Good vs Evil

In Larry Niven's book, Ringworld, we meet a girl named Teela Brown. As the book unfolds, it turns out that Teela Brown has been selected out of all human beings to go on a mission to explore the Ringworld. Why was she selected? Because the ones that started the expedition believed that she was bred to be lucky. Most of the rest of the expeditionary group doubts the possibility, including Teela. Well, as it turns out, they crash on the Ringworld, putting to rest the notion that Teela is lucky. But then they experience something that precisely proves otherwise. Teela survives a certain death by passing out and hitting the right buttons that save her. Pure luck. So the group mulls over how it is that she could be both lucky and stranded on this Ringworld. And they conclude that it is lucky for Teela to be here, apparently, even if it isn't lucky for anyone else. That is, whatever happens to Teela, whether or not it looks good, turns out to be good. Because she is lucky.

Nice story ... and vaguely biblical. We read, "We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." (Rom 8:28) In case you missed it, that's essentially the same thing. Although not all things that occur are pleasant and obvious, for those who love God He causes all things to work together for good. No, not because we're lucky; because He has a purpose.

There is this constant struggle in the world of skeptics that bleeds into the world of believers about how there can be a good God if there is evil. They think, somehow, that this negates God. We struggle with it as believers. They don't appear to notice that if there is no God, "good" is irrelevant. "Evil" becomes purely relative and personally defined. Purpose, hope, meaning ... all vanish in the same poof of logic that took God out of the equation. "No God" means no good at all in the final analysis. (This eliminates the original question, right? There is no answer to the question of evil because evil doesn't exist.) But even believers scratch their heads about this whole "How can a good God allow evil?" question.

And, yet, even a Larry Niven can see it. We know that all that glitters isn't gold. We can surely also see that all that is unpleasant isn't certainly bad. That is, it is entirely within the realm of reason to be able to use the unpleasant, even the awful, as a tool to produce good. And it is obvious that an Omnipotent God would be capable of it. Paul says God does it. Joseph was sure of it (Gen 50:20). Scripture affirms that the worst event of history -- the murder of the Son of God -- was predestined by God (Luke 22:22; Acts 2:22-24; Acts 4:24-28), producing the ultimate good for humans -- salvation.

We see that the Bible routinely holds Man's culpability for sin in one hand and God's Sovereignty for good in the other. Well, then, so should we. Excusing bad is not the point. Even finding meaning for it is not the point. What we can do is trust God. We can believe -- because He says it's so -- that God works all things together for good. And we can set our minds and hearts on that solid rock. When the unpleasant occurs, we can either be shaken or we can rest confidently on God at work. When death and pain and evil rear their ugly heads around us, we can be toppled or we can stand on God's faithfulness to do good out of whatever happens. Note, in this, that not only does it turn all the bad stuff into something useful, but also purposeful. Not only can God make use it for good, He does. There is purpose to every blessing and every sorrow and it is good to and for the glory of God.