“You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good . . .”
Pastor Dave Monreal, Lead Pastor
We struggle with making sense of life, our own sinful decisions and the sin of others that afflicts our lives. There are a lot of wrong ideas out there. One wrong answer is that bad things happen because God isn’t in control. Some think that God is doing the best He can but when evil happens that just reveals that there are some things that are not under His control. But this does not leave you with the God of the Bible but rather a weak, imperfect “god” who does not have all-power or all-authority.
Others say that God actively and directly causes all things to happen. To them sovereignty must mean that God is the author of all sin, all actions and all events in such a way that He “causes” all things directly. Now if this were true, it would make God the author of all sin and evil. Further, it would absolve us of all responsibility because anything that happened we could respond that we didn’t have a choice and we weren’t responsible because God “made” me do it. Again, if one were to make this argument he would not be representing the God of the Bible.
Still others try to change the meaning of evil to say it isn’t really bad. Some say that as Christians we should just be thankful for everything and not see it as evil but the will of God and embrace it. So if something horrible happens like a child’s death or rape or human trafficking or some other moral evil, the Christian should just look at it and reinterpret it and say, “it’s all good!” But do we have to deny that evil is evil in order to say that God is all-powerful (omnipotent) and in control of all things (sovereign)?
We delve into the realm of mystery here. I do not want to give the impression that I can understand all the reasons for God’s providential governance of His creation. God is over all things and there is nothing that occurs that was not first known by God, planned by God, seen by God and allowed by God. So in this sense it is a part of God’s sovereign will. However, the purpose behind these things is often inscrutable to us. “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29) We don’t know the future and I don’t think we’ll ever understand some events this side of heaven. But this means we can BOTH see evil as really evil and also believe that this world has not slipped from God’s hand.
Consider Joseph. He was betrayed by his brothers, abandoned in a well, sold as a slave, falsely accused of assault and imprisoned, forgotten about for years and finally released and exalted as Pharaoh’s right hand man. After year and years his brothers now stand before him. Does he seek revenge? Does he minimize their sin? Does he blame God for actively causing the evil? No, listen to what he says, “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.” (Genesis 50:20)
He sees his brothers’ actions for what they are, evil! He doesn’t minimize it, downplay it, ignore it, or reject God because of it. But above and behind it he also sees the purpose of God! They had a purpose, which was evil, but God had another purpose, a good purpose! We should not ignore evil. We should not passively accept evil as fate. When evil occurs we can both see it for what it really is and also know that God is still God and we can trust Him.
