Lesson Seven: THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
Introduction: While we struggle to understand the presence of evil and suffering in this world, we must recognise our limitations in understanding and approach the eventual solution with hope. How we understand this aspect based on Scripture is what we are studying this week.
Memory Text: Revelation 21:4 (NKJV)
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
SABBATH; Many Christians find a problem with reconciling the fact that God is entirely good, perfect and powerful, with the fact that, there is a lot of evil happening in this world. They tend to question God, who is Almighty and Sovereign about the origin of evil and they ask reasons at to why there is so much of evil going on. A full understanding of this remains a mystery. However, our ultimate hope lies in Jesus Christ that died at Calvary to save us from the eternal destruction for whoever believes in Him by faith.
SUNDAY; Many characters in the Bible including Job, Jeremiah and many more raised questions to God about why a lot of evil prevailed and why the wicked prospered. In addition, they cried asking how long God would allow it to prevail. Likewise, we are prone to lament in a similar manner as well. However, we are to acknowledge the fact that God hates evil and suffering more than we do. The example of the innocent suffering that Jesus Christ faced and experienced, shows how suffering is experienced undeservingly, however, the triumph that Jesus Christ had, by His death on the cross and His resurrection gives us the hope that evil will one day be completely done away with.
(READ Job 30:26; Jeremiah 12:1; 13:22; Malachi 2:17; Psalms 10:1; 22:1; Matthew 27:46; )
MONDAY; Job had evil befall him and he sought to know why from God. The Lord’s response to him makes it clear that there is a lot that Job did not know and he wouldn’t know since it is only God who is existent even before the foundation of the world. Likewise, we are called to have humility as we acknowledge the fact that a lot happens in this world without any of our knowledge.
(READ Job 38:1-12; 43:3)
TUESDAY; Furthermore into trying to understand the problem of evil, we should acknowledge that God’s ways are not our ways. The fact that we do not know the reasons why God allows some things to happen does not nullify the fact that He has good reasons for the same. We are encouraged to hold onto the goodness of God which has been revealed to us in many ways. In addition, we may wonder about the unfairness brought by evil, but when we behold the sanctuary as seen in Psalms 73, we see how just and righteous of a judge, God is, and we are assured of justice and judgement that He will execute at the opportune time.
(READ Isaiah 55:8&9; Psalms 73 )
WEDNESDAY; Given the fact that we were created by God from a place of love, so did God gift man with free-will. God intended free-will to be used for good reasons. God’s design of happiness is the happiness of being freely and voluntarily united to Him and to each other.
However, this free-will was misused, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit, and the results of this turned this world into one of evil, suffering and death. Furthermore, with us today, we still have the same gift of free will that God has blessed us with, and we exercise it each day.
(READ Genesis 2:16&17; Deuteronomy 7:12&13; Joshua 24:14&15; Psalms 81:11-14; Isaiah 66:4)
THURSDAY; Satan’s deceptive powers caused the earth to be filled with gloom because God had been misapprehended. In the quest to break these powers, God cannot use force because force is contrary to His government’s principles.
God allows evil for a time because excluding it entirely and prematurely, would deny us the chance to love Him freely while having trust in Him. God desires only the service of love, at free will, for love cannot be commanded or won by force. God, being all-knowing, the Scripture calls us to have faith in Jesus Christ, resting assured that today’s suffering cannot be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.
(READ Romans 8:18; Revelation 21:3&4)
FRIDAY; God did not destroy Satan immediately because the people were unprepared to comprehend the nature or the consequences of sin, and the immediate destruction of the devil could not allow the people to see the justice of God. They would obey God out of fear and not love. In addition, Satan’s rebellion is to be a lesson of the penalty of disobedience to God, preventing the holy beings from being deceived as to the nature of transgression, to save them from committing sin, suffering and its penalty.
(READ “Why Was Sin Permitted?” pp 33-43 in Patriarchs and Prophets by Ellen G White)
CAPTIONS:
SUNDAY; “How long, O Lord?”
MONDAY; “There are many things we do not know”
TUESDAY; The sceptical theist
WEDNESDAY; The free-will defence
THURSDAY; Love and evil?
FRIDAY; Further thought
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS;
- Have you ever felt somewhat like Job? Have you ever been tempted to think that there could not possibly be a good explanation for the suffering you or your loved ones have experienced? How does Job’s final realisation that he “uttered what” he “did not understand”(Job 42:3,NKJV) shed light on the position we are in relative to our own questions?
- In difficult times, how can you move from approaching the problem of evil to suffering with hope?
- Think about how little we know about anything. Why, then, should we learn to live with unanswered questions about the most difficult of subjects: evil and suffering?
