Dear Friends,

God is a Father. This simple truth brings clarity to a number of foundational Biblical topics, including the Problem of Evil.

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One evil at a time

I gave my bottom-line response to the Problem of Evil in the first post; nevertheless, there are many important angles from which to consider this problem. Today, I offer one hopefully helpful perspective, fully aware that this does not completely resolve the problem. But I think it’s a start.

Zooming out for a second

Again, the Problem of Evil is basically the idea that human suffering contradicts either God’s omnipotence or God’s love. These three things…

• Human suffering :_(
• God’s omnipotence ↑ [purple is the color of royalty, in case you were wondering 🙂 ]
• God’s love ♥

…cannot coexist. And, since we all agree that humans do in fact suffer, the idea is that God is not loving or God is not omnipotent.

But parents live with this “contradiction” all the time

“Don’t touch the stove! It will hurt!” That is a parent’s love for his/her child; it is a protective kind of love.

But what if the parent sees him reaching for it anyway, and decides not to intervene? Yes, that is also love, but it is a different kind. That is the suffering kind of love. It’s the love that says, “In order for you to learn this very important lesson, we are both going to have to endure some momentary suffering.”

It’s the love that says, “I could permanently deactivate the stove but then you would not learn self control, and you would not learn how a stove works. I could put you in handcuffs all the time but that would be torture, etc.”

So, the child touches the stove and screams; the mother experiences emotional anguish. And the child stops touching the stove.

Take note:

• The child is suffering :_(
• The parents had the power to prevent the child from ever touching that hot stove ↑
• The child Is loved by his parents ♥

If loving parents can do this, then why not God?

Israelite suffering, God’s ability to prevent their suffering, and God’s parental love…all rolled into one

Let’s examine some experiences of the children of Israel to see how all three of these…

• Israelite suffering :_(
• God’s ability to prevent suffering ↑
• God’s parental love ♥

…coexist in God’s relationship with Israel specifically, and with all of His children more generally, just as they do in relationships between mortal parents and their children.

Israelite suffering

Human suffering is never difficult to illustrate; the children of Israel suffered many things in the wilderness. There were plague (Numbers 14), fiery serpents (Numbers 21), executions (Exodus 32), defeat in war (Numbers 14), etc.

Does this mean God was not powerful enough to protect them, or that He did not love them? Let’s start with the power question….

God’s ability to prevent suffering

One day, God suffered the Amalekites and the Canaanites to smite God’s own people:

[Num 14:45 KJV] 45 Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, [even] unto Hormah.

Clearly, God could have wiped out the opposing army; He had the ability to prevent suffering. After all, he single-handedly wiped out Pharaoh’s entire army in Exodus 14. But, He decided not to intervene in Numbers 14, and the result was what you would expect for a matchup of a group of wandering ex-slaves versus two united groups of battle-hardened people defending their ancestral territory.

So, God was clearly powerful enough to have prevented that suffering. So, was a it a lack of love?

God’s parental love: On the mountaintops

If all God cared about was assembling a body of terrified worshippers, He could have skipped the whole Let My People Go thing. He could just announce Himself to the world in a stentorian voice, demand that everyone bow their faces down to the ground, and then He could lightning bolt all dissenters. Done. No parental suffering required; no parental relationship at all.

But He took a very different approach, didn’t He?

[Deu 1:31 KJV] 31 And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, AS A MAN DOTH BEAR HIS SON, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.

God assumed a parental role with the Israelites. He fed them bread and quail (Exodus 16). He showed Moses a special tree that made bitter water sweet (Exodus 15). He made water come out of a rock (Numbers 20). He delivered the Israelites from the cruel slavery and infanticide of Pharaoh (Exodus 15). He even taught the Egyptians (the ones who were willing to listen) some important, actionable theology:

[Exo 9:20 KJV] 20 He that feared the word of the LORD among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses:

God was clearly after much more than worship; He was after relationship, namely, the tender relationship between children and their Father:

[Psa 103:13 KJV] 13 Like as a FATHER pitieth [his] children, [so] the LORD pitieth them that fear him.

So, God proved that He loved the children of Israel by taking care of them. So, it was not a lack of love that led God to step back from the battle in Number 14. So, what was it, then? Hold that thought, because we are not done talking about God’s love!

God’s parental love: In the valleys

I mentioned the suffering kind of love earlier, when talking about the stove. This concept is a crucial bridge from an appreciation of parents in general to a more specific appreciation of God’s role as a parent. This concept helps us see that, no matter what else happens, God is a Father, and He is willing to suffer for His children, which proves that He loves them. With that in mind, let’s consider some verses that discuss the very real suffering that God experiences in his parental role:

[Exo 34:6 KJV] 6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, LONGSUFFERING, and abundant in goodness and truth,

[Deu 8:3 KJV] 3 And he humbled thee, and SUFFERED thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every [word] that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

[Jdg 10:16 KJV] 16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was GRIEVED for the misery of Israel.

[Psa 78:40 KJV] 40 How oft did they PROVOKE him in the wilderness, [and] GRIEVE him in the desert!

