God can use secondary means to achieve his purposes, but they are his purposes nonetheless. Thus he might use Israel’s enemies to judge his people. While God is behind all this, those doing these things also remain fully responsible and morally accountable for their actions. And the prophets, when discussing the fate of Israel, make it very clear that it was God who chastised and punished his people (all with a view to having them turn back to him).

God’s love and correction go together.

Most Christians would know – or should know – that our loving God is also a holy God who judges sin. Believers do recognise that the enemies of God and those who hate him have been and will be judged by him. But some Christians doubt that God would ever do similar sorts of things to his own people.

We do know that God is OUR wounded healer: “By HIS stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). But does God ever wound and afflict us? One recent social media exchange looked at this question. I had put up a quote by the famous missionary Helen Roseveare which said: “God never uses a person greatly until He has wounded him deeply. The privilege God offers you is greater than the price you have to pay. The privilege is greater than the price.”

One gal did not agree with that and said that this is why folks do not believe in God, since it makes him out to be cruel and sadistic. She asked me if God really wounds us. I replied this way:

Of course he does. You need to reread your Bible. The examples are many. Remember Jacob wrestling with God, with his hip put out of joint (Genesis 32); God allowing Job to be afflicted; David praising God for the afflictions he received from him (Psalm 119); Paul thanking God for the thorn in the flesh God allowed him to endure (2 Corinthians 12); and above all God afflicting and wounding his own son (Isaiah 53), etc. And throughout Scripture we hear about how believers share in Christ’s sufferings. In his love for his people, he often will deal harshly with them, be it in the form of chastisement or discipline, or even allowing persecution. All that has zippo to do with divine cruelty or sadism. You need to forget what the God-haters are saying, and stick to what the Bible clearly declares.

She then said that she reads the Bible differently, and asked, “But does He actually wound us deliberately?” I said this:

Yes he DOES deliberately do so. If there were no other verses in the entire Bible on this matter than Isaiah 53: 4, 10, that would prove it conclusively! Read them again! He did it deliberately to his own Son, and the servant is not above his master. He chastises and afflicts his children deliberately. Those whom he loves he will bless with the heavenly gift of suffering – see Philippians 1:29: “For it has been granted (gifted, graced) to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.” As I say, forget the humanists and the atheists and stick to what God himself has said on this matter.

Sure, God allows secondary agents (be they Satan or Muslims or persecutors of Christians) to do this, but they are (as the book of Job conclusively demonstrates) ALL under the sovereign hand of God. He is calling the shots here. The texts speak quite clearly for themselves. It is NOT a matter of how you or I read them!

She replied: “I cannot just say ‘God is Sovereign’ although I know this is a popular protestant thing to say in the face of vile behaviour.” I then said this:

It is not just a Protestant thing to say that God is sovereign – it is a 100% biblical thing to say. No one claiming to be a Christian can ever deny this reality. And to affirm this while acknowledging evil in the world is also fully biblical. The most evil thing in the world was for the innocent Son of God to die a horrible death – but it was fully part of the sovereign plan of God. Sorry, but I MUST stick with what God has said – always.

Since I mentioned various biblical texts above, let me look at some in more detail. Consider Deuteronomy 28-30 and similar texts where we read about God’s covenantal relationship with his people, and blessings for obedience, and curses for disobedience. All believers would happily speak about blessings granted to us directly from the hand of God. Well, the very same chapters that speak of this truth also tell us about curses directly coming from God to a rebellious and disobedient people. Consider a few short portions of Scripture here:

Deuteronomy 28:20-24 “The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. The Lord will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish.

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