All Your Waves And Breakers

As Christians we typically believe that good things come from God and bad things come from Satan.

Of course, God cannot sin:'for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.' 2 James 1:13

It is striking however that the Bible doesn't share our reluctance to attribute difficult things to God.

If God is all powerful and created all things it stands to reason that in some sense he must be responsible for everything.

How God can be the creator of all things and yet have permitted evil to appear is a problem every believer must grapple with.

This is hardly a dry theoretical problem that theologians can worry about whilst the rest of us ignore it.

Are there any believers who have never asked: ‘Why is God allowing this?’.

In Psalm 42v7 the Psalmist attributes trouble: ‘waves and breakers’ to the Lord!

It is comforting to know that God is with us in trouble: 'I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him.' 3Psalm 91:15.

The idea however that God may be the author of it is disturbing to put it mildly.

The clearest example of this is the cross.

Jesus apparently goes to the cross as a result of the wickedness of the Jewish leaders, the cowardly acquiescence of Pilate and the betrayal of Judas Iscariot.

Yet in Gethsemane the night before Jesus had been asking his Father to ‘take away this cup’ 4Matthew 26:39 almost as if nobody else were involved.

At the cross we see that God is able to take the wickedness of man and incorporate it into his own perfect plan.

The crucifixion of Jesus is the most heinous crime mankind ever committed, executing the Son of God who had come to the world in peace.

Yet at the same time it is also the peak of Gods redemptive purpose for the salvation of the lost.

The hope we have (foolish in the worlds eyes) is not only that he will rescue us from trouble but also that trouble itself has a good purpose.

Satans hand may appear in the foreground but we must look for Gods hand in the background.

As Joseph once said to his brothers in Egypt: 'you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good' 5 Genesis 50:20 .