As soon as Moses and Aaron asked Pharaoh to let the people go, Pharaoh made life even harder for Israel. What did Moses do? He blamed God and actually accused him of causing the evil and not keeping his promise (Ex 5:22-23). If I hadn’t already read the account, I would have expected God to punish Moses on the spot. But what does that reveal about me? It reveals that in a way, I agree with Moses. My expectations of God fit with his accusation. But God’s grace extends even when we don’t realize how sinful we really are. The Lord didn’t even rebuke Moses. Instead, he just kept on with his plan and assured Moses of who he is and what he will do.
When we have the assurance of who God is and of his nature, we can trust him. Moses was new at understanding God and needed this assurance that even though this situation appeared evil to him, God wasn’t done. What he called evil was what God used to strengthen Israel and prepare them for the future.
When the rich young man came to Jesus and asked him what good deeds he had to do to have eternal life, Jesus replied with an interesting question. He wanted to know why the man asked Jesus about what was good and stated that there is only one who is good. In Mark 10:17, the man addressed Jesus as “Good Teacher.” Jesus answered that the only one who is good is God (Mark 10:18).
When we start talking about what God does and whether or not he does evil, we need to remember these fundamentals about God. God is good and he is the only one that is 100% good. What appears to be evil that comes from God is more often us not getting what we want when we want and in the way we want. It shows our limited knowledge of God and the way he works. Our earthly existence is riddled with sin by us and against us. These are not God’s fault. God knew Pharaoh’s heart and knew exactly what he would do. He knew the rich young man’s heart and what he needed. Like him, we need to understand we are not good and fall short of God’s goodness by so much that it isn’t even measurable.
What appeared to be the most horrific evil of all time, the crucifixion of Jesus by sinful men, turned out to be God’s greatest expression of good for us. It was the only way we could have eternal life because we will never be good enough. Being God, Jesus was the only one who could die for our sins in our place. There is the God we can trust completely.
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