Wednesday: God Does Not Afflict Willingly
Daily Lesson for Wednesday 29th of January 2025
Throughout the Bible, God repeatedly displays His passion in favor of the downtrodden and the oppressed and His corresponding righteous indignation against the victimizers and oppressors. If there were no evil, God would not be angry. His anger is only and always against that which harms His creation.
According to Lamentations 3:32-33, God does not afflict willingly (literally, God does not afflict “from His heart”). He does not want to bring judgment against evildoers, but love finally requires justice.
This truth is exemplified in how long God continued to forgive His people and repeatedly grant them opportunities to repent and be reconciled to Him. Again and again, through the prophets, God called out to His people, but they refused to listen (see Jeremiah 35:14-17, Psalms 81:11-14).
Read Ezra 5:12 and compare it with Jeremiah 51:24-25,44. What does this explain about the judgment that came upon Jerusalem via the Babylonians? (See also 2 Chronicles 36:16.)
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According to Ezra 5:1-17, after the people persistently and unrepentantly provoked God to anger, He eventually withdrew and “gave” the people “ ‘into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon’ ” (Ezra 5:12, NKJV). But God did so only after there was “no remedy” (2 Chronicles 36:16), and God later judged Babylon for the excessive devastation it inflicted upon Judah (Jeremiah 51:24-25,44; compare with Zechariah 1:15).
Many other judgments that Scripture describes as brought about by God are explained as instances in which God “gives” the people over to their enemies (Judges 2:13-14; Psalms 106:41-42), in accordance with the people’s decisions to forsake the Lord and serve the “gods” of the nations (Judges 10:6-16, Deuteronomy 29:24-26). God’s anger against evil, which will finally culminate in the eradication of all evil once and for all, stems from His love for all and from His desire for the final good of the universe, which itself has a stake in the whole question of sin and rebellion and evil.
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How does the fact that God does not want to bring judgment against anyone affect your understanding of divine anger and wrath? If God is slow to anger, should we not be more patient and long-suffering with those around us? How can we do so while also protecting and caring for the victims of wrongdoing? |
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The Bible says that sometime God causes or allows afflictions. How does the Bible explain what sounds like against the nature of God, that is love? How can a loving God cause suffering to His creation? How do we reconcile this paradox?
From the onset, I want to state that God is sovereign, and He works all things according to His divine wisdom which surpasses human understanding (Romans 11:33-34). Still, a deficit of understanding remains even with the Bible’s explanation (1 Corinthians 13:12). In the Bible God has declared that He is a sovereign God. Nothing that happens is outside his control and sovereignty.
1) Isaiah 45:7: "I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things."
2) Job 1:21: Job acknowledges, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."
3) Lamentations 3:37-38: "Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?"
In the Bible, it is apparent that God allows or causes affliction as a tool for correction, discipline, purification, and warning. God chastises those whom He loves (Hebrews 12:6-7, Proverbs 3:11-12, Psalms 119:71). God only uses afflictions out of love. As fire is used to refine precious gold, so God uses afflictions to refine his most precious possession (mankind).
In his divine wisdom, God uses or allows affliction as a means to reveal His glory (John 9:2-3, Exodus 9:16, Romans 8:28). The Bible teaches that affliction can produce spiritual growth and change of character for the purpose of salvation (Romans 5:3-4). Many times, the afflicted will not understand why the affliction, but God’s divine plan and greatness must be accomplished.
Sin is the root cause of a multitude of afflictions. God uses or allows afflictions to teach repentance or magnify the deadly consequences of sin (Genesis 3:16-19, Romans 1:24-26). Therefore, afflictions act as reminders of the need for redemption.
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" - James 1:2-4
Omwenga,
If what you say is true, then you have called what is evil, good.
God does not cause evil in order to bring good things from them, that is sick. And that God cannot be trusted. Would you trust someone who orchestrated affliction in your life, and then they tell you it was for your own good?? Would you do that to your child or spouse or close friend? I hope not!
It is in spite of the evil in this world caused by man's free will choice to rebel against God's will that He is able to bring beauty from the ashes. God does not work WITH evil as if they are on the same team. This is how you have described God when you say, "...sometime God CAUSES or allows afflictions." Or you misinterpret Is. 45:7, and Job 1:21 to paint God as some Deity in the background manipulating events, because He is "Sovereign."
Isaiah is NOT saying that God causes darkness and disasters, that is anti-God, who is a Creator of Good, only (James 1:17). 1 John 1:5 says that in Him (God) there is NO darkness! So, He cannot create what has no part in Him.
And Job was WRONG, God did not take anything away from Him. Read the account again, it was Satan who brought the evil and took his family and possessions away NOT God.
If Christ is the perfect revelation of the Father, please show me in Christ's life where He caused evil, or brought affliction on someone to teach them a lesson. Or did He go around, "doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the DEVIL; for God was with him?" Acts 10:38.
God is reversing the curse, He is not causing the curse and fixing it so He can get the credit and praise.
In all of this discussion, there is an elephant in the room that we seldom address. Let me give a bit of a back story.
Last year Carmel and I read the Bible through out loud for our evening worships. Actually, Carmel used her own dulcimer-toned voice when it was her turn and I used an audio Bible when it was my turn. Carmel claims that my reading voice is boring and sends her to sleep.
It was a great exercise and we came to know many passages of the Bible that we seldom read. The really hard part for us was to read the passages in Joshua and Judges which was essentially a litany of genocide, liberally sprinkled with references to the fact that the Lord had commanded them and was with them. The numbers killed are staggering.
The irony was that while we were reading this, modern Israel and Hamas, were going at it hammer and tongs killing one another in episode 2 of taking possession of the land.
