If God is Real, Why is There Evil?
Drash on Parashah 45; Va’etchanan
MMin Kevin “Oriyan” Phipps

 One of the greatest objections to Biblical faith has been the question, “If God is real, all powerful, loving, and good, then why is there evil an suffering in the world?” If He hates sin, why does He allow it? If He could do something to end war and poverty, which Christian doctrine seems to imply He could, why doesn’t He? Since these things exist in the world, then if God exists at all, He is powerless to do anything about it or simply does not care enough to do anything about it. Many theologians and pastors have attempted to answer this issue for a long time now, and this week it is my turn. (which is good because I can finally put an end to this issue) (just kidding)

 As I spent this past week contemplating this issue, it occurred to me that most of the people who pose this objection not only are not Believers, but aren’t even trying to be. They are not sincerely wanting to live a life of faith in the God of the Bible, and this is a convenient tool of the Adversary given to them to make them feel better about their unbelief. As a tool of Ha Satan, there is much truth to the various parts of this argument. Is God good? Yes. Is God loving? Yes. Is He all powerful? Yes. So what’s the problem? The sky is blue. This is a true statement concerning the sky. However, this statement can be misleading in itself because the sky does not always appear blue. At night it appears black, and on rainy days it appears white or grey. At sunrise or sunset it can appear in any number of colors. So truth can become deception of additional truth is withheld for the purpose of misleading the hearer.

You are not to follow other gods, chosen from the gods of the peoples around you; because Adonai, your God, who is here with you, is a jealous God. If you do, the anger of Adonai your God will flare up against you and he will destroy you from the face of the earth.  Do not put Adonai your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah [testing]. Observe diligently the mitzvot of Adonai your God, and his instructions and laws which he has given you. You are to do what is right and good in the sight of Adonai, so that things will go well with you, and you will enter and possess the good land Adonai swore to your ancestors, expelling all your enemies ahead of you, as Adonai said. [D’varim/Deutoronomy 6:14-19]

Next I saw heaven opened, and there before me was a white horse. Sitting on it was the one called Faithful and True, and it is in righteousness that he passes judgment and goes to battle. His eyes were like a fiery flame, and on his head were many royal crowns. And he had a name written which no one knew but himself. He was wearing a robe that had been soaked in blood, and the name by which he is called is, "THE WORD OF GOD." The armies of heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. And out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down nations — "He will rule them with a staff of iron." It is he who treads the winepress from which flows the wine of the furious rage of Adonai, God of heaven's armies. And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. [Revelation 19:11-16]

 So the first thing that we have to get straight is being able to see God truthfully according to the entirety of Scripture. Where it is true that He is a good, loving, all powerful God, He is also a holy, just, and jealous God who punishes people for their sin and even sins of ancestors. He is a God of gentleness and kindness, but He is also a God of vengeance and fury. As a famous preacher, Jonathan Edwards once taught, it is a terrible thing for sinners to fall into the hands of an angry God. The wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon sums up human life as follows.

Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear God, and keep his mitzvot; this is what being human is all about. For God will bring to judgment everything we do, including every secret, whether good or bad. [Kohelet/Ecclesiastes 12:14]
 
 Knowing God’s true, full identity as both a God of goodness but also a God of judgment gives us insight to why He allows, and even causes suffering and hardship in the world. There are laws that God has given to govern all human life and there are both natural and divine consequences for not following them. God punishes even His own people to bring them back to a life of obedience and trust in Him. 

 We have in our culture this concept of God that makes Him into a buddy buddy God that just forgives and accepts everybody. He would never send anyone to hell, and would never condone such things are war, poverty, and capital punishment. Though these things are not His desire, He does allow and even commands such things as punishment for sin. We have to stop trying to make God into a god that we can accept, and accept or reject Him for who and what He truly is based on His Word. The god we make Him out to be only exists to serve mankind and make life good and pleasant. That is not the God of the Bible. We exist to serve Him as our Creator, not the other way around. 

 Some would say that they can’t worship a God who is so “mean”. Think about what you are saying. If He truly is “mean”, then do you want to be for Him or against Him? If He is “mean” as you say, then worshiping Him would be the best policy to avoid Him being “mean” to you. 

 We have explored the God side of this argument, now there is a human side to this as well that deserves attention.

