Even if we can’t see anything good in the tragic event that triggered our grief, turning to God means that we are headed in the right direction. Pain has the potential to stimulate growth in our relationship with God, since it often reawakens us to eternal realities. In this way, God can use our sorrow to draw us closer to him.

Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?

Lamentations 3:38

Most people find it pretty easy to accept that the good things which happen are from the hand of God. But we find it hard to accept any bad, tragic, or painful experiences that come our way. Can they really be from God? Are they really under his governance? Can they really be for a good purpose? The Bible says, “Yes, they are. Yes, they can.”

Boldly, the Lord declared through the mouth of Isaiah: “I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things” (Isaiah 45:7).

Lamentations 3:38 agrees, “Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both good and bad come?” Perhaps, when he wrote these words, Jeremiah was thinking about the sufferings of Job whose confidence in the sovereign God fueled his affirmation of the same truth. “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10). Of course, Job did not know about Satan’s involvement in his suffering until the Holy Spirit inspired the book that bears his name. That’s where we have a distinct advantage over Job. We know that God initiated the testing of Job’s faith, though Satan’s accusations and evil ways were the secondary cause of his suffering (Job 1:6–19).

Satan’s freedom is limited; God has him on a leash. But Job didn’t have this knowledge. He didn’t know he was at the center of an invisible war. By faith alone, he anchored himself to the trustworthy character of God. He humbly bowed his will to God’s.

The same is true of the apostle Paul. He recognized that ultimately both good and bad come from God. A “messenger of Satan” was employed to be a “thorn” in the flesh, and instrument of humility, but Paul’s repeated pleas to God testify of his faith in God’s authority over all, even evil (2 Corinthians 12:7–8).

Now let me be clear. Scripture does not teach that God is evil (Habakkuk 1:13). Nor is he the cause of sin or temptation (James 1:13). Nonetheless, the Bible affirms that God employs both good and evil for his wise and gracious purposes, even someone as evil as the devil. In When God Weeps, Joni Eareckson Tada likes to say it this way: “Sometimes God allows what he hates to accomplish what he loves.” This is the mystery of his providence.

Read More