Your prayers help wage the battle
3rd of a 5-part teaching series
by Barb Kugle
Is God, in His sovereignty, the author of evil?
It’s an appropriate question to tackle as a praying Christian, for the insights you gain from your investigation will not only establish, and possibly reset, your worldview – but they will also aid you in properly directing your intercessions against the evil that persists in this nation and the world.
God’s role
God Himself declared that everything He created was “very good.”(Genesis 1:31) Yet in Isaiah 45:7, He also declared, “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.” The King James Version uses “evil” rather than “calamity,” but the word actually means “disaster.” So, yes, God is the author of life (light), death (darkness), prosperity and disaster.
But if the following verses are true, then God cannot possibly be the author of evil:
- “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (I John 1:5)
- “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.” (James 1:13)
- “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” (Deuteronomy 32:4)
God does have a hand in both natural and moral evil, whether you use the word “decreed,” “ordained,” “allowed,” “willed” or “intended.” He does not sit around passively letting bad things happen, then step in to do damage control. Yet He does permit evil agents to accomplish an eternal purpose.
The most profound act of evil described in the Bible is the conspiracy to murder the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet early in His ministry, His Father in Heaven thwarted many attempts on His life by evil agents because His “time had not yet come.” God perfectly executed His plan for man’s redemption according to a preordained timetable established before the foundations of the world…long before the first sin was perpetrated. According to the law, the trial and crucifixion should have taken several days, but God used the Pharisees evil intentions and their own impatience to manipulate events to fit in His timetable.
Sin and evil examined
Technically, sin and evil are not things that can be created. Darkness is simply the lack of light. When God created the light, sun, moon, and stars, He dispelled the darkness. He did create Satan to be sinless and perfect in every way, according to Ezekiel’s imagery of the King of Tyre taken from the biblical account of creation (Ezekiel 28:11-19). But because of pride, Satan, the embodiment of evil, was cast to Earth.
Sin is defined as a lack of moral perfection, and every human falls short of it. When sin entered the world, pain, disease, stress, death, calamity, and all manner of bad things quickly followed.
Prayer in the midst of evil
As future events unfold, you will see evil abound. Fear not! God is still sovereign over every evil intention, right up through Antichrist’s terrible reign…all according to God’s preordained timetable. Perhaps you were born for just such a time as this? What an awesome privilege it is to be chosen by the Creator of Heaven and Earth to be an intercessor against evil forces in today’s world. Remember that:
- Prayer is a process
- The practice of prayer deepens your dependence on God (Psalm 73:25-26).
- Jesus has given you the power to pray against evil (Matthew 6:13, Luke 9:1), so take a persistent stand against it (Ephesians 6:13-17).
For further study:
In the following passages, who or what were the agents of evil? How did God use them, and what was His purpose? Be sure to read and study them in context:
- Genesis 50:20
- I Kings 22:23
- Isaiah 63:17-64:2
- Psalm 105:25-45
- Isaiah 19:2-4
- Lamentations 2:6
- Acts 4:27-28
Barb Kugle is a freelance writer and author who has a deep passion for prayer and for repentance and revival in the nation. A member of The Presidential Prayer Team’s devotional writing team, Barb lives in southern Colorado.