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I think all of us would agree that evil is a big deal. I hope that all of us would also agree that evil is not a good thing, and is a serious problem in this world. Movies are made about the struggle between good and evil, and sadly, that struggle rages on in the real world. When bad things are brought up, one question always pops up: “Where was God?” And to answer that question we will look at two verses in the Old Testament. The first verse we will look at is Amos 3:6b:

“Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?” (ESV)

This seems really shocking! It becomes even more shocking when the literal translation of the word “disaster” is “evil.” God bringing disaster/evil upon a city? No! And yet that is what this verse says! God is not absent from the bad things that happen, He has done them. Who controls evil? From this verse, it seems pretty clear that God controls evil.

Isaiah 45:7 says, “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.”

Just to kill two birds with one stone, this verse has caused many, including myself, to stumble. In the King James Version of the Bible, this verse is translated “create evil.” Yet we know that God cannot create evil! This was cleared up for me by R.C. Sproul in his book Knowing Scripture, which I highly recommend. Sproul says that the NASB and the ESV translations of the word “evil” to “calamity” is best. He also notes that this verse is what is called an antithetic parallelism, which is just a way of contrasting two antithetical, or opposite things. God forms light, but creates darkness, He makes well-being and creates calamity. Well-being (or peace) is contrasted with calamity or distress. The calamity or evil here is not contrasted with goodness or righteousness, but well-being (or peace). Nonetheless, this verse clearly states that God brings distress or calamity! We still have a bit of a problem!

Before we throw a red flag on the play, let’s  note three important things about God being in control over evil:

1)  If God is not in control over evil, He is not all-powerful- If God cannot control evil, then someone else does! This someone else would be Satan. If this is true, Satan wields the power over evil and God is in fact weaker than the devil in certain aspects. I want a God that is all-powerful. I want a God that can one day vanquish evil and punish it! But if God is not in control over evil, this cannot happen.

2) If God did not allow evil, some of His attributes would not be made known- If there was no sin, there would be no need for God to punish it. There goes His justice. If there was no need for God to punish sin because no evil existed, then He would not have a choice to save desperate sinners like you and I. There goes His grace, love, and mercy. The Bible does describe God as “holy, holy, holy” in the midst of perfect angels (see Isaiah 6), but if there was no sin and unrighteousness, God’s holiness and righteousness could not be praised to the extent that it is now. We would have nothing unrighteous to compare God’s holiness to! If there was no evil, we would know so much less about the God who created us!

3) God uses evil for good. The Bible has two great examples of how God uses evil for good.

The first is the story of Joseph. Joseph’s brothers are jealous of him, they sell him into slavery, and then Joseph ends up second in command over all of Egypt. Was Joseph’s brothers’ jealousy sin? Yes. Was their selling of Joseph into slavery evil? Yes. But did God use all of these events for good? Of course! Joseph says to his brothers in Genesis 50:20: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” God turned the horrible jealousy and sin of Joseph’s brothers into a way to bring the Israelites into Egypt. Not to mention, I don’t think Joseph was complaining about his new-found position of power.

The second is much more applicable, and the greatest display of God’s use of evil for good. It is the story of the cross. Jesus Christ, God in human likeness, came down to the earth and was beaten, mocked, and punished by death on a cross. This was undoubtedly evil. But if this didn’t happen, there would be no forgiveness of sins. If God had not punished His Son in our place, if He did not let the guards whip Jesus, if He spared His Son from death, we would all still be dead in sin. Jesus had to endure the wrath of God because of your sin and my sin! The murder of the Son of God was evil. But the forgiveness that it brought it SO good! Personally, I am so thankful that God used the evil of the cross for good!

Now you might be thinking, “Great, now that I know that God controls evil, so what?” For me, there were a couple of things that this new discovery led me to do:

1) I was comforted in the Lord. This may seem strange, but I am so glad that a good God controls evil, as opposed to Satan. When disaster or calamity (to use the words from our two verses above) strikes me, I know that the Lord is in control and not Satan. Actually, it is extremely comforting to me.

2) I trusted in God more. I realized that if the Lord controls everything in my life, and He is with me, who can stand against me? To echo Paul’s words in Romans 8:31, if God is for me, who can be against me? The promise of Romans 8:28 also became so much dearer to me. ALL things, even evil, are being worked together for my good by God.

It is my prayer that whether this information is new or old, you will be driven to the Lord. Take comfort in the fact that He controls everything, and because He does, no one can touch you without His permission.

If you are more interested in this topic, I deeply encourage you to download and listen to Pastor Mike’s sermons on the Theodicy of God and the Decrees and Sovereignty of God from Compass Night a couple of years ago. These can be found on the Compass Bible Church podcast. These two lectures have been invaluable for me in my study of God and His control over all things, including evil.

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