April 23, 2025 • 30 mins
The Mother of All Questions: Why?
You're not the only one who has asked this question. In fact, many great prophets and holy men in the Bible struggled with it. That's one of the benefits of reading the Bible. We are not alone facing hardships and not being able to understand why they happen. As we begin this study of the problem of evil, we will notice two questions that have at times tormented good people: why and how long?
Read about this subject
- Scriptures: Numbers 11; Job 3; Jeremiah 12:1-3; Habakkuk 1:1-5; Revelation 6:9-10
- God at a Distance, Kerry Duke
Listen to more on this subject
- “Is There a God?” Bible Doctrine audio
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My Godand My neighbor podcast from Tennessee
Bible College, where we see the Bibleas not just another book, but the Book.
Join us in a study of the inspiredWord to strengthen your faith and to
share what you've learned with others.
Do you ever wonder why God made a worldwith so much suffering and so much evil?
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And do you ask why God allows all this?
Why doesn't He do something to stop it?
I'm sure you struggle with this dilemma.
If God is all powerful, then wouldn'the be able to make the world better?
And if God is all loving, doesn't itstand a reason that he should want
to rid the world of pain and sin?
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This is a very old question.
It's called the problem of evil, andone thing is for certain, if you've
ever been frustrated because life isnot fair, if you've even doubted your
faith because of this problem, thenknow that you're in good company.
In fact, a large company.
Did you know that many greatand godly men in the Bible had
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trouble accepting this sometimes?
Today we begin a serieson this monumental topic.
So let's look at someBible characters for help.
First of all, let's go to numberschapter 11, and here we're going
to read about the great man Moses.
Moses was the leader of the Israelitepeople, and in Numbers chapter 11,
the Israelites were doing somethingthat you read about many times.
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That is, they were complaining.
The Bible says in numbers chapter 11verse one, “The people complained and
it displeased the Lord.” The Biblesays that God punished many people
there and many people died. But theBible says also in verse four that
“the mixed multitude who were amongthem yielded to intense craving, so the
children of Israel also wept again.”
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Now, notice what's happened.
The Bible says that God sent fireand killed some of these Israelites
because of their rebellion,and these other Israelites are
complaining again in spite of that.
Where was their fear?
Where was their fear ofdeath and their fear of God?
But they said, “Who willgive us meat to eat?
We remember the fish that we ate freelyin Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons,
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the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
But now our whole being is dried up.
There is nothing at all exceptthis manna before our eyes.”
And so they were tiredof eating the manna.
Now the manna was given tothem straight from heaven.
This was a special food thatGod gave, and these Israelites
said we want something else.
We want the same kind of foodthat we had back in Egypt.
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The Bible tells us in verse 10,“Moses heard the people weeping
throughout their families, everyoneat the door of his tent; and the
anger of the Lord was greatlyaroused. Moses also was displeased.”
Now it's here that you find Mosessaying this is not fair to me.
This is not right.
This is just too much for me tohave to put up with all this.
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So in verse 11 of Numbers 11, Moses saidto the Lord, “Why have you afflicted your
servant?” He's talking about himself andthe first word that he uses is “why” Lord?
He goes on to say in verse 11,“And why have I not found favor in
your sight that you have laid theburden of all these people on me?
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Did I conceive all these people?
Did I beget them that you should sayto me, carry them in your bosom as a
guardian carries a nursing child to theland which you swore to their fathers?
Where am I to get meat togive to all these people?
For they weep all over me saying,give us meat that we may eat.
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I am not able to bear allthese people alone because the
burden is too heavy for me.
If you treat me like this, pleasekill me here and now if I have
found favor in your sight and donot let me see my wretchedness.”
Moses is obviously frustrated.
He's angry here.
This is not fair to him,and he's asking God why.
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Moses, the great man ofGod is so discouraged.
He is so frustrated here that hesimply says to God: if this is the
way that it's going to be, if I'mgoing to have to endure this kind
of treatment from these people,then go ahead and take my life now.
He was that desperate.
So this problem of evil that we talkabout, the fact that life is sometimes
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not fair to other people and to us, candrive us to the point that we'd rather
leave this life than to stay in it.
God heard Moses and he gave him help.
He said to select other people toput under him so that they could
hear some of the problems and bearthis burden with him and for him.
That of course is a very simple andit's a very common sense principle
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that you have to remember in life,and that is don't try to bear all your
troubles or all your burdens yourself.
That's why the Bible teaches us asChristians in Galatians six verse
two (05:00):
“Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
You need help because if we try tobear our burdens ourselves, if we
try to fix things on our own and beindependent, then we're not going be
able to bear the pressure at times.
The other thing that you see about thisgreat story is that even some of the
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greatest men of God, prophets of Godlike Moses, became frustrated with God.
Moses was angry with God here.
I don't know any other waythat you can describe it.
When you look at the words thatwe just read, you find that this
man was frustrated with God.
He was angry with God.
That doesn't mean that hewas rebelling against God.
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It doesn't mean that hedid or said anything wrong.
It's just the fact that he's human andhe's having so much pain on the inside.
It came out as anger.
If that happened to the great manMoses, that will happen to us today.
Let's look at another example.
The next man that we'regoing to look at is Job.
The Book of Job is a great book on humansuffering, and there are so many lessons
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of encouragement and direction and faithin this book that we will look at later.
But for now, I want you to notice thatjob raised this very question and that
is “Why?” In Job chapter one, the Biblesays that he lost his possessions.
