See No Evil
The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these. Isaiah 45:7 NASB
Calamity – If God is sovereign, then why is there evil? How can a good God allow evil in the world?
If you’ve never struggled with these questions, perhaps you haven’t read Job. The existence of evil is one of the fundamental conundrums of theological thought. Lots and lots of material has been written about this problem. Many people have struggled with this reality in their lives. It just doesn’t seem to make any sense. If God really is all-powerful and all good, why is there evil?
Typical theological answers focus attention on the Fall, suggesting that human disobedience is the cause of all this (it’s kind of like global warming – it’s all our fault). But a careful reading of Genesis indicates that the yetzer ha-ra was designed into the human fabric. It was there before the Fall. And who created that? The answer has to be “God.” So the Fall doesn’t really solve the problem, does it? It only pushed the problem deeper into the unknown.
Maybe the real issue is a category mistake. Maybe we are reading the Scriptures as if they were written for Western minds. Maybe that’s the reason that the NASB, NIV, ESV, NKJV and RSV all use circumlocutions for the Hebrew word ra, usually translated “evil.” Our theology prevents us from using this usual translation. Instead, we alter the verse so that God creates “calamity,” or “woe,” or “disaster,” or some other less reprehensible occurrence. All of this linguistic effort is motivated by our unwillingness to attribute “evil” to God. (You can see how much twisting is involved by following this on-line discussion). This is a result of seeing evil as an attribute with independent identification and definition. In other words, we think of evil as some thing (or some deprivation, if you’re following Aquinas) that is applied to the character of God. It’s as if we have a concept of what is evil (like a list of evil actions and events) and then we are forced to attach those to God, describing God’s character as evil. We can’t have that, so we alter the verse to fit our theology. But this kind of metaphysics is totally foreign to the ancient world of Israel.
The ancient Semitic view does not ascribe “good” to God. “Good” is not a separate category of qualities that are attached to the character of God. In ancient Hebraic thought, whatever God does is good because good is defined by what God does. God does not have moral qualities called “good.” God is good since God Himself is the standard that determines goodness. There is no outside code of conduct applied to God to see if He measures up. Good is defined by what God does. Therefore, when Isaiah speaks God’s words and says, “creating ra,” this also is part of the standard of God’s goodness. God cannot do what is morally reprehensible because what God does is, by definition, good – no matter what it appears to be from a human perspective.
The next time you experience disaster, calamity, woe or catastrophe, ask yourself if your evaluation of the experience is based on a biblical standard or on a theological concept. You just might be surprised how Greek your thinking really is. If all that God does is good, then who are we to decide what fits and what doesn’t fit? Who are we to question God’s goodness because it doesn’t seem right to us?
Topical Index: good, evil, ra, God, Isaiah 45:7
I was touched by my brother-in-law’s words two weeks before his death from lung cancer due to a childhood injury that never healed and did not get the proper attention at the time:
“We want to serve a ‘nice god’, but our God did not ever call Himself ‘nice’. But we know that our God is Good. And we need to understand the difference between ‘nice’ and ‘good’ and then trust the Good God.”
Wow, inspired understanding and words from your brother-in-law! Thank you for sharing. Who are we to judge God!!!!
I guess I can live without ascribing either good or evil to God. (Yes, I know that my thinking is very “Greek ingrained.”) I do have some difficulty with the notion of what it is that is good, other than the notion that somehow if God is in charge, and he is, then I call his being in charge good but that in itself has little meaning to me. I do know that the philosophy which tries to argue about the nature of evil makes little sense to me. I guess I will live today with the notion that God is and that is alright with me for Him to be. There will be consequences for my choices and those are on me. Yet, this seems to move God away from me. That is not my life’s experience of Him. Obviously, I have much more work to do on this topic.
“I do have some difficulty with the notion of what it is that is good, other than the notion that somehow if God is in charge, and he is, then I call his being in charge good but that in itself has little meaning to me.”
