How do you cope with evil? The book of Job is the classic treatment of undeserved suffering in the Bible. In chapter one Job is described as blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. Yet a combination of natural disaster and human depravity devastates his life. The Sabeans attacked and carried off his livestock. Lightning burned up his sheep. Chaldeans carried off his camels. A tornado killed all his children. Through these catastrophic, cumulative events, Job wrestles with doubt about the integrity, goodness and wisdom of God.
When suffering comes we ask, “Why me? Why this? Why now? Why doesn’t God protect me? What have I done to deserve this? What sort of God allows this to happen? How can my faith help me when evil seems to triumph?
- Faith does not blame God for evil.
Creation necessitates the possibility of evil. The element of autonomy and freedom inherent in creation allows good and love to exist by choice. It also allows evil to exist. The court of heaven is described as including Satan as an angel who seeks to provoke sin against God. This same adversarial role is found in the account of the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. Despite attempts to explain evil in purely psychological or sociological terms there is still the need to come to terms with it supernatural character.
Natural calamity, and the suffering brought upon us by human evil, reminds us that Satan finds tools to do his work. The unredeemed human heart is capable of evil beyond our imagination. Oswald Chambers writes,
“Satan uses the problems of this life to slander God’s character; he tries to make us think that all the calamities and miseries and wrongs spring from God.”
Job worshipped God even though “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.” He did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.
- Faith finds protection against evil.
Satan tries to find our point of vulnerability, the chink in our armor. He attacked Job’s family and his fortune. Faith is tested by the loss of our earthly support and expectations. Satan sees how much we rely upon possessions, family, and our work. By taking these away he tries to break down our identity. When this happens, how can we protect ourselves against despair and defeat?
This is where we need the armor of God. We need to take up the shield of faith with which we can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. (Ephesians 6:11-18) St. Patrick, in the hymn that bears his name, sings about the breastplate of faith by which Christians need to protect themselves each day. The picture is that if putting on the garments of the Christian Gospel:
“I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity….
The power of God to hold and lead, his eye to watch,
his might to stay, his ear to hearken, to my need;
the wisdom of my God to teach, his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
the word of God to give me speech, his heavenly host to be my guard.”
Our protection in times of suffering is our identity in Christ. As we clothe ourselves with the presence of Christ, we can resist evil. Martin Luther was once asked how he overcame temptation.
“Well, when Satan knocks at the door of my heart for admittance, the Lord Jesus answers. When Satan asks, ‘Does Martin Luther live here?’ the Lord Jesus replies, ‘He used to, but he has moved out. I live here now.’”
- Faith celebrates the victory of God over evil.
Corrie ten Boom once said,
“There are two great forces at work in the world today: the unlimited power of God and the limited power of Satan.”
God sets limits to evil. Satan is allowed only so much power over Job. When we are suffering it is hard to believe that the devil is on a short leash, and that God has defeated him. Yet that is the Gospel reality.
St. John writes, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 John 3:8) St. Paul writes that Jesus, “having disarmed the spiritual powers and authorities, made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2:15)
While Satan’s power is limited now, we are told that one day, at the end of time, it will be totally destroyed. (Revelation 20)
The book of Revelation records a loud voice speaking from heaven:
“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God, day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” (Rev.12:10,11)
The words Jesus taught us to pray are powerful now, and will, one day, be completely answered: “deliver us from evil” – which literally means “deliver us from the evil one.”
(SOUL FOOD Volume 1, Ted Schroder, p.74)
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