We don't get many sermons from these chapters in Joshua and Judges. And if we do, we cherry-pick the little bits where we can learn a spiritual lesson (Achan and Ai for example).
These chapters seem to be at odds with the notion of a long-suffering, patient, not-willing-that-anyone-should-perish God we promote in our modern Christianity.
I know we have our own explanation that these people were all so depraved their time was up and God wanted them destroyed. But, every man, woman, and child? And in many cases, their animals as well?
The thought has occurred to me that the Israelites justified their actions by claiming that God had told them to do this. Knowing human nature and the way some modern wars are justified, this idea is quite possible. However, if we entertain it we may need to think about the nature of inspiration in some parts of the Bible.
I admit I do not know the answer, and maybe there is no easy answer. My atheist friends who are well-versed in scripture bring this argument up often when discussions about the violence in the Koran have been foisted into the discussion. My answer to them is that the Bible is a record of people learning about God in an environment where good and evil were not as carefully separated in their minds as we do today. My friends are willing to consider that argument.
I bring this topic into the discussion because, in the modern replay of the "possession of the land", the justification for this war often gets a Christian validation that I find disturbing.
Maurice,
You have well laid out the cognitive dissonance that much of Christianity exists in and are “uncomfortably comfortable” in it. If anyone exercising even the smallest amount integrity looks at the revelation of God as perfectly presented by Jesus Christ in His life on earth (Heb. 1:1-3), and glances at the OT with its fire-breathing, murder-for-hire, slave endorsing God, they MUST conclude that either these two individuals are NOT the same and we need to convert to Judaism and continue waiting for the Messiah, or we have misinterpreted the OT accounts and need to revisit them through the lens of the ONLY One who knows the Father (Matt. 11:27), and can therefore reveal Him.
So long we have read the OT with the veil of human reasoning tainted with our cultural practices and fallen justice system, and we have placed our own image on God to satisfy our darkened minds.
2 Cor. 3:13 – 16
13 And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 15 But even UNTO THIS DAY, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
I'm not willing to go where you're going and support the idea that the Israelites justified the wars without God's true approval. I've heard people suggest that, but ultimately such an approach makes us arbitrators over scripture and that is dangerous.
But yes, these accounts are challenging. I've had my moments where I've really struggled with these commands of God. They do seem to contradict what we see in the New Testament.
For me the things that help me are these:
1. God gave the nations 400 years probation to change and even we could say the 40 years in the wilderness while they would have heard of God's wonders for Israel in the desert. They had had ample opportunity to repent
2. God did not destroy Rahab and the Gibeonites and if these Canaanite cities had humbly submitted to God, I believe He would have done the same for all of them.
3. We see with the earlier situations with Sihon and Og that the nations were quite willing to wipe out Israel. There could have been no coexistance. And if they wiped out Israel, how could the Messiah come? God was looking at the long-term solution.
As for the children and the animals, yes, it's a hard thing to accept. But these nations were willing to sacrifice their children in the fire as offerings, so was being killed quickly in a battle so much worse? I also am open to the possibility that they will be saved one day.
And animals have suffered for all of human history and who knows how much abuse of animals existed in that society. Many perished in the flood too. They have suffered for our sins, but Romans 8:19-21 promises that Jesus brings hope for all creatures, including the animals.
The Biblical world was also highly collectivist and understood corporate guilt. We don't think that way in Western socities. All the same, children suffer continuously because of the choices their parents and care-givers make. So there's always some element of this.
I just have to trust that God has His reasons that will be explained to us. Jesus reveals His goodness and I can trust what's hard.
"If there were no evil, God would not be angry. His anger is always and only against that which harms His creation." I agree with this statement, but it is crucial to understand the reason behind His ‘anger’. It is lawlessness that provokes God, but not merely the lawlessness of humanity — it is the rebellion of the one who first defied God’s Law.
We often say that God hates the sin but loves the sinner. But what distinguishes the two? Is it not that sin originates from the 'lawless one', while the sinner is the one deceived by him? Does the one who willingly returns to sin receive endless pardons? When God withdraws His hand of Mercy, evil is allowed to gain strength — and He responds according to His sovereign decision based on His Love and the redemption of mankind.
We are caught in a spiritual war between the forces of good and evil – God’s Love and the evil one’s lawlessness. Every foothold the enemy gains in our lives, he exploits to the fullest, but God fights for us. God has done — and will continue to do — everything in His power to protect humanity in this battle. But He does so on His terms — for only He is perfect and all-knowing.
Our Creator God, our heavenly Father, does not allow sin to prevail because of Who He IS — the God of Love and Righteousness, always acting according to His Truth and Light. God's Grace and man's faith empowered by His Holy Spirit have entered the battlefield; weapons the adversary cannot overcome. God's adversary knows that his day of judgement is near, and this is what all mankind must also realize. Sin will be judged and man will be weight in the balance - Job 31:6; Daniel 5:27; Psalm 62:9. God carefully examines every aspect of our character - 'works and decissions' made - and renders His verdict. Psalm 62:12; Proverbs 24:12; Romans 2:6; Revelation 22:11-13.
Wrath and anger are human feelings. I'm not sure if God can feel this way. One thing I'm sure of is that God is Love, perfect, and just. It is tough to understand why sometimes terrible things happen on this planet.
Many people struggle with the idea of a loving and just God allowing suffering and tragedy. If God is perfect, does He experience human emotions like wrath and anger? Some religious perspectives suggest that God's "wrath" isn't like human anger, which is often irrational or emotional, but rather a response to injustice, evil, or disobedience—a manifestation of His justice and holiness.
The mystery of suffering is one of the hardest things to understand. Some believe it's a test of faith, a result of free will, or part of a greater plan beyond human comprehension. Others find comfort in the idea that God is present even in suffering, working to bring good out of pain.