Episode 2287 - Lesson 5 - Sunday Jan. 26: Grieved by Evil

The God of the Bible loves justice and hates evil. Sin and evil, therefore, provoke Him to passion, a passion expressed on behalf of those oppressed and abused, and even in cases in which one’s evil affects primarily oneself. God hates evil because evil always hurts His creatures, even if self-inflicted. In the biblical narratives, God is repeatedly provoked to anger by what biblical scholars refer to as the cycle of rebellion. This cycle goes as follows: The people rebel against God and do evil, sometimes even horrendous atrocities, such as child sacrifice and other abominations in His sight. God withdraws according to the people’s decisions. The people are oppressed by foreign nations. The people cry to God for deliverance. God graciously delivers the people. The people rebel against God again, often more egregiously than before. In the face of this cycle of egregious evil and infidelity, however, God repeatedly meets human unfaithfulness, but with unending faithfulness, long-suffering forbearance, amazing grace, and deep compassion. Read Psalm 78. What does this passage convey about God’s response to His people’s repeated rebellions? According to the Bible, love and justice are intertwined. Divine anger is the proper response of love against evil because evil always hurts someone whom God loves. There is no instance in Scripture where God is arbitrarily or unfairly wrathful or angry. And while God’s people repeatedly forsook and betrayed Him, over the centuries God continued patiently to bestow compassion beyond all reasonable expectations (Neh. 9:7–33), thus demonstrating the unfathomable depth of His long-suffering compassion and merciful love. Indeed, according to Psalm 78:38, God, “being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath” (NKJV). Surely, you have been angry over the evil done to others. How does this emotion help you better understand, then, God’s wrath toward evil?