Hi Roy,
I would agree with you that to “call his being in charge good …. has little meaning”
As I understand it, the challenge is to see that God is in control of everything
And to be able to find, and focus on, his will in whatever he has given us
That discipline makes us stronger in the midst of adversity
And brings us Shalom
When I was freaking out in my first year of graduate school, an ex-Catholic priest affiliated with the Humanities Department at UCSD gave me the following book to read:
Man’s Search for Meaning
Viktor Frankl’s 1946 book chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate and describes his psychotherapeutic method for finding a reason to live.
As I recall, Frankl could look at the dirty, slimy, gruel he had to eat off the floor and in it find a gift from God.
The text above, and ones like it such as Prov. 16:4 “ADONAI made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of disaster”, really make you wonder if we have a choice in these things.
As I doggedly fight illness, financial problems and the rug being pulled from beneath me I ruminate on and tenaciously hold on to Paul’s words in Romans 5:35 – 38. Which nicely dovetails, for me, into Isaiah 45 which is one of my favourite chapters…..I am YHWH there is no other. I form light, I create darkness: I make well-being, I create woe: I YHWH do all these things…..yes He does all well like Job I can say though he slay me yet will I trust in Him. He does not ask us or tell us to understand just to trust and obey for He is Good. – Isaiah 45:9 -12!
Yes you are right Skip ……’If all that God does is good, then who are we to decide what fits and what doesn’t fit? Who are we to question God’s goodness because it doesn’t seem right to us? The Word for Today is a blessing – thanks – really enjoyed the spelling bee on generations…wow how precise Yah is.
Christine
Shalom brothers and sisters,
I have an urgent prayer request. My brother-in law has been missing for over 48 hours. Please pray.
Hi Brian
How distressing for you – what is his name? I will pray for him now. Christine
Thanks Christine. His name is Ovid.
Praying !
I have read/learned/been taught that all things that come to us must first be sifted through His hands/allowed (sovereignty of course). That He is good even though He slay me for sure.
I heard so much from the pulpit about how “evil” did the destruction at 9/11 – but I had a hard time believing that God could so easily have stopped all of that but He didn’t – He allowed for a reason but you will never get some people to wrap their minds/heads around such – that God is sovereign & is GOOD in evil… ♥
jan
Through Today’s Word today I made the, perhaps dubious and specious, connection between the Hebrew word for evil -ra and the name of the false Egyptian god(s) Ra. It may well be that they are pronounced differently, but I can’t help but wonder when the Israelites came into the land of Mitsaryim and first heard the people worshipping their god called “evil” it didn’t cause them to pause, scratch their head and say “who”, “what”! And ( projecting my evangelical bias onto them) later in those 430 years if they weren’t at some point invited to come to the temple and worship their host countries gods – Ra. Would they have heard it as “come worship our god called – evil?!” yeh…uhhhh… no thanks. The same as I would respond today if invited to, say a Hindu temple or other god whom I classify as ra. ( which is ALL of them)
Anyway, just my rambling conjecture to entertain myself … and maybe some of you. Shalom.
Good vs. evil. Sometimes we “think” it’s a 50/50 match or an even balance. You know- the yin/yang thing. But it is not. G-d is bigger.., -much bigger. Which is bigger- the Creator or the ‘thing’ created? Hasatan is a created being. A fallen angel, it is true, but nevertheless no match for the ONE who sits on Heaven’s throne.
And we know (yes, experientially) all things (all things?) are (in the constant process of) working together for the good of them who love the LORD, to those who are (the) called, according to His purpose. (Romans 8.28) “Purpose-driven life,” indeed. But dear friends,- it is His purpose, His will, His design, His good pleasure here..- not ours. “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” Get it? Got it? Good!