He was a very wealthy man, but he lost it.
In Job chapter one, the Bibleshows that his 10 children died.
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He lost his family.
He lost his children.
His wife was alive.
But as you read through thisbook, you find that she wasn't
much help to him at all.
And then in chaptertwo, he lost his health.
He had a terrible disease.
He couldn't sleep; he couldn't eat.
He was in all kinds ofphysical and emotional pain.
It was constant.
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And then we find in Job chapter three thathe's tired of it all and he wonders why
that God has put him in this situation.
So in Job chapter three, the Biblesays in verse one, “After this job
opened his mouth and cursed the dayof his birth.” Now when it says that
he cursed the day of his birth, thatdoesn't mean that he cussed it as we
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would sometimes think of that word.
It simply means that he is regrettingthe fact that he was ever born
and he's crying out to God here.
I want you to notice what he saysin Job chapter three, verse 11: Why?
“Why did I not die at birth?
Why did I not perish whenI came from the womb?
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Why did the knees receive me or whythe breasts that I should nurse?
For now I would have laidstill and been quiet.
I would have been asleep; then Iwould have been at rest with kings
and counselors of the earth who buildruins for themselves” and so forth.
So Job is saying I don't understandwhy I had to live to see this day.
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I don't understand why Ididn't die when I was born.
If life was going to be like this,then what's the purpose of all this?
He says in verse 16 or “Why was Inot hidden like a stillborn child?
Like infants who never saw light?” Thendown in verse 20: “Why is light given
to him?” That's life, the light of life.
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“Why is light given to him who is inmisery and life to the bitter of soul who
long for death But it does not come?” Jobis asking a question here that many people
ask today, and that is, “If I'm goingto have to live a painful and miserable
life, then why do I have to live at all?
Why can't I just die?”
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That's a very common question.
Job raised this question toGod thousands of years ago.
Look at it again.
He says, “Why is light given to him who isin misery and life to the bitter of soul,
who long for death, but it does not come?”Job is saying I don't think that's fair.
Now that's Job chapterthree, verse 20 and 21.
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This is what we're talking about.
Job himself was a good man.
He was not just a wealthy manand a great man in the eyes of
men, but he was a very good man.
God said that there wasnone like him on the earth.
A man who was perfect, that is, hewas complete and upright, one that
feared God and turned away from evil.
He was a righteous man, but he was a man.
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He was human.
Sometimes when pain is so great, itbrings out some of these questions
and some of these feelings that weread about in the Book of Job, and
we'll talk about that more later.
But for now, let's turn to the Book ofPsalms, and here we're going to see that
David struggled with the same problem.
In Psalm 13, beginning inverse one, notice these words.
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David cries out to God as heoftentimes does in these Psalms.
Some of the Psalms are Psalms of praise,where he's glorifying and magnifying God.
Some of them are penitential,that is, David is expressing
remorse for his own sins.
Sometimes David is cryingout to God for help.
He had troubles.
He had enemies who weretrying to kill him.
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And sometimes God didn't answerhim or deliver him when and how
David thought that he should.
David, in a sense of desperation,cries out to God in Psalm 13.
Here's what David said.
“How long, O Lord, willyou forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
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How long shall I take counsel in mysoul having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exaltedover me?” And now we enter into the
second phase really, of this problem.
The first part that we'velooked at is “Why?” Why, Lord,
why do these things happen?
Why is life so unfair?
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And now David says something that weoftentimes say when we are in great pain.
When we are in great sorrow of heart,and that is how long will this last?
How much longer?
How much more can I take?
That's what David is saying inPsalm 13, verses one and two.
This doesn't seem fair.
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Sometimes in life, our complaintwith God is not so much the fact
that there's something painfulthat we have to experience.
It's how long it lasts.
There are things that we could takeif they only lasted for a moment.
Think about that.
If you only had to endure whatevertrouble it is, whether it's physical
pain or whether it's heartbreak andsorrow and grief or whatever it is,
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if you only had to experience that fora few seconds, it wouldn't be so bad.
But as the hours and the days and theweeks and sometimes the months and the
years go by, and you still have to endurethat kind of pressure and bear that
kind of burden, that's when you begin tosay, “Lord, how much longer?” And this
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is what David was saying 3000 years agohere in Psalm 13, verses one and two. But
David also asked that question (12:07):
“Why?”
Look at Psalm 22.
This is a very familiar passageof Scripture because it's
quoted in the New Testament.
Psalm 22 verse one (12:17):
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?” Now that's how David felt.
David was under severe pressure.
He was under intense strain at thispoint in his life because David's life
was oftentimes in danger of his enemies.
So in Psalm 13, he asked thequestion to God: how long?
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And now in Psalm 22, he askedthe familiar question, why Lord?
And it was Jesus himself who quotedthese words when he was on the cross?
“My God, my God, why haveyou forsaken me?” Now he did
that because he was a human.
He felt physical pain like you and Ifeel he also experienced human emotions,
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so he felt grief, he felt sorrow.
The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 53,verse three, that he would be a man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
So Psalm 22 again raisesthat question “Why?”
Now let's turn to Psalm 73, and here wefind a case of a man who did more than
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simply ask “Why?” He reached the pointwhere he thought that it was useless.
He almost gave up.
He almost gave up his faith.
This man's name was Asaph [Psalm 73].
And what you read about as this Psalmopens is what we call the problem of evil.
