have to trust Him. The main emphasis is upon God’s greatness.
"Behold, let me tell you, you are not right in this, For God is greater than man” (Job 33:1-12).
You can see what Elihu is doing here. He is trying to get Job’s eyes off his problems and on to the greatness and majesty of God. And this is pretty much his only answer – “God is great! Job, you are asking God ‘Why, Why, Why?’ . . . Let me answer you with a phrase. God is not a man. God is great. Get your eyes off of yourself and on to the greatness of God. Look at how great He is! You cannot find fault with Him. You cannot even conceive of Him or understand Him!”
God’s Message
If you read chapters 38-42, this is God's answer too. And I think you will see that this is something of a panacea, a cure all, of all evils and problems that you will face in life. That is why this book is so profound.
God's response to Job’s questions about the evil in his life is His own (God’s) greatness. And God focuses on one primarily aspect of His greatness - His creative control of all things. God speaks in a great poem about His creative activity, and asks Job many questions about what He has created and shows how small Job is in comparison. If you take time to count them, in chapter 38 there are 28 question marks. In chapter 39 there are 13 question marks. In chapter 40 there are 6 and in chapter 41 there are 16 more question marks. That’s a total of 63 question marks . . . and even more questions within the question marks. God asks Job questions about geology (chapter 38), biology (chapter 39), and two interesting animals in chapter 40-41. Job what do you know about these things?
“Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said: ‘Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand’” (Job 38:1-4).
Job's response is to the greatness of God is cathartic. God is so great he had no need of any answer to his suffering . . . I’ll just keep my mouth shut and glorify You for Your greatness.
This is a wonderful lesson for us.
“Then Job answered the LORD and said, ‘Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth. Once I have spoken, and I will not answer; Even twice, and I will add nothing more’" (Job 40:3-5).
And so Job's problems melted away in the glory of God. And so this is more of a way to deal with tragedy and evil than it is an answer to the question. This gives us a release. It tells us how to deal with the stress and pain of evil. Put your eyes on the greatness of God.
The greatness of the glory of God gives perspective on how small you are and therefore how small your problems are. And so Job repents of his demanding spirit and he sits in silence. This is the primary salve for a sorrowful soul. This is the answer for really every problem of life. Get a view of the glory of God.
God’s Botanical Gardens
I love to visit the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens; it is probably my favorite spot in NYC. Its immense, 52 acres are filled with different gardens-beautiful gardens like the rose garden with 5,000 rose bushes and 1,400 different kinds of roses. Also, there is a fragrance garden, a children's garden, an herb garden, more than 200 cherry trees - which are brilliant when blossoming together. So in this garden there is nearly unlimited beauty that points to God's magnificence in creation.
The little angry man tries to put it back on the blossom only to see it fall again. So he goes off the deep end screaming in horror at what has happened! He takes pictures as he documents every little detail. He ignores me completely and storms off to the curator of the park to sling outlandish accusations.
He blames him for my actions. He starts belittling him and threatening him. “You people don't know what you are doing! You don't know how to run a garden! Why don't you get control of the people walking in here and you can't let this happen? Why can't you stop this terrible mess?”
His tirade increases still as he threatens to sue the gardens for the negligence. He documents his claims on his blog and sends out a press release – “Blossom plucked of rare beauty in full bloom!”
Would he get much of a hearing? The mad little man would not be taken seriously. In fact, we could put are arm around him and say, “Look, friend, there are hundreds of thousands of beautiful blooms and they are all being maintained as well as possible - you can come back and enjoy them each year! Here is another blossom over here – smell this one.” Or at least find fault with me. I’m the one that caused the evil, not the curator of the whole park.
That pedal was small and almost insignificant in comparison to the beauty of the whole. So when you step back and view the whole garden - the pedal is minor. And I think that is the perspective Job has. He looks at his life and realizes - he is just one pedal on the blossom of a beautiful tree of God’s goodness.
If he examines how huge the garden is and how detailed and how well maintained the pedal is not very significant. If someone comes and plucks the pedal of his life. The blame should not go to the Creator, but the individual who crushed the pedal.
At first, Job is up in arms at the pedal of his life that has been snatched away by the whim of the devil. And he is tempted to find fault with God for allowing it. So, instead of God answering him as to the direct cause, God puts His arm around Job and guides him around the rest of creation, showing him all the different aspects of that garden.
Instead of addressing the specific issue God gets Job's mind off of himself and his problem - because even though it was a great tragedy . . . in comparison with how great God is and how majestic He is it was not that big an issue.
And so Job is humbled - as God gives him a tour of the garden of creation Job concludes – “I am insignificant.”
We have looked at four reasons so far that there is evil in the world, but we still have to look at one of the most helpful ones given to us in the book of Job.
Answer 5 – Evil is temporary (God’s Perspective Job 42).
Job’s story ends well. The final chapter tells us that the Lord repays Job twice what he lost.
“The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold... The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning” (Job 42:10-12).
Of course, this does not always happen, but it does teach us a valuable principle. No matter what happens in this life, we know that suffering is temporary. God will eradicate all evil one day.
We should not take the presence of evil as God’s approval of evil in the world. We know the end of the story. He hates evil so much that He came in human flesh to bring us out of the evils of sin. It took His life – His suffering the greatest evil to bring us out of evil one day. And so His death is for our life. He came to suffer evil in order to put an end to evil forever.
I never like when someone tells me the end of a movie or book. Some people like to look at the final chapter to see how things work out. That normally bugs me. But not in this case! In this case, we read the end and see that God does away with all these trials, pains, all evil.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth… And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new’” (Revelation 21:1-5)!
This is God’s desire, His end goal. Don’t let His patience and forbearance with evil today be misinterpreted as acceptance.
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