[Psa 86:15 KJV] 15 But thou, O Lord, [art] a God full of compassion, and gracious, LONGSUFFERING, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

[Psa 95:10 KJV] 10 Forty years long was I GRIEVED with [this] generation, and said, It [is] a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

[Act 13:18 KJV] 18 And about the time of forty years SUFFERED he their manners in the wilderness.

[Heb 3:10 KJV] 10 Wherefore I was GRIEVED with that generation, and said, They do alway err in [their] heart; and they have not known my ways.

[Heb 3:17 KJV] 17 But with whom was he GRIEVED forty years? [was it] not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

Now, if you are wondering how the children of Israel grieved God so much, here is just one example of many:

[Exo 15:24 KJV] 24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

Don’t forget, in an earlier section of this SAME chapter, God parted the Red Sea and killed Pharaoh and his mega army!!! But the Israelites are already complaining.

Parents, is this sounding familiar yet? So, why do we suffer through this? Why does God suffer through this?

One word: Love.

So, God proved that He loved the children of Israel by suffering through the wilderness with them. So, it was not a lack of love that led God to step back from the battle in Number 14. So, what was it, then?

God’s parental love: The instruction of a Father

Parents, our children have a lot to learn from us. Likewise, the children of Israel (and we also!) had a lot to learn from their Heavenly Father.

Why didn’t God intervene during the battle in Numbers 14 that I mentioned earlier? Because the Israelites had a very important lesson to learn. To find out what that lesson was, we just read two verses earlier:

[Num 14:43 KJV] 43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites [are] there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.

There it is. Quoted verbatim, the lesson is: “Because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.” The children of Israel had spent Numbers 13 and Numbers 14 belly-aching, screaming and crying about the giants waiting for them in the land of Canaan. They even called for the execution of Joshua and Caleb, the spies who trusted God. They turned away from the Lord.

As punishment, God said He would not allow any of them to enter the Promised Land. They would die in the wilderness. In the morning, they tried to get their act together, but it was too late; Moses told them not to try to fight the Canaanites, but they didn’t listen, and God didn’t help them, so they lost. God was teaching them an important but painful lesson:

God’s parental love: The joys of the instructed

So, did they learn their lesson? The younger generation certainly did! Unlike Moses’s generation, the Joshua generation got the message:

[Jdg 2:7 KJV] 7 And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel.

They saw God’s incredible deliverance from their enemies; and these experiences must have thrown into sharp relief the times when God withdrew his protective hand like in Numbers 14. The people learned that the best thing to do is obey God, and God blessed them in response. So, how blessed were they once they settled down in that land flowing with milk and honey?

Marinate on this for a while:

[Deu 28:1-13 KJV] 1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe [and] to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. 3 Blessed [shalt] thou [be] in the city, and blessed [shalt] thou [be] in the field. 4 Blessed [shall be] the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 5 Blessed [shall be] thy basket and thy store. 6 Blessed [shalt] thou [be] when thou comest in, and blessed [shalt] thou [be] when thou goest out. 7 The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 8 The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 9 The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. 10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11 And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. 13 And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do [them]:

So, the aforementioned three things can coexist after all:

• Israelite suffering :_(    [God suffered His children to suffer so that they would learn something important]
• God’s ability to prevent suffering ↑ [Yes, the Creator of the universe has all power]
• God’s parental love ♥ [The ones who embraced God’s clear, easy-to-understand, object lessons received the very long list of blessings described above ]

What have we learned?

Before wrapping up, let’s ponder the crucial lesson of Number 14 a little further:

“Because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.”

We are vehement proponents on this blog of the doctrine of eternal security (see John 10:27-29 and Romans 8:38-39), so we do NOT think the lesson is that if you step out of line, or even way out of line, God will cast you into the lake of fire.

Rather, the lesson is much more temporal, just like the battle in Numbers 14.

What battles are you fighting right now? Could you use some help? Do you feel like you are losing? Is the enemy closing in for the kill? Are you running out of steam? I suggest you get some help, my friend…but the more you are rejecting God and turning away from Him, the less likely it is that He is going to slay this giant for you.

God loves you! Turn to your Father. Trust Him.

If you don’t, then He could take away something from you that you may never get back in this life; He could take away your Promised Land. He could take away some special role that you could have played in His kingdom. He could take away some incredible opportunity that was tailor-made for you. He may give you other important roles later on, but the specific role that you mismanaged may never return. You cannot lose your eternal salvation…but you can definitely create a miniature hell or a miniature heaven for yourself here on earth.

Dear child of God:

[Deu 30:19 KJV] 19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

A flesh wound

So, God’s parental role helps us begin to understand how these three things can coexist:

• Human suffering :_(
• God’s omnipotence ↑
• God’s love ♥

Since the word of God is the sword of the Spirit, I hope we at least gave the Problem of Evil a flesh wound today.

But, wait: Doesn’t the Creator of the universe have a better way to teach us stuff than letting us suffer and die in horrible ways?

This battle isn’t over.  God bless, and stay tuned…