Can a Good God Be Involved With Evil?

How well do you have God contained? I think we all have some sort of God box. We place parameters as to how we know God is to behave. We have a firm grasp on His holiness and goodness as well as those "omni's" that make Him uniquely God. That is all fine and good until we bump into those uncomfortable scriptures that indicate God has a usefulness for evil and deception, and even satanic brutality in the lives of those who believe. We may think, "I must be reading the text incorrectly or maybe it is clearer in the Hebrew or Greek. How can it possibly be that God can be the one who orchestrates evil oppression?" We know God is good so there must be some explanation to our confusion. However, if we are honest, there are a number of Scriptures that certainly seem to indicate that our good God uses what we see as evil as one of His tools.

Perhaps the best known example is that of Job. That rather long poem just before Psalms. In brief, we are told of Job, "that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil" (Job 1:1). No indication of pride or hidden sins. Just a really good guy. One day the "sons of God" came to God to give a report and Satan was among them. Satan, accuser of the brethren, does his accusation thing and God points out that Job is not like that. God, the LORD, Yahweh, gives Satan permission to trash Job's life. Kills Job's kids, takes his flocks and herds, burns his home, and covers Job with putrid sores. So how does a good God allow that? Job is blameless and upright. How does this square with David's Psalm, " I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread" (Psalm 37:25). Job looks pretty forsaken to me. If you know the story, Job gets vindicated and his critical friends get put in their place. Job gets all his stuff back and more children. However, we are left with the feeling that Job was an object lesson to prove to Satan that someone loved and trusted God in spite of adversity. It is a comfort for us when adversity strikes, however, it may leave a lingering question as to how a good God allows such an evil one. I think we can all agree that Satan is evil to pummel Job for no apparent earthly reason. That there may be some bigger heavenly answer does not change the anguish and loss Job feels.

For me, a more troubling passage is found in 1 Samuel 16:14, "But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing [evil] spirit from the LORD troubled him." The Hebrew word is, רַע, meaning, translate as evil or wicked over five hundred time in the Old Testament. God took away His good Spirit and sent an evil spirit to terrify Saul. David was brought in to play soothing music to calm Saul. "And so it was, whenever the [evil] spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the evil spirit would depart from him" (1 Samuel 16:23). God sent an evil spirit over and over again to oppress Saul. No barter with Satan here. No, "Hey, it all works out for Saul in the end, so it's okay". What we clearly read is God sent an evil spirit to terrify Saul due to Saul's disobedience. Not a lot of comfort in this account. And it does leave us with the question, "How does a good and Holy God use an evil spirit to terrify one of His children."


The account we find in 1 Kings 22 is not much better. Here King Ahab and King Jehoshaphat are considering going to war with Syria. Jehoshaphat is looking for spiritual counsel before going into battle. Ahab calls in four hundred prophets who all affirm that Syria will be defeated. Jehoshaphat asks for one more prophet from the Lord so they send for Micaiah. Micaiah shares a vision that he has received from the Lord. "I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by, on His right hand and on His left. And the LORD said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?’ So one spoke in this manner, and another spoke in that manner. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will persuade him.’The LORD said to him, ‘In what way?’ So he said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the LORD said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so. 'Therefore look! The LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours" (1 Kings 22:19-23). The text definitively says that the LORD, YAHWEH, put a lying, a deceiving, spirit in the mouths of four hundred prophets so that Ahab would confidently go into battle and be killed. Our holy and righteous God will bring just judgement upon the wicked Ahab through the use of a lying and deceiving spirit.

One last example from the New Testament. In this story the Apostle Paul, God's choice servant, pleads with the Lord to remove a distracting and painful "thorn" of some kind from his life. 2 Corinthians 12:7, "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure." A thorn given by God, a messenger or angel of Satan sent to buffet Paul. The word buffet means to strike with the fist, give one a blow with the fist, to maltreat, or treat with violence. It is a brutal word. No simple pat or poke, this was an intense affliction. It was sent by God by way of Satan and the Lord refused to alleviate the pain, whatever it might have been. Paul does tell us that it was to keep him humble and dependent, however, the indication is that the Lord used evil Satan to send an evil angel to "buffet" Paul. 

So, how comfortable are you with these passages? They are only a sample of what we find in God's Word. It does appear that a good God uses evil spirits and Satan-directed attacks against His own children. How can a good, holy, just, loving, kind, tenderhearted being do such things? Maybe the real issue is our God box. Maybe the God we have fashioned to fit comfortably in our box doesn't fit. Maybe our God is too small or too predictable. Maybe we impose our ideas of good and right on a God who is not so safe after all. Maybe, just maybe, He is simply more awesome in ways that press our sensibilities. Sometimes, we may just need to admit He is beyond what we thought we understood. Sometimes we just need to know that He is God and we are not and be comfortable with that.