I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. Isaiah 45:7
As we watch the mutilated bodies of children pulled from the rubble of the Middle East, we might wonder why God allows the evil of war. The suffering of innocents is probably the most leaned upon crutch for infidelity to God. To many minds, Isaiah 45:7 is a source of perplexity. Because of this, some open the door to doubts suggested by the evil one. Yet by correctly understanding this passage, we may come to a greater appreciation of the benevolent intervention of our heavenly Father in human affairs.
While we may righty define evil as immorality and vice, ‘evil’ in Scripture can also mean something undesirable, such as ‘an evil disease’ (Psalm 41:8). In the verse under examination, evil is juxtaposed with peace. Since the opposite of peace is war – a great evil – God is simply declaring that He ultimately allows for war or peace, hardship or prosperity.
If God is the ultimate arbiter on the state of world affairs, why then isn’t there perpetual peace and prosperity in every land? Well, if the men of every land would obey God’s law, there no doubt would be. But since iniquity abounds, God allows men to forward their wicked designs, and war breaks out. In this sense, God ‘creates evil’. He does not do this to get back at humanity, but out of benevolence for His children. God allows calamities to fall and innocents to suffer so that men might see the results of their sin, so ‘that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him’ (Act 17:27).
The weatherman may point to ‘El Niño’ as the cause of drought and bushfire. It may be more accurate to say that chemtrails are the cause of what is happening. Yet above the lies and machinations of evil men, we are to recognise God’s wrath against sin to be the ultimate reason for the curses abounding on this Earth. It is written that God turns ‘a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein’ (Psalm 107:34).
So when you hear of wars and rumours of wars, ‘see that ye be not troubled’ (Matthew 24:6). As the world sinks deeper into sin, calamity is only going to become more severe and closer to home. At this, the rebellious will blaspheme the name of God, never stopping to question that it is the result of their own doing. But the wise know that it is through the judgments afflicting the Earth that men will learn righteousness, and are won for heaven, as it is written:
With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Isaiah 26:9
Christopher Sparks