God is Good and God is Just

“Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the reed-grass grow without water?” (Job 8:11)

Everyone knows how Job was afflicted terribly by the devil to see if Job would deny the Lord if he was stripped of all the blessings of the Lord.  Job’s three friends came to console him but instead accused him of sin. Our Scripture of study are the words of Bildad, one of his friends. He was saying that the rush and reed-grass cannot grow without what they need, mire or water. Therefore, the troubles Job was suffering wouldn’t exist if there was no sin. Then in verse twenty he concludes his argument. “Behold, God will not cast away the innocent, nor will He help the evildoers,” (Job 8:20).

These words and sentiments are of those who do not know God, do not know His Word and judge God by the world standards. And it brings up lots of questions. Does God bring down evil on man? Does God punish the sinner with tragedy? Does tragedy signal that there is sin in our lives? Are Christians immune from tragedy? Right away the evidence seems to indicate that the answers are yes, yes, yes, no. We need to look at each question in two ways, in the time of Job and now.

Does God bring down evil on man? In Job’s time all things good and bad was believed to come from God. But knowledge of God, God’s love and mercy tells us a different story. God is Good. Moses experienced this when the Lord passed over him. “And Jehovah passed by before him and proclaimed, Jehovah! Jehovah God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,” (Exodus 34:6) At that precise time God revealed His goodness to Moses who could not help but cry out his prayer. Jesus testified about the Father’s goodness compared to a natural father. “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him?” (Matthew 7:11) There are other Scriptures about God’s goodness but for the sake of space we will look at these two, one in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament. If God is good, where would the evil He supposedly is to give man come from? If God is good, He doesn’t have evil to give. God cannot give what He doesn’t have. So no, God cannot give man evil things. So where does evil come from? Job’s situation makes it plain that it was the devil who brought the evil upon Job. But we also learn that he cannot do that unless God allows him. In Job’s case, the devil brought an accusation against him. God allowed the devil leeway to show that Job was righteous and would not deny Him regardless if he was blessed or cursed.

Does God punish the sinner with tragedy? Reviewing the previous paragraph, we can say no. God doesn’t bring tragedy into sinners’ lives because He is not the creator of tragedy. He is good. So why do people experience tragedy? The first answer would be it comes from the destroyer. “The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10) But also many times we bring these things on ourselves, by the choices we make and by our careless living.

In the Old Testament, the Lord did punish sin. There was no atonement for sin. Jesus hadn’t been born yet, the Messiah Who would take all sin upon Himself so man wouldn’t suffer the punishment for sin. Punishment for sin may be seen as a tragedy, but it is the righteous payment for sin. Sin is death. It has always been death. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) We see this in David’s life. His family suffered because of his sin. And his son with Bathsheba died because of his sin. (1Samuel 12:1-19) This doesn’t conflict with what we learned about God being good and not having evil to give to man. Sin separates us from God. It leaves us vulnerable to the worse that the devil can do to us. And that is death and destruction. The punishment then in reality is God’s absence, absence of His protection and goodness in our lives. And that is God’s justice. Sin must be punished.

With the work of Jesus on the cross, His suffering, death and resurrection, sin was paid with His death and with His resurrection, we are resurrected to new life. So in this time of mercy, sinners don’t suffer the punishment and death for their sin if they believe on Jesus and receive God’s undeserved gift of salvation. Those who don’t will suffer death.

This brings us to the other question. Does tragedy indicate sin in our lives? We live in an age or dispensation of mercy. God is not punishing sin in this time. He is pouring out his mercy on all mankind and offering the undeserved gift of life through the work of Jesus Christ. But there are tragedies in peoples’ lives. These are caused by the work of the destroyer when we are apart from God and apart from His laws for good living. They are the consequences as mentioned before of wrong choices, wrong words and wrong actions.

The last questioned we posed at the beginning was if Christians are immune from tragedy. And the answer is no. We live in this world which is on the path to destruction. This world is ruled by the destroyer, the devil. Jesus called him the ruler of this world. “I shall no longer speak many things with you, for the ruler of this world comes, and he has nothing in Me.” (John 14:30 and other Scriptures 12:31 & 16:11) Just living in this world makes us susceptible to what is in the world. Jesus told us, “I have spoken these things to you so that you might have peace in Me. In the world you shall have tribulation but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) What do these facts tell us about living in the world? We must stay close to the Lord. And when tragedy strikes us, draw even closer to Him. Jesus has conquered the world. And with Him we will have the victory, come what may. “But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1Corinthians 15:57)

Wow! In review there is great revelation. God is good. But God is just, and sin must be punished. The punishment for sin is death. It’s the complete absence of God in the lives of sinners leaving them open to the destruction of the devil, who is the destroyer. What terror it is to live without the Lord.