August 14

Accountability Day. Send me a quick email informing me of where you are at in your journey. Also let me know if you can attend our picnic Monday.... 7:00 pm at my house.

The Problem of Pain and Suffering

Jeremiah 50:44-45 I will chase Babylon from its land in an instant.
Therefore, hear what the Lord has planned against Babylon,
what he has purposed against the land of the Babylonians:
The young of the flock will be dragged away;
he will completely destroy their pasture because of them.

When a nation violates God’s standards there are always consequences. We have seen this with Israel, Judah and today we see it with Babylon. This was a ruthless nation. It lived without regard to the true, living God of the Bible. Once we turn our backs on God, we then must bear the wages of our sins ourselves. This is true for individuals as well as nations. In our verses today the Lord takes responsibility for the judgment of Babylon.

This raises an ethical question. How can a Holy God use pain and suffering as tools in his hands. Some keys in answering this question include:

1. According to the Bible, it is not God's desire that anyone suffer either in this world or in the next.
Genesis 1:31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day. When God created man he made him perfect. He gave us the ability to obey or disobey. Had man obeyed God there would never have been a problem. He would have lived an unending life of fellowship with God and enjoyment of him and his creation. This is what God intended.
Rom 5:12 Sin entered the world through man. The point we must keep in mind is that man is responsible for sin ‑ not God.
John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. God wants us to accept his plan to escape judgment.

2. Much, if not most, of the suffering in the world is directly caused by a free‑will choice of people. The nation of Persia will be the ones who attack and destroy Babylon. This will be a free will act of Cyrus, the king of Persia.

3. Then how can Jeremiah say God planned this? What is God's Role in the Universe?
This brings us to the doctrine of Providence and three aspects of this truth. God is continually involved with all created things in such a way that he:
1. Keeps them existing and maintaining the properties with which he created them (Preservation)
2. Cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do (Concurrence)
3. Directs them to fulfill his purposes (Government)

Let me focus on concurrence Eph 1:11 says God "accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will." Accomplishes indicates that God works or brings about all things according to his own will. No event in our world falls outside of his providence. God's will is so awesome that nothing happens in our world without it being part of his plan….. both good and bad.


Quiz Time: Does God take responsibility for the snow falling on CT this winter? Yes. Job 37:6
Does God cause the grass to grow? Ps 104:14
Does God direct the stars in the heaven? Job 38:12
Does God feed the wild animals? Ps 104:27-29
Does God's will include the sparrows of Stamford? Matt 10:29

Concurrence affirms that God directs, and works through, the distinctive properties of each created thing, so that these things themselves bring about the results that we see.
These events are 100% caused by God and fully 100% caused by the creatures as well.
The divine cause of each event works invisibly, behind the scenes. His plan initiates and purposes everything to his goals. It is amazing to see the extent to which Scripture affirms that God brings about every event in our lives. From rainfall, animals, our daily bread, even the destruction of nations!!!
Here is the shocker.... even evil is used by God to achieve his purposes. The scripture never shows God doing anything that is evil. Scripture never blames God for evil or shows God taking pleasure in evil. Scripture never excuses human beings for the wrong they do. There are no verses indicating, “The Devil made me do it.” For those who remember Laugh In.

But the doctrine of concurrence teaches us that while… man intends evil, and makes wrong choices all the time… God is using even evil to accomplish his perfect will.
Remember Joseph… Genesis 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

I don’t understand how concurrence works but it is clearly reveled. Our challenge is to trust in the goodness of God even when the wheels are falling off the wagon. Here is how I deal with this issue. At birth the human brain weighs, on average, 14 ounces. The maximum size reaches 46 ounces. I think Juan has one of these 46 ounce brains. But that is still slightly less than three pounds. Now there is no way to medically prove this, but the old theory is that we use only about 10% of our capacity. … now we are down to a quarter pounder. And we think… we are going to comprehend how the infinite, uses evil to accomplish his plan. I can’t figure it out. But I can live by faith and trust in a God big enough to permit free will and even use our foolish choices to accomplish his plan.