"Adonai your God is going to bring you into the land you will enter in order to take possession of it, and he will expel many nations ahead of you — the Hitti, Girgashi, Emori, Kena`ani, P'rizi, Hivi and Y'vusi, seven nations bigger and stronger than you. When he does this, when Adonai your God hands them over ahead of you, and you defeat them, you are to destroy them completely! Do not make any covenant with them. Show them no mercy. Don't intermarry with them — don't give your daughter to his son, and don't take his daughter for your son. For he will turn your children away from following me in order to serve other gods. If this happens, the anger of Adonai will flare up against you, and he will quickly destroy you. No, treat them this way: break down their altars, smash their standing-stones to pieces, cut down their sacred poles and burn up their carved images completely. For you are a people set apart as holy for Adonai your God. Adonai your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his own unique treasure. Adonai didn't set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people - on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples. Rather, it was because Adonai loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors, that Adonai brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from a life of slavery under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. [D’varim/Deuteronomy 7:1-8]

 I could have used many other passages to illustrate my point, but this is one from the parashah that works well. God could have made the journey from Egypt to the Promised Land quick and easy. Moses could have returned from Midian to find the entire nation of Egypt dead and Israel left with no enemy to chase them. He could have provided them with more than enough food and drink to go right to the Promised Land, completely bypassing the wilderness, and find an already destroyed land of Kena’an with no one to fight and nothing to do but build Jerusalem and divide the land amongst themselves. God could have even taken that work from them and built the Temple and Holy City Himself. Why didn’t He?

So, since we have come to be considered righteous by God because of our trust, let us continue to have shalom with God through our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah.  Also through him and on the ground of our trust, we have gained access to this grace in which we stand; so let us boast about the hope of experiencing God's glory. But not only that, let us also boast in our troubles; because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope; and this hope does not let us down, because God's love for us has already been poured out in our hearts through the Ruach HaKodesh who has been given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time, the Messiah died on behalf of ungodly people. [Romans 5:1-6]

 God nation of God’s people in the Bible is called Isra’el. This is actually a combination of two words, Sarah, which means “to prevail” and El, which is one of the names of God. So Isra’el literally means, “to prevail with God”. Prevail over what? Well, sinful nations, evil, Ha Satan, their own personal sins, anything which is contrary to the person and will of their God. One cannot prevail unless one is challenged. You cannot win unless you compete. You can go to a store and buy a trophy, but it will mean nothing because you did nothing to earn it. 

 Those who go to the gym to build their strength don’t go and just flap their arm and legs around. (Aerobic exercise may be different, but I’m talking about strength exercise) In order to build muscles and make them stronger, there must be resistance. There cannot be too much resistance, so as to cause injury, but enough to test the muscles and through that testing, the muscles get stronger.
No temptation has seized you beyond what people normally experience, and God can be trusted not to allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. On the contrary, along with the temptation he will also provide the way out, so that you will be able to endure. [1Corinthians 10:13]

 God’s job is not to make our life easy and nor should we expect Him to. It is through difficulties, hardships, evil, sin, and such that we have the opportunity to grow stronger in our faith. We have to remember that in order to prevail, we prevail with God, not alone. God did not completely give the Promised Land to Isra’el without effort, but neither did they have victory over the inhabitants of the land on their own strength and wisdom. It is a cooperative effort between God and Man, as the result of a continual relationship between the two.

To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pain in childbirth. You will bring forth children in pain. Your desire will be toward your husband, but he will rule over you." To Adam he said, "Because you listened to what your wife said and ate from the tree about which I gave you the order, 'You are not to eat from it,' the ground cursed on your account; you will work hard to eat from it as long as you live. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat field plants. You will eat bread by the sweat of your forehead till you return to the ground — for you were taken out of it: you are dust, and you will return to dust." [B’resheet/Genesis 3:16-19]

 We have to accept the fact that we live in a world of sin. Sin not only has its affect on people, but the land and animals as well. Sin is a state of being that separates the world from the source of all life. Rather than questioning how and why a good, loving, powerful God allows evil and suffering in the world, the better question is how there is any goodness, love, and life on a planet as sinful and bent toward hell as this one is. Death and suffering is what is normal in this world. It is to be expected. You don’t look outside and get surprised to find dirt in your yard. If you looked outside to find a clean, shiny, marble floor covering your yard, this would be an oddity. The only answer to why there is any goodness at all in this world and how it is that each of us are still able to suck the air that God has created into our lungs only to turn around and use the life that this provides to dishonor God is purely His grace. 

 God’s Son, Yeshua the Messiah, came to this evil planet as a human to allow Himself to die at the hands of evil men in order to enable all those who would put their faith in Him to have eternal life, experience unconditional love, and have hope in the midst of whatever trials will come to get through them better, stronger, and closer to God than before.

Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. [Ephesians 6:11-13]