Scripture reading: Prov. 8:22-31

INTRODUCTION:

1.) God is absolute in His attributes: He is holy, intelligent, wise, complete in his knowledge and power. Therefore, He cannot make a mistake; the world He created was complete, perfect for the purpose for which He created it.

Genesis 1:31: And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

2.) Man is a moral creature, and possessing a moral conscience with the ability to choose his own actions. Hence, the consequences of his choices must be considered.

3.) God put His creation and man under law, including law in the physical world and moral and spiritual law in the moral realm. Obedience or disobedience to these laws bring inevitable consequences.

Only on the basis of these three premises can we come to grips with the problem of evil, and, in the providence of such a God, can we find a solution to the perplexing question of evil.

Many in the world today are prone to accredit every occurrence in their lives to God’s Divine Plan and providential control, from the mundane—a lost valuable found, a loan accepted, a flight delayed—to more serious matters—the death of a child or loved one, or catastrophes such as have happened recently. There are others still who believe that the universe was set in order by some divine power or by a process of chance, or evolution, and that there is no special guidance of any kind except the natural processes.

Those who are inclined to believe in a near-predestination type involvement of God in His Creation are also prone to confuse "providence" with miracles, or acts that occur outside of the normal and operating system of nature, supernatural occurrences by the intervention of God’s hand. Miracles are referred to in scripture as "wonders," "powers," and "signs," and manifest themselves always in the furtherance of God’s Divine Plan, but miracles and providence, as we will briefly look at it today, are not the same.

Providence is the working of God through His provision in the natural and spiritual realms, and yet it is a control that violates neither man’s ability to choose nor God’s established natural and spiritual laws.

The word "providence" is from the Latin providentia—this is a form of the word "provide," whose Latin root is providere (pro: before, and videre: to see). So the word expresses foresight and planning—provident care. God thought of us and made provisions toward our care—and He continues to as He hears and answers our prayers.

The idea of God’s providence carries with it the truth that the universe IS God’s creation, and that it is a creation that is governed and cared for by Him, who, as we said before, is eternal and unchangeable in His characteristics. Again, God cannot make a mistake—He made everything . . . what He does is right, it can’t be any other way.

God demonstrated first his infinite power as Creator, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." When God did that, He brought order to chaos. The universe is so intricately established as a working system, it is clear to us that it took more than just power, but intelligence and foresight—providere. God had an intention, and He provided for what He planned to do. We read moments ago the voice of wisdom, testifying that "From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth" (v.23).

When God created the universe, He willed it to be a certain way.

Revelation 4:11: "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created."

As Bro. Blackford reminded us this week, Christ has necessarily been a part of that never-changing plan from the beginning.

John 1:1-3: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

God is an involved Creator—the laws by which the world operates were established by His will. He is the governor of this universe. As such, He has complete control over it—EXCEPT where He has created free beings (angels and man). Morally, God does not control us, but instructs and persuades us through His laws. In order for us to remain moral creatures, He can do no more.

Now, this basic picture has been set—God as an infinitely powerful and unchangeable Creator who crafted this world according to His will, a universe created subject to His manipulation save where He created morally free agents, mankind and angels.

From this we can learn four truths about God’s providence:

1.) Man is subject to the natural laws and consequences established—blessings, accidents, suffering, and death.

2.) This natural order compliments Godly living.

James 1:3-5: . . . knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
 

I Peter 1:5-6: [here speaking of God’s merciful plan of salvation] . . . who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials . . . .

3.) God has the power of guiding free being without interfering with their moral sovereignty. This has been shown of individuals AND nations.

In Exodus 7-8, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart with the plagues, and a truth he wasn’t willing to submit to. We also read of the heathen nations which God used to smite the Israelites. He does not make them do it—but guidance persuades them one way or the other based upon their character and the choices they make.

4.) If He wills, God can alter a course of events in answer to human prayer, or without it.

Such is the power we Christians are granted access to in our faithful prayers.

