Why -2

The prophet Jeremiah asked a very important question – “Why?”
           If you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things happened to me?’
          Because of the magnitude of your iniquity, your skirts have been
         removed, and your heels have been exposed.                                             -Jeremiah 13:22 KJV
 
Jeremiah was inspired to ask and answer this question directly: ‘Why have these things (bad) happened to me?’ The answer was: “for the magnitude (greatness) of thine iniquity.” The “iniquity”, i.e.sin was the reason for the troubles. The question is, can we extrapolate the ‘reasoning’ of Jeremiah 13:22 to all evil? I argue…YES!
  First, in addition to His other attributes like knowledge, understanding, wisdom, power, and Creator, God is sovereign* which means He must also possess responsibility for everything that happens in allowing both good and evil. However, because God is responsible for everything does not mean He ‘does’ everything!! Remember, God is perfect(Deut32:4) and as such, is righteous, existing without evil/sin (2Cor5:21;Ps92:15) and therefore cannot do evil!** On the other hand, Satan acts to kill, steal, and destroy (Jn10:10). Therefore, God does good (Ps119:68; Ps136), and Satan does evil (Jn10:10; 2Cor2:11) by inspiring man, to whom God gave free will to choose evil.  
   Second, God is rational, answering the prayers of His people, and revealing Himself, i.e.His omniscience to His people(Jn16:15). For example, regarding evil, Solomon says,
“Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, so a curse without cause does not alight (Prov. 26:2).
 The phrase “the curse causeless does not come” (KJV) teaches bad things or evil does not occur apart from a reason. In addition, Elihu--whom God does not condemn in the book of Job--echoes this truth in Job 37:23: “The Almighty—we cannot find Him; He is exalted in power, And He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness.”
  Jesus also confirms the fact that a reason always exists for evil/suffering/pain in John11:4- ““This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.””
  Moses is yet another witness establishing the truth that reasons exist for both good and evil in Deuteronomy 28. For example,
The Good: “..’IF’ thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God,(28:1)” “…all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee (28:2)”
The Evil: “But ‘IF’ you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you” (28:15)
 And finally, Paul summarizes and confirms this truth in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”
  Within the truth of God’s sovereignty ‘someone’ or ‘something’ has to be responsible for anything that occurs in life. If everything that occurs in life is God’s will, then Satan exists without purpose and blame…and obviously, therefore, no reason exists for a Christian to need to pray! Can God answer prayer for something against His will? No!*** On the contrary, He only answers prayer according to His will (1Jn5:14).
  Furthermore, why is there even an admonition to resist the devil (James 4:7) if every experience is God’s will? If we have no control in the bad things that happen in life, no reason exists to resist the bad? What’s more, how can one even know if something is bad if everything is labeled as God’s will?!?!
   On the other hand, if you cannot discern whether something is from God or the devil, ‘never’ blame God for a negative, painful, or evil experience! See Job as an example! And what’s more, when in a difficult place please don’t blurt out what I consider one of the several common pseudo-spiritual statements: ‘May God’s will be done!’ While it is true that God is sovereign, but to translate God’s sovereignty into ‘everything that happens is God’s will’ is not only false…but blasphemy!
  Another super religious statement used by Christians in times of sickness is “God is trying to teach you something.” While there is a partial truth in this statement---because God can ‘use’ anything—either good or bad--to teach you! Two quick points pertain: 1.The Biblical method God uses to teach His own is the Holy Spirit (Jn14:26; Jn16:13-15;1Jn2;27), Who is the teacher(1Jn2:27)…not sickness and disease!  And 2., why pray for healing, if you choose to wrongfully believe it is “God’s will” for you to be sick to teach you “something?” And what’s worse, why go to the doctor, if you actually believe God is trying to teach you something…in the sickness?
   A final pseudo-religious statement used in painful and difficult situations by those who incorrectly conclude everything is God’s will: ‘God permitted it!!’ While it is true that God does permit things--including bad things, i.e.evil things--to happen because He is God, and is ultimately responsible for everything that happens…yet that does not mean that God is doing the bad things!! Remember, the absolute truth is God cannot do evil!**** Therefore, just a moment of Holy Spirit-guided thought (Eph1:17,18) unveils the error in the following interpretation: ‘Because God is sovereign, when a bad thing happens means God permits it, therefore it has to be good because God is good!’
  On the contrary, this theology is false because three parties are necessary in the word “permit”:
1.One giving permission,
2.One doing the thing permitted
3.One upon whom the action is done.
 
  The one permitting an action must permit the one doing that action.  Therefore, the one permitting an act cannot logically be the same individual doing the action. Both the one permitting an act and the one doing that act, also cannot be the one upon whom an act is done. For example, if I (1) permit my dog (2) to bite you (3), then I(1) am giving permission, the dog(2) is doing the biting, and you(3) are being bitten! 
  As the statement: “God permits it” relates to my point in this tidbit, the question that now demands an answer is if God (1) gives His permission for a bad thing to happen to you; and I (2) am the one upon whom the bad thing happens; there yet remains one slot left to fill—which is the one actually perpetrating the bad thing on me! Who is that being? 
 
I submit that the being doing the evil is Satan!!!
  “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices” -2Cor2:11
 
Pastor Derrick Jackson
 
*Absolute Ruler, or ‘only’ sovereign or only potentate (1Tim6:15)
**however, God can ‘use’ evil (Rom8:28) to bring about good. God creates the ‘capacity’ for evil(Is45:7)---but He does not do evil; commit evil; or commit sin.
***However, in judgment---for sin---He can! For example, after Israel came out of Egypt, God answered their prayer for meat…but God accompanied that prayer with judgment! Yet, we are not referring to the wrath of God in judgment in this tidbit!
****Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. -Jms1:13. If God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone with evil—how can He do evil?!?!