God Does Well Even When He Allows Horrible Things

Although sin rejects the goodness of God, and evil corrupts and opposes it, God’s goodness remains such that our lives, though degraded, are not destroyed or dissolved. The Bible consistently affirms that human sin does not mean that all is lost or that everything becomes wholly evil. Despite pervasive wickedness, God’s goodness continues, prevails, and ultimately wins. Here is Augustine:

‘Nothing … happens unless the Omnipotent wills it to happen. He either allows it to happen or he actually causes it to happen. Nor should we doubt that God does well, even when he allows whatever happens ill to happen. For he allows it only through a just judgment — and surely all that is just is good. Therefore, although evil, in so far as it is evil, is not good, still it is a good thing that not only good things exist but evil as well. For if it were not good that evil things exist, they would certainly not be allowed to exist by the Omnipotent Good, for whom it is undoubtedly as easy not to allow to exist what he does not will, as it is for him to do what he does will.’¹Augustine, Enchiridion, 24.95-96; Outler ed., 395.

Augustine’s point is not that evil is good in itself. Evil remains the rebellious, God-hating and therefore good-opposing contradiction of God and his goodness. Rather, his claim is that God, in his loving sovereignty, uses and governs even evil to produce good, in us, his sons and daughters in Christ. God does not endorse evil; he overrules it. He bends its intent and redirects its effects so that it contributes, ultimately, to the good of his people in Christ. This also bears on the inseparable relationship between God’s goodness, justice, and power. As Augustine further insists, God is rightly called Almighty because nothing can frustrate his purposes: ‘he is called Almighty for no other reason than that he can do whatsoever he wants and because the efficacy of his omnipotent will is not impeded by the will of any creature.’²Augustine, Enchiridion, 24.95-96; Outler ed., 395. Accordingly, sin and evil possess no independent sovereignty. Rather, ‘he foresees sins in advance, and wills to permit them; and as they are seen beforehand, he destines them to some universal or particular good, whether for a display of his mercy or justice, or for some other good.’³Leiden Synopsis, Disputation 11; 107. Evil remains truly evil, yet it is never ultimate. God’s goodness stands over it, works through it, and finally overcomes it.

Fundamental to Christian Life

It is neither possible nor necessary for us to fully understand the workings of God’s providence. ‘The reason … providence is mysterious lies in the fact that it brings together God’s utter sovereignty and his unqualified goodness. On the one hand, God truly reigns … But the same Bible that affirms God’s sovereignty insists equally on God’s goodness: he reigns providentially.’⁴D. A. Carson, ‘Foreword’, in Melvin Tinker, Intended for Good: The Providence of God (IVP, 2021), 9-10. Even when we cannot perceive it — indeed, even when circumstances seem to suggest the opposite — God in his good providence is actively reigning to restrain, direct, and ultimately overthrow evil. Faith in providence, therefore, is not merely belief in divine power, but trust in divine goodness. Such trust is ‘in certain ways central to the conduct of the Christian life. It means that we are able to live in the assurance that God is present and active in our lives … We can pray, knowing that God hears and acts upon our prayers. We can face danger, knowing that he is not unaware and uninvolved.’⁵Erickson, Christian Theology, 413.

So, the Christian may rely on God’s protection (John 10:27-30), rest in Christ’s love (Rom 8:35-39), and expect a path through every type of ordeal (Matt 24:15-31; Phil 4:11-13; 1 Peter 1:6-7; 4:12-13; Luke 22:42-43). God may be trusted ‘not only in those situations where his goodness is obvious, but when sin and evil seem to be gaining the upper hand. While God never causes sin, he is Lord over it, and it can progress no further than his wisdom and goodness allow.’⁶Michael Horton, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (Zondervan, 2011), 312. This personal confidence guards the believer against excessive worry and fear (Psa 46:1-3; 91:5-6, 11; Matt 6:25-30; 10:28). Such assurance is not naïve or superficial. Here is Calvin, with unflinching realism:

‘Innumerable are the evils that beset human life; innumerable, too the deaths that threaten it. … [W]herever you turn, all things around you are hardly to be trusted but also openly menace, and seem to threaten immediate death. … Yet, when that light of divine providence has once shone upon a godly man, he is then relieved and set free not only from extreme anxiety and fear that were pressing him before, but from every care. … His solace, I say, is to know that his Heavenly Father so holds all things in his power, so rules by his authority and will, so governs by his wisdom, that nothing can befall except he determine it.’⁷Calvin, Institutes, 1.17.10-11; Battles ed., 223-224. In the light of God’s providence, then, the Christian does not deny the dangers and sufferings of life, but faces them with a deeper assurance: that behind and beyond them stands the wise, powerful, and good governance of God.

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• 1
  Augustine, Enchiridion, 24.95-96; Outler ed., 395.
• 2
  Augustine, Enchiridion, 24.95-96; Outler ed., 395.
• 3
  Leiden Synopsis, Disputation 11; 107.
• 4
  D. A. Carson, ‘Foreword’, in Melvin Tinker, Intended for Good: The Providence of God (IVP, 2021), 9-10.
• 5
  Erickson, Christian Theology, 413.
• 6
  Michael Horton, The Christian Faith: A Systematic Theology for Pilgrims on the Way (Zondervan, 2011), 312.
• 7
  Calvin, Institutes, 1.17.10-11; Battles ed., 223-224.