God’s forethought and foresight clearly imply a PURPOSE in His creation. When man sinned, did he disable God’s intended plan? We’re not told anything about that. What we DO know is that God knowingly created morally independent spirits capable of choosing between right and wrong. God knew that man could sin. And when he did, God separated Himself from mankind, and men were exposed to death. But, as surely as God had a plan for man if he had NOT sinned, which we will never know about, He also had a plan of redemption once we did. That plan is presented to us in the Bible.

But here is where our problem lies . . . how could evil exist in a world that God saw, and declared that it was good?

Evil in the sense that we’ll speak of it refers first to things that are physically bad—disease, tornadoes, earthquakes, and other catastrophic natural occurrences. It also refers to things that are morally wicked or sinful in the sight of God. It is this kind of evil, sin, that is referred to most often in New Testament scripture.

We read in the Creation account of man’s introduction to good and evil in the Garden of Eden,

Genesis 2:9, 16-17: And out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;

But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die."

James 1:13: Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God;" for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.

Colossians 1:16-17: For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him.

And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

II Peter 2:4: . . . God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment . . . .

Jude 6: And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.

Matthew 25:41: "Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels . . . .

John 8:44: ". . . He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

I John 3:8: . . . the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning.

Now, in regards to how much Satan is involved in the evils of the physical world, we will never know, but we can turn to passages of scripture that indicate some involvement on his part. The one that most easily comes to mind is in his dealings with Job. With God’s permission, Satan robbed Job of his livestock (Job 1:13-17). Then, by use of a great wind, a force of nature, he caused the house to collapse upon his ten children. Then, once granted permission to touch Job’s body, after Job’s continued faithfulness in adversity, Satan used disease, smiting Job from head to foot with boils and sores. As a result, Job became an outcast, a reject—this is a social evil.

His wife lost faith and urged him to curse God and die. (The evils of disloyalty and unbelief.) And in 2:7-13, when Job’s friends came to comfort him, all they did was accuse him of evils with their false theories. (This is a religious or philosophical evil.) So we read in Job of Satan’s plagues in physical and moral realms.

And when the remnant of Judah returned from Babylon and God intended to cleanse the priesthood, Satan stood as an adversary before Joshua the high priest,

Zechariah 3:2: And the Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?"

Within the miracles and good deeds worked by Christ during His ministry upon this Earth, we see indications of evil resulting from an intruding dark power. In Luke 13, Christ healed a woman of her crippling eighteen-year affliction, and while commencing to respond to those accusing Him of working on the sabbath, He said—

Luke 13:16: "And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?"

Again, WE CANNOT KNOW the extend of Satan’s involvement, but we see that God, to a limited scale, had allowed it in times past.

Satan is an agent of evil, tempting us to evil, causing evil results, and he will be allowed to operate until the time of judgment—

Revelation 20:10: And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Ecclesiastes 3:11: He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

v.14: I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him.

Deuteronmy 30:15-16:  See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity;

in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it.

Amos 3:6: If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?

Isaiah 45:7: The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.

Isaiah 31:2: Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster, and does not retract His words, but will arise against the house of evil-doers, and against the help of the workers of iniquity.

But evil wrought in the moral realm is much more easily understood and readily presented than evil the physical realm. Sin was introduced by Adam and Eve and it led to terrible consequences in Noah’s time and on and on and on. Wicked thoughts turn to wicked deeds which result in evil consequences.

Matthew 15:19-20: "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.

These are the things which defile the man . . . .

What resulted from all this were evil consequences! God gave them up, and, v.27, they received their due penalty.

But men have a choice to turn from this condition, once entered into it, such is the nature of God’s redemptive plan.

Ezekiel 33:11: "As I live!" declares the Lord God, "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?"

Acts 3:19: "Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord . . . .

Evil is a presence in this world. In the physical realm, it is a part of our hardship in this life. In the moral realm, it is to be actively opposed by every child of God:

I Peter 3:9-12: . . . not returning evil for evil, or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing,

For, "Let him who means to love life and see good days refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile.

"And let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.

"For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

"He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned." (Mark 16:16).