Is there pain, sorrow, suffering, affliction in this world? (really going for the dumb questions today..) Yes!- just as He said,- “in this world you will have tribulation!” You will have pain, you will have suffering..- why? – Suffering is one of our “needs.” So is pain. So is affliction. So is sorrow.
The Captain of our salvation was made perfect (mature) through suffering..- is the servant above his Master? Nope. Not hardly. We, who are His, will suffer.. – Again,- why? – Nothing gets my “attention” quicker than a little pain. Nothing works better for me as an “attitude adjuster” or attention getter than pain. – Nothing. Does G-d know this? Oh yes, friends- He does. Are we listening now? or shall we turn up the heat a bit?
“To be conformed to the image of the Son.” “Conform” is a word of heat and pressure..- feeling the heat? Going through the fire, the flood, the famine? The key word is “through”. Yea, though I walk “through” the valley of the shadow, I will fear no evil..- for You are “with me.”
Pain is also a mnemonic aid to help us remember – “this world is not our final destination.” No, I’m not dreaming of Pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die-by-and-by. I’m thinking of the “nasty-now-and-now” and how good our G-d is to be with us, above us, before us, behind us and in us- both to will and to do of His good pleasure..”conforming us” (in the daily grind) into the image of the Son.
What do the scriptures say? (We should always ask this question!.) -“No, (an emphatic NO!) -despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us” (and loves us still today..) “And He that spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all- how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”
Any particular reason G-d said,- (over three hundred sixty-six times!)- “fear not?”
Thank you all for praying for Ovid. He has been found and is alright, but continued prayers would be much appreciated. Shalom!
So, Skip, could this be a result of the “fall”, as you have mentioned in Guardian Angel, that instead of seeing things as true and false, we now see them as right (being good) and wrong (being evil)?
Yes, perhaps because the yetzer ha’ra evaluates life in terms of what is “good for me,” we end up with assessments of God’s character based on our evaluation of “good” rather than “true.” Nice insight. Thanks.
The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these. Isaiah 45:7 NASB
One thing we must not miss in viewing this scripture is the Sovereignty of Yah. All things (the good, the bad, the ugly) come from His hand. This reminds me of my wedding vows- “in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth”.. When things get “tuff” or don’t go the way I think they should, -do I, should I, -abandon my the wife of my youth? No, -you say? Really!- Why not? At the first time of trouble, or calamity, should I “bail” on her and walk away? No?.. Tell me more.. – why not?
My beloved and I have endured.. er…enjoyed thirty plus years together and I truly may say it, know it, show it- I love her more today than when I stood at the altar (yes, with fear and trembling!) over thirty years ago..
Boys and girls,- we all (together) have seen some “stuff.” We (also) have been in the mix. We have been in (and out) of the storms of life and have witnessed (up close and personal) the constant, consistent, ever-faithful watchcare of our Compassionate (and good) Shepherd. Folks, in ALL things- in all circumstances, at all times, in all places- may I affirm, confirm and assure all- the LORD is (ever) good. As the scriptures state: “He does ALL things well..” (Mark 7.37)
From the archives:
I have found a friend in Jesus, He’s ev’rything to me,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul;
The Lily of the Valley, in Him alone I see
All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole:
In sorrow He’s my comfort, in trouble He’s my stay;
He tells me ev’ry care on Him to roll;
He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
He all my grief has taken, and all my sorrows borne,
In temptation He’s my strong and mighty tow’r;
I’ve all for Him forsaken; I’ve all my idols torn
From my heart, and now He keeps me by His pow’r.
Though all the world forsake me, and Satan tempt me sore,
Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal;
He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
He will never, never leave me, nor yet forsake me here,
While I live by faith and do His blessed will;
A wall of fire about me, I’ve nothing now to fear,
With His manna He my hungry soul shall fill;
Then sweeping up to glory I’ll see His blessed face,
Where rivers of delight shall ever flow;
He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
He’s the fairest of of thousand ten to my my soul.
Charles W. Fry, 1837-1882