He just couldn't put it togetherin his mind at this point.
Psalm 73, beginning in verse one (13:42):
“Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are
pure of heart. But as for me, my feethad almost stumbled. My steps had nearly
slipped.” Now, what does he mean by that?
He's not talking aboutphysically falling down.
He's saying that he almost lost his faith.
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Well, what happened?
What brought that about?
How did he reach the point wherehe almost turned away from God?
Here's what it says in verse three.
He said, “Because I was enviousof the boastful when I saw the
prosperity of the wicked.” There it is.
You see, sometimes we say theproblem of evil is why is it that
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bad things happen to good people?
But the flip side of that is, whydo good things happen to bad people?
Why do bad evil people havesuch good things in this life?
He goes on and explains in verse four—hesays, “There are no pains in their death,
but their strength is firm. In otherwords, it seems that when they die, they
don't suffer like the rest of us. In versefive, they are not in trouble as other
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men, nor are they plagued like other men.”
He says as a result, they're prideful.
He says in verse seven that theyhave more than heart could wish.
They're prosperous; they're rich.
And not only that, they are soarrogant that they will speak
against anybody or anything.
In verse eight, they scoff and speakwickedly concerning oppression.
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“They speak loftily. They set their mouthagainst the heavens and their tongue walks
through the earth.” In verse 11, Asaphsays, “And they say, how does God know
and is there knowledge in the Most High?
Behold, these are the ungodly,who are always at ease.
They increase in riches.”Now, that was the problem.
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That's what he had seen, and he was sofrustrated that these evil people seem to
have it so good in life that he wonderedwhether living for God was even worth it.
Verse 13—He said, “Surely I havecleansed my heart in vain.” He
said there's no use in this.
There's no point in me living a good lifewhen these evil people have it so good.
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He said, “I have washed my hands ininnocence for all day long. I have
been plagued and chastened everymorning.” Now, that's how he felt.
That's what was going through his mind.
When he was at that low point in his life,he was wrestling with the problem of evil.
Why is this happening?
Why is it that these bad peoplehave such a good life and I'm
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trying my best to live for God andI have so many problems in my life?
He said this is basically unfair,and he almost lost his faith, but we
know that he really turned it around.
If you've read Psalm 73 before you knowthat he turned things around because he
realized something that he had forgotten,and we're going to talk about that later.
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As we study more, we will look at Psalm73 in the future, Lord willing, just
like we will these other passages I.All I'm trying to do right now is lay a
foundation for our studies in the futureby pointing out that so many of these
people in the Bible who were prophetsand great and godly men struggled with
the same kind of issue that you and I do.
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Now, let's turn to another prophet,and this man's name was Jeremiah.
Let's look at Jeremiah chapter12, beginning in verse one.
“Righteous are you, O Lord, whenI plead with you yet, let me talk
with you about your judgments.” Now,let's think about what he just said.
He says, you are righteous.
You're righteous, but I'mgoing to plead with you.
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So he's being careful here.
He's being reverent toward God.
He's being respectful.
He says, I know that you'rerighteous, which means I
know that you are a fair God.
The word righteous meansto be fair and equitable.
But he says, still, I want to talkwith you about your judgements.
I want to talk with you abouthow you administrate this world,
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how you manage this world.
You're righteous, you're fair.
I know that.
But he says why does theway of the wicked prosper?
“Why are those happy who deal sotreacherlously?” You've planted them.
Yes, they have taken root.
They grow.
Yes, they bear fruit.
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You are near in their mouth,but far from their mind.
So notice again the familiarword why in verse one.
But he says, look at meLord, in verse three.
He says, “But you, Lord, you know me.
You have seen me and you havetested my heart toward you.
You know that I'm a good man.
You know that I'm righteous.
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You know that I'm trying to serve you.
So he asked God in verse three, “Pullthem out like sheep for the slaughter and
prepare them for the day of slaughter.”
In other words, Lord, youneed to punish these people.
You need to do something about allthese evil people in the world.
They're just getting away with all this.
And if you're a righteous God, then whyhaven't you done something about this?
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So he says, pull them outlike sheep for the slaughter.
Prepare them for the day of slaughter.
Notice that he asked thequestion why in verse one.
Now, in verse four, he asksthe second question that we've
been talking about (19:04):
How long?
“How long will the land mourn and theherbs of every field wither? The beast
and birds are consumed for the wickednessof those who dwell there because they
said he will not see our final end.”
Now Jeremiah is using naturehere to show how widespread the
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effect of these evil people was.
He's showing how great their wickednesswas, how much damage that they were
doing to society, and he even mentionedsome of these elements of creation.
In doing that.
But Jeremiah's questionnow—remember that he's talking to
God here—and he asks, how long?
How long are you goingto allow this to happen?
And implied in that is, why don'tyou do something to stop this?—almost
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implying that God has taken too long.
You need to do this, Lord.
That's what he's saying to God.
Now he's being very respectful about that.
That's how he begins this prayer.
But he is frustrated.
This is not the only timethat he was frustrated.
This is not the onlylow point in his life.
As a matter of fact, in Jeremiah chapter20 verses seven through nine, Jeremiah
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became so distraught that he decidedthat he was not going to preach anymore.
He said I will not speak anymore normention his name because of all the
persecution and all the oppression thathe was having to endure on a daily basis.
It was getting to him.
It wasn't fair.
And here in Jeremiah chapter 12,he said Lord, this is not fair.
