Even in These Evil Times: The Providence of God Must Be Believed

Why does God permit sin if He is able to stop it? 

God permits it because He is able to use it for the fulfillment of His purpose and counsel. 

• Do I remember the story of Joseph? 
• Remember how his brothers sold him as a slave? 
• His brothers wanted to destroy him. 

No doubt Joseph asked the Lord when he was carted off, 

• “Why have You allowed this to happen, LORD?” 
• He must have wondered why God did not intervene to prevent this horrible sin. 
• Yet in Genesis 50:20, I read what Joseph says to his brothers: 
• “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.” 

God used the sin of Joseph’s brothers for the good of Jacob’s family. 

• God used a bad situation for his good. 
• This does not give those who do wrong an excuse, 
• since it turns out good anyway. 
• No, God will judge them for the wrong that they have done. 

The providence of God must be believed also in those times 

• when it seems that the ungodliness of man reigns freely. 
• How many people asked during World War 1 where God was in the concentration camps, 
• where thousands of innocent Jews were killed. 

Many people said that they could not believe in a God of providence 

• after seeing or hearing about such events. 
• Yet even in these terrible situations 
• (and in others like it, such as wars, earthquakes, epidemics etc.) 
• God reigns supreme. 

God allows these things to happen. Why? 

• Perhaps it is to bring judgment upon the ungodly. 
• Perhaps it is to test the faith of God’s people. 
• The exact reasons cannot be known. 

Yet this I know, 

• that God will use even the evil that occurs, 
• to promote His purpose and plans. 

In all situations of life 

• God is governing and guiding history 
• to the consummation of the ages, 
• the day of Christ’s return.

Adapted Excerpt From Van Delden's Only By True Faith