Have you ever had bad things happen to you? I have. Did you ever get mad at God for those bad things? I have. Have you ever gotten mad at sin for those bad things? So, this topic of bad things bringing about hope is a difficult subject for me and my guess for almost everyone. So, where do bad things come from? Let us see what we can find out.
The first character that comes to mind for me is Job. You probably know the story but in brief Satan takes away everything from Job and Job does not curse God. So, Satan then harms Job physically but Job still does not curse God even though his wife suggested that he do it and die. The interesting to me is that it was not Satan that initiated the trials upon Job it was God who pointed out Job knowing that Job would withstand the trials that were about to befall him. Job 1:7-8, “The Lord said to Satan, ‘From where have you come?’ Satan answered the Lord and said, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.’ And the Lord said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”’ (ESV)
The more difficult one for me is the story of King Saul. After Saul had sinned mightily against God. God took his crown and gave it to King David. This took place over many of years. God did not immediately strike down Saul and give David the throne. No, He used Saul to train David to Be King. In the process God did something to Saul that is hard for me to comprehend. 1 Samuel 16: 14-16,22-23 says, “Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. And Saul’s servants said to him, ‘Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.’
And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, ‘Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.’ And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.” (ESV)
Again, it says in 1 Samuel 18:10-11, “The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.” (ESV)
Again, it says in 1 Samuel 19:10-11, “Now there was an evil spirit from the Lord on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp with his hand. And Saul tried to [a]pin David to the wall with the spear, but he escaped from Saul’s presence, so that he stuck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.” (NASB)
רָעָה (ra) is the Hebrew word used in these passages and is translated in these ways evil (442), wickedness (59), wicked (25), mischief (21), hurt (20), bad (13), trouble (10), sore (9), affliction (6), ill (5), adversity (4), illfavoured (3), harm (3), naught (3), noisome (2), grievous (2), sad (2),
and miscellaneous (34).
These passages are difficult to understand because God the harmful or evil spirit, depending upon the English translation comes from God. Of the major English translations, The King James Bible, The New International Bible, The Revised Standard Version Bible, The Hew American Standard Bible, The Christian Standard Bible, The New English Translation Bible, The American Standard Version Bible and at least 3 others use evil spirit only the English Standard Version Bible, which uses harmful, and the New King James Version Bible uses distressing do not use evil. When you run across these types of passages you need to look elsewhere in Scripture to interpret them. In the case of Saul. Saul had already lost favor with God because He took matters into his own hands. “Samuel said, ‘What have you done?’ And Saul said, ‘When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, “Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.” So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering., And Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.’” (ESV) 1Samuel 13:11-13 so like in the case of God hardening Pharaoh’s heart the evil spirit already existed in Saul and God caused it to continue.
What makes this most difficult for me is understanding but sheds great light on the subject is James 1:13 “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.” (ESV) In this passage evil the Greek word used is the same Greek word used to translate ra (Hebrew) into the Greek word kakŏs. So, in one place we see that God sends and evil spirit upon Saul but here we see that God cannot not be tempted with evil and therefore is not the direct cause of me being tempted I am. So just like Saul caused his own evil spirit and God took advantage of it and used it for His purposes.
Even through the difficulty in fully understand the passages I find hope in a sovereign God who is in control of everything. I must believe that both good comes from God and He takes advantage of evil to cause things to work for good as well. If God is perfect in all that He does then He is perfect in all that happens. If He can balance the universe perfectly so everything works as it should then He must be completely in control of all things that happen to me. Just like he was in control of what happened to Job, Saul and ultimately Jesus when He was crucified. Job understood who God was and therefore what happened to him was not important.
“Then Job answered the Lord and said:
“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent[a] in dust and ashes.” (ESV) Job 42:1-6
In the case of Saul God preserved David during this time and David continued to be a man after God’s own heart, becoming what might be the greatest earthly King of Israel. We also see the same attitude from Joseph in Genesis 50:19-20, “But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.’” (ESV)
It is clear to me that bad things can bring hope. It brings hope because Jesus holds both life and death in His hands. Knowing that when I respond to it correctly just like these examples in the Old Testament. The only way that these men in the Old Testament could have hope was that they trusted in God and His sovereignty. The only way I can have hope which is brought about by bad things is to believe in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. If you do not know Jesus the true source of hope does not abide in you. Learn how to get the hope you need. Learn how to know Jesus
If you have not read my previous blogs you can find them here.
You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
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