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And he was pleading with theLord to do something about it.
Now this is what I meanby the problem of evil.
And in Jeremiah chapter 12, he askedboth these questions: why and how long?
Actually the book of Jeremiahwould be a great book to
study on the problem of evil.
There are many different approachesyou could take to doing a study of
this book, whether you're talkingabout a personal study or a series
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of sermons or a Bible class.
You could take the Book of Job.
Of course, that's the one thatprobably stands out the most.
But if you look at the book of Jeremiah,it's interesting because there are two
different levels of the problem of evil.
There is the personal level, and ofcourse that applies to Jeremiah because
Jeremiah is going through all kindsof personal struggles and emotional
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struggles with the problem of evil becausehe sees so much wrong in the society.
He sees this imbalance and thisunfairness, and he's beginning
to have questions about it to thepoint that he's ready to quit,
at least in Jeremiah chapter 20.
But there's also a national level of theproblem of evil in the book of Jeremiah.
Now, what I mean by that is thebook of Jeremiah is addressed to
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the people of Judah, the peopleof the southern tribes of Judah.
They were in sin.
There was great idolatry, there wasgreat apostasy in the land, and God
sent Jeremiah to preach to these people.
So for 40 years, Jeremiah preaches to thepeople of Judah and tells them to repent.
And in that message of repentance,Jeremiah tells them, he warns them,
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that if they do not turn away fromtheir sins, God will send the Chaldeans,
the Babylonians, upon the land.
And those Chaldeans will haveno mercy upon those people.
And as a matter of fact, you alsofind in this great book of Jeremiah
that several times, for instance, inJeremiah 25 verse nine, God refers
to the Babylonians as his servant.
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So God in his great providence,without overriding the free will of
anyone involved, sent the Chaldeansinto the land of Judah eventually,
and they punished these peopleof Judah because of their sins.
So there are just so many fascinatingthings to learn when you read the
Old Testament, as well as the NewTestament on the problem of evil.
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Speaking of the Chaldeans and theirrole in the history of the people
of Judah, that brings us to anotherprophet who raised the same question.
He had the same kind of internal strugglewith this problem that Jeremiah did,
and that is the short book of Habakkuk.
Now, the book of Habakkuk isnot as well-known as Jeremiah.
You don't hear as much about it, but thisis a great book on the problem of evil.
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So let's open to Habakkuk chapter one.
I'm going to begin reading in verse one: “The burden which the prophet Habakkuk (23:12):
undefined
saw. O Lord, how long shall I cry?And you will not hear, even cry out to
you violence, and you will not save.”
So right away the prophetHabakkuk gets to the issue.
This is what he wants to talk about.
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Now, this is inspired of God, butsometimes God inspired men who were
going through a particular situation sothat God could record and preserve that
record of that experience for all times.
And the prophet Habakkuk isdealing with the same general
kind of problem that Jeremiah did.
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He's talking about the people of Judah.
He sees their idolatry, hesees the corruption, he sees
the apostasy in the nation.
So he is tired of corruption in politics.
He's tired of all this indifferencewhen it comes to religion.
He's tired of all the immorality inthe land, and he has prayed to God
and prayed to God, but it continues.
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God doesn't reach down and stop it.
And the prophet wants to know why.
God knows better than he doeswhat's happening in the land.
He sees all this sin, hesees all this corruption.
So it looks like from a human standpointthat God should just do one thing and
that is intervene and put an end to this.
Now, that's the way thatour simple minds work.
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And I'm not trying to say that theprophet of Habakkuk is as bad as
we are about that, because he wasa prophet of God, but he was human.
And from the human standpoint, theanswers seem simple, but that's because
we're looking at the situation as men.
We don't see the entire picture.
We see a small part of the total picture.
We don't see everything in the past,everything in the present or everything,
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especially in the future, other thanwhat] God tells us about the future.
God sees everything in the past, in thepresent and in the future concerning all
who were involved, not just the peopleof Judah, not just the Babylonians,
but everybody who might be affectedby a war that takes place between the
Chaldeans and the people of Judah.
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So those are just a few thingsthat we fail to consider because
we have our mind set on one thing.
You know, when you're focused onone wrong and you don't look at
anything else, then you're not likelyto be wise about your conclusions.
And that was true herein many Bible examples.
And we're looking at one more here.
So Habakkuk sees all this.
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He has prayed to God before.
Now look at the words in verse two.
He said, “O Lord, how long shallI cry and you will not hear?” So
evidently he's been praying before.
He's been asking God to do somethingabout all this and nothing has happened.
How long?
I don't know.
For weeks, for months, for years,we're not told, but we do find
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that he is getting impatient here.
And unlike Jeremiah, when Jeremiahwas upset about the situation,
Habakkuk gets right to the point.
Remember in Jeremiah chapter 12that Jeremiah walked cautiously
when he approached God in prayer.
He said, you're righteous, and yetI want to talk to you about this.
The prophet Habakkuk says, how long Lord?
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How much longer am I going to cry outto you and you won't hear me about this?
And if you look at verses threeand four, he talks about this
corruption that's in the land.
He says, “Why do you show meiniquity?” Why do you let me see all
this and cause me to see trouble forplundering and violence are before me.
There is strife and contention arises.
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Therefore, the law is powerless.
Now that simply means thatthere's no justice in the land.
And justice he says never goes forth,for the wicked surround the righteous,
therefore, perverse judgment proceeds.
Now that lays the background for,that sets the stage for, the book
of Habakkuk, and what you find inthis book is that God responds.
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God tells him, I am going to dosomething about this, but I will
do it in my way and I will do itwhen I decide is best not you.
And sometimes in life we have to rememberthat God is the one that knows much
better about the situation than we do.
God knew that the evil was goingto happen before it even happened.
Yet we come on the scene andwe try to advise God about it.
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At least we try to plead withGod about what he should do.
Now, that's our human side.
Habakkuk was doing that out of a goodmotive, but he was not seeing what God saw
and God has to take him to school here.
God has to give him an education inthis and we can get the same education
and should, if we just read the Bible.
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Let's go to Revelation chapter six.
At the very end of the Bible,you find an interesting statement
made about this problem.
In Revelation, you find that the peopleof God are being persecuted, the saints
of God are being persecuted, and asa result, some of these people are
dying for their faith in Jesus Christ.
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In Revelation chapter six, beginningin verse nine, the Bible says, “When
he opened the fifth seal, I saw underthe altar the souls of those who had
been slain for the word of God andfor the testimony which they held.
They cried with a loud voice, saying,How long, O Lord, holy and true,
until you judge and avenge our bloodon those who dwell on the earth?”
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Now these are the saintswho have been put to death.
They have been beheaded forthe cause of Jesus Christ.
This is the first century settingnow because persecution was
getting very intense at this time.
There was a Jewish wave of persecutionthat was followed by the Roman wave of
persecution against the church, and soChristians were being arrested, they
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were being beaten, and some of themwere being put to death for their faith.
Now these saints are representedthen as their souls crying out
from the altar, saying how muchlonger, Lord until you intervene,
until you do something about that?
And that's where it gets interestingbecause the Book of Revelation actually
does address that kind of questionbecause it talks about the judgment of
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God, especially upon those persecutors.
So from the early days of theBible, all the way through the
Book of Revelation, you find thissubject is very, very common.
You find great men of God.
You find holy men of God crying outto him about the injustice of life and
about the fact that it's so unfair.
Now, all these men had the same feelingsand the same questions, the same thoughts,
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and the same doubts that you and I do.
But they never gave up.
They never turned against God.
They didn't get so madthat they turned bitter.
They did just the opposite.
They used the problem of sin and sufferingas steps to a higher level of faith.
You and I can do the same now.
That's why we'll be talking aboutthis profound topic for weeks to come.
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Thank you for listeningto My God and My Neighbor.
Stay connected with our podcast on ourwebsite, and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or wherever fine podcasts our distributed.
Tennessee Bible College, providingChristian education since 1975
in Cookeville, Tennessee, offersundergraduate and graduate programs.
(30:19):
Study at your level.
Aim higher and get in touch with us today.
Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My Godand My neighbor podcast from Tennessee
Bible College, where we see the Bibleas not just another book, but the Book.
Join us in a study of the inspiredWord to strengthen your faith and to
share what you've learned with others.
Do you ever wonder why God made a worldwith so much suffering and so much evil?
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And do you ask why God allows all this?
Why doesn't He do something to stop it?
I'm sure you struggle with this dilemma.
If God is all powerful, then wouldn'the be able to make the world better?
And if God is all loving, doesn't itstand a reason that he should want
to rid the world of pain and sin?
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This is a very old question.
It's called the problem of evil, andone thing is for certain, if you've
ever been frustrated because life isnot fair, if you've even doubted your
faith because of this problem, thenknow that you're in good company.
In fact, a large company.
Did you know that many greatand godly men in the Bible had
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trouble accepting this sometimes?
Today we begin a serieson this monumental topic.
So let's look at someBible characters for help.
First of all, let's go to numberschapter 11, and here we're going
to read about the great man Moses.
Moses was the leader of the Israelitepeople, and in Numbers chapter 11,
the Israelites were doing somethingthat you read about many times.
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That is, they were complaining.
The Bible says in numbers chapter 11verse one, “The people complained and
it displeased the Lord.” The Biblesays that God punished many people
there and many people died. But theBible says also in verse four that
“the mixed multitude who were amongthem yielded to intense craving, so the
children of Israel also wept again.”
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Now, notice what's happened.
The Bible says that God sent fireand killed some of these Israelites
because of their rebellion,and these other Israelites are
complaining again in spite of that.
Where was their fear?
Where was their fear ofdeath and their fear of God?
But they said, “Who willgive us meat to eat?
We remember the fish that we ate freelyin Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons,
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the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
But now our whole being is dried up.
There is nothing at all exceptthis manna before our eyes.”
And so they were tiredof eating the manna.
Now the manna was given tothem straight from heaven.
This was a special food thatGod gave, and these Israelites
said we want something else.
We want the same kind of foodthat we had back in Egypt.
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The Bible tells us in verse 10,“Moses heard the people weeping
throughout their families, everyoneat the door of his tent; and the
anger of the Lord was greatlyaroused. Moses also was displeased.”
Now it's here that you find Mosessaying this is not fair to me.
This is not right.
This is just too much for me tohave to put up with all this.
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So in verse 11 of Numbers 11, Moses saidto the Lord, “Why have you afflicted your
servant?” He's talking about himself andthe first word that he uses is “why” Lord?
He goes on to say in verse 11,“And why have I not found favor in
your sight that you have laid theburden of all these people on me?
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Did I conceive all these people?
Did I beget them that you should sayto me, carry them in your bosom as a
guardian carries a nursing child to theland which you swore to their fathers?
Where am I to get meat togive to all these people?
For they weep all over me saying,give us meat that we may eat.
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I am not able to bear allthese people alone because the
burden is too heavy for me.
If you treat me like this, pleasekill me here and now if I have
found favor in your sight and donot let me see my wretchedness.”
Moses is obviously frustrated.
He's angry here.
This is not fair to him,and he's asking God why.
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Moses, the great man ofGod is so discouraged.
He is so frustrated here that hesimply says to God: if this is the
way that it's going to be, if I'mgoing to have to endure this kind
of treatment from these people,then go ahead and take my life now.
He was that desperate.
So this problem of evil that we talkabout, the fact that life is sometimes
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not fair to other people and to us, candrive us to the point that we'd rather
leave this life than to stay in it.
God heard Moses and he gave him help.
He said to select other people toput under him so that they could
hear some of the problems and bearthis burden with him and for him.
That of course is a very simple andit's a very common sense principle
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that you have to remember in life,and that is don't try to bear all your
troubles or all your burdens yourself.
That's why the Bible teaches us asChristians in Galatians six verse
two (05:00):
“Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
You need help because if we try tobear our burdens ourselves, if we
try to fix things on our own and beindependent, then we're not going be
able to bear the pressure at times.
The other thing that you see about thisgreat story is that even some of the
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greatest men of God, prophets of Godlike Moses, became frustrated with God.
Moses was angry with God here.
I don't know any other waythat you can describe it.
When you look at the words thatwe just read, you find that this
man was frustrated with God.
He was angry with God.
That doesn't mean that hewas rebelling against God.
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It doesn't mean that hedid or said anything wrong.
It's just the fact that he's human andhe's having so much pain on the inside.
It came out as anger.
If that happened to the great manMoses, that will happen to us today.
Let's look at another example.
The next man that we'regoing to look at is Job.
The Book of Job is a great book on humansuffering, and there are so many lessons
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of encouragement and direction and faithin this book that we will look at later.
But for now, I want you to notice thatjob raised this very question and that
is “Why?” In Job chapter one, the Biblesays that he lost his possessions.
He was a very wealthy man, but he lost it.
In Job chapter one, the Bibleshows that his 10 children died.
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He lost his family.
He lost his children.
His wife was alive.
But as you read through thisbook, you find that she wasn't
much help to him at all.
And then in chaptertwo, he lost his health.
He had a terrible disease.
He couldn't sleep; he couldn't eat.
He was in all kinds ofphysical and emotional pain.
It was constant.
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And then we find in Job chapter three thathe's tired of it all and he wonders why
that God has put him in this situation.
So in Job chapter three, the Biblesays in verse one, “After this job
opened his mouth and cursed the dayof his birth.” Now when it says that
he cursed the day of his birth, thatdoesn't mean that he cussed it as we
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would sometimes think of that word.
It simply means that he is regrettingthe fact that he was ever born
and he's crying out to God here.
I want you to notice what he saysin Job chapter three, verse 11: Why?
“Why did I not die at birth?
Why did I not perish whenI came from the womb?
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Why did the knees receive me or whythe breasts that I should nurse?
For now I would have laidstill and been quiet.
I would have been asleep; then Iwould have been at rest with kings
and counselors of the earth who buildruins for themselves” and so forth.
So Job is saying I don't understandwhy I had to live to see this day.
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I don't understand why Ididn't die when I was born.
If life was going to be like this,then what's the purpose of all this?
He says in verse 16 or “Why was Inot hidden like a stillborn child?
Like infants who never saw light?” Thendown in verse 20: “Why is light given
to him?” That's life, the light of life.
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“Why is light given to him who is inmisery and life to the bitter of soul who
long for death But it does not come?” Jobis asking a question here that many people
ask today, and that is, “If I'm goingto have to live a painful and miserable
life, then why do I have to live at all?
Why can't I just die?”
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That's a very common question.
Job raised this question toGod thousands of years ago.
Look at it again.
He says, “Why is light given to him who isin misery and life to the bitter of soul,
who long for death, but it does not come?”Job is saying I don't think that's fair.
Now that's Job chapterthree, verse 20 and 21.
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This is what we're talking about.
Job himself was a good man.
He was not just a wealthy manand a great man in the eyes of
men, but he was a very good man.
God said that there wasnone like him on the earth.
A man who was perfect, that is, hewas complete and upright, one that
feared God and turned away from evil.
He was a righteous man, but he was a man.
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He was human.
Sometimes when pain is so great, itbrings out some of these questions
and some of these feelings that weread about in the Book of Job, and
we'll talk about that more later.
But for now, let's turn to the Book ofPsalms, and here we're going to see that
David struggled with the same problem.
In Psalm 13, beginning inverse one, notice these words.
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David cries out to God as heoftentimes does in these Psalms.
Some of the Psalms are Psalms of praise,where he's glorifying and magnifying God.
Some of them are penitential,that is, David is expressing
remorse for his own sins.
Sometimes David is cryingout to God for help.
He had troubles.
He had enemies who weretrying to kill him.
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And sometimes God didn't answerhim or deliver him when and how
David thought that he should.
David, in a sense of desperation,cries out to God in Psalm 13.
Here's what David said.
“How long, O Lord, willyou forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
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How long shall I take counsel in mysoul having sorrow in my heart daily?
How long will my enemy be exaltedover me?” And now we enter into the
second phase really, of this problem.
The first part that we'velooked at is “Why?” Why, Lord,
why do these things happen?
Why is life so unfair?
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And now David says something that weoftentimes say when we are in great pain.
When we are in great sorrow of heart,and that is how long will this last?
How much longer?
How much more can I take?
That's what David is saying inPsalm 13, verses one and two.
This doesn't seem fair.
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Sometimes in life, our complaintwith God is not so much the fact
that there's something painfulthat we have to experience.
It's how long it lasts.
There are things that we could takeif they only lasted for a moment.
Think about that.
If you only had to endure whatevertrouble it is, whether it's physical
pain or whether it's heartbreak andsorrow and grief or whatever it is,
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if you only had to experience that fora few seconds, it wouldn't be so bad.
But as the hours and the days and theweeks and sometimes the months and the
years go by, and you still have to endurethat kind of pressure and bear that
kind of burden, that's when you begin tosay, “Lord, how much longer?” And this
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is what David was saying 3000 years agohere in Psalm 13, verses one and two. But
David also asked that question (12:07):
“Why?”
Look at Psalm 22.
This is a very familiar passageof Scripture because it's
quoted in the New Testament.
Psalm 22 verse one (12:17):
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?” Now that's how David felt.
David was under severe pressure.
He was under intense strain at thispoint in his life because David's life
was oftentimes in danger of his enemies.
So in Psalm 13, he asked thequestion to God: how long?
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And now in Psalm 22, he askedthe familiar question, why Lord?
And it was Jesus himself who quotedthese words when he was on the cross?
“My God, my God, why haveyou forsaken me?” Now he did
that because he was a human.
He felt physical pain like you and Ifeel he also experienced human emotions,
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so he felt grief, he felt sorrow.
The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 53,verse three, that he would be a man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
So Psalm 22 again raisesthat question “Why?”
Now let's turn to Psalm 73, and here wefind a case of a man who did more than
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simply ask “Why?” He reached the pointwhere he thought that it was useless.
He almost gave up.
He almost gave up his faith.
This man's name was Asaph [Psalm 73].
And what you read about as this Psalmopens is what we call the problem of evil.
He just couldn't put it togetherin his mind at this point.
Psalm 73, beginning in verse one (13:42):
“Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are
pure of heart. But as for me, my feethad almost stumbled. My steps had nearly
slipped.” Now, what does he mean by that?
He's not talking aboutphysically falling down.
He's saying that he almost lost his faith.
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Well, what happened?
What brought that about?
How did he reach the point wherehe almost turned away from God?
Here's what it says in verse three.
He said, “Because I was enviousof the boastful when I saw the
prosperity of the wicked.” There it is.
You see, sometimes we say theproblem of evil is why is it that
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bad things happen to good people?
But the flip side of that is, whydo good things happen to bad people?
Why do bad evil people havesuch good things in this life?
He goes on and explains in verse four—hesays, “There are no pains in their death,
but their strength is firm. In otherwords, it seems that when they die, they
don't suffer like the rest of us. In versefive, they are not in trouble as other
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men, nor are they plagued like other men.”
He says as a result, they're prideful.
He says in verse seven that theyhave more than heart could wish.
They're prosperous; they're rich.
And not only that, they are soarrogant that they will speak
against anybody or anything.
In verse eight, they scoff and speakwickedly concerning oppression.
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“They speak loftily. They set their mouthagainst the heavens and their tongue walks
through the earth.” In verse 11, Asaphsays, “And they say, how does God know
and is there knowledge in the Most High?
Behold, these are the ungodly,who are always at ease.
They increase in riches.”Now, that was the problem.
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That's what he had seen, and he was sofrustrated that these evil people seem to
have it so good in life that he wonderedwhether living for God was even worth it.
Verse 13—He said, “Surely I havecleansed my heart in vain.” He
said there's no use in this.
There's no point in me living a good lifewhen these evil people have it so good.
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He said, “I have washed my hands ininnocence for all day long. I have
been plagued and chastened everymorning.” Now, that's how he felt.
That's what was going through his mind.
When he was at that low point in his life,he was wrestling with the problem of evil.
Why is this happening?
Why is it that these bad peoplehave such a good life and I'm
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trying my best to live for God andI have so many problems in my life?
He said this is basically unfair,and he almost lost his faith, but we
know that he really turned it around.
If you've read Psalm 73 before you knowthat he turned things around because he
realized something that he had forgotten,and we're going to talk about that later.
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As we study more, we will look at Psalm73 in the future, Lord willing, just
like we will these other passages I.All I'm trying to do right now is lay a
foundation for our studies in the futureby pointing out that so many of these
people in the Bible who were prophetsand great and godly men struggled with
the same kind of issue that you and I do.
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Now, let's turn to another prophet,and this man's name was Jeremiah.
Let's look at Jeremiah chapter12, beginning in verse one.
“Righteous are you, O Lord, whenI plead with you yet, let me talk
with you about your judgments.” Now,let's think about what he just said.
He says, you are righteous.
You're righteous, but I'mgoing to plead with you.
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So he's being careful here.
He's being reverent toward God.
He's being respectful.
He says, I know that you'rerighteous, which means I
know that you are a fair God.
The word righteous meansto be fair and equitable.
But he says, still, I want to talkwith you about your judgements.
I want to talk with you abouthow you administrate this world,
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how you manage this world.
You're righteous, you're fair.
I know that.
But he says why does theway of the wicked prosper?
“Why are those happy who deal sotreacherlously?” You've planted them.
Yes, they have taken root.
They grow.
Yes, they bear fruit.
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You are near in their mouth,but far from their mind.
So notice again the familiarword why in verse one.
But he says, look at meLord, in verse three.
He says, “But you, Lord, you know me.
You have seen me and you havetested my heart toward you.
You know that I'm a good man.
You know that I'm righteous.
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You know that I'm trying to serve you.
So he asked God in verse three, “Pullthem out like sheep for the slaughter and
prepare them for the day of slaughter.”
In other words, Lord, youneed to punish these people.
You need to do something about allthese evil people in the world.
They're just getting away with all this.
And if you're a righteous God, then whyhaven't you done something about this?
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So he says, pull them outlike sheep for the slaughter.
Prepare them for the day of slaughter.
Notice that he asked thequestion why in verse one.
Now, in verse four, he asksthe second question that we've
been talking about (19:04):
How long?
“How long will the land mourn and theherbs of every field wither? The beast
and birds are consumed for the wickednessof those who dwell there because they
said he will not see our final end.”
Now Jeremiah is using naturehere to show how widespread the
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effect of these evil people was.
He's showing how great their wickednesswas, how much damage that they were
doing to society, and he even mentionedsome of these elements of creation.
In doing that.
But Jeremiah's questionnow—remember that he's talking to
God here—and he asks, how long?
How long are you goingto allow this to happen?
And implied in that is, why don'tyou do something to stop this?—almost
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implying that God has taken too long.
You need to do this, Lord.
That's what he's saying to God.
Now he's being very respectful about that.
That's how he begins this prayer.
But he is frustrated.
This is not the only timethat he was frustrated.
This is not the onlylow point in his life.
As a matter of fact, in Jeremiah chapter20 verses seven through nine, Jeremiah
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became so distraught that he decidedthat he was not going to preach anymore.
He said I will not speak anymore normention his name because of all the
persecution and all the oppression thathe was having to endure on a daily basis.
It was getting to him.
It wasn't fair.
And here in Jeremiah chapter 12,he said Lord, this is not fair.
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And he was pleading with theLord to do something about it.
Now this is what I meanby the problem of evil.
And in Jeremiah chapter 12, he askedboth these questions: why and how long?
Actually the book of Jeremiahwould be a great book to
study on the problem of evil.
There are many different approachesyou could take to doing a study of
this book, whether you're talkingabout a personal study or a series
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of sermons or a Bible class.
You could take the Book of Job.
Of course, that's the one thatprobably stands out the most.
But if you look at the book of Jeremiah,it's interesting because there are two
different levels of the problem of evil.
There is the personal level, and ofcourse that applies to Jeremiah because
Jeremiah is going through all kindsof personal struggles and emotional
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struggles with the problem of evil becausehe sees so much wrong in the society.
He sees this imbalance and thisunfairness, and he's beginning
to have questions about it to thepoint that he's ready to quit,
at least in Jeremiah chapter 20.
But there's also a national level of theproblem of evil in the book of Jeremiah.
Now, what I mean by that is thebook of Jeremiah is addressed to
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the people of Judah, the peopleof the southern tribes of Judah.
They were in sin.
There was great idolatry, there wasgreat apostasy in the land, and God
sent Jeremiah to preach to these people.
So for 40 years, Jeremiah preaches to thepeople of Judah and tells them to repent.
And in that message of repentance,Jeremiah tells them, he warns them,
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that if they do not turn away fromtheir sins, God will send the Chaldeans,
the Babylonians, upon the land.
And those Chaldeans will haveno mercy upon those people.
And as a matter of fact, you alsofind in this great book of Jeremiah
that several times, for instance, inJeremiah 25 verse nine, God refers
to the Babylonians as his servant.
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So God in his great providence,without overriding the free will of
anyone involved, sent the Chaldeansinto the land of Judah eventually,
and they punished these peopleof Judah because of their sins.
So there are just so many fascinatingthings to learn when you read the
Old Testament, as well as the NewTestament on the problem of evil.
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Speaking of the Chaldeans and theirrole in the history of the people
of Judah, that brings us to anotherprophet who raised the same question.
He had the same kind of internal strugglewith this problem that Jeremiah did,
and that is the short book of Habakkuk.
Now, the book of Habakkuk isnot as well-known as Jeremiah.
You don't hear as much about it, but thisis a great book on the problem of evil.
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So let's open to Habakkuk chapter one.
I'm going to begin reading in verse one: “The burden which the prophet Habakkuk (23:12):
undefined
saw. O Lord, how long shall I cry?And you will not hear, even cry out to
you violence, and you will not save.”
So right away the prophetHabakkuk gets to the issue.
This is what he wants to talk about.
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Now, this is inspired of God, butsometimes God inspired men who were
going through a particular situation sothat God could record and preserve that
record of that experience for all times.
And the prophet Habakkuk isdealing with the same general
kind of problem that Jeremiah did.
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He's talking about the people of Judah.
He sees their idolatry, hesees the corruption, he sees
the apostasy in the nation.
So he is tired of corruption in politics.
He's tired of all this indifferencewhen it comes to religion.
He's tired of all the immorality inthe land, and he has prayed to God
and prayed to God, but it continues.
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God doesn't reach down and stop it.
And the prophet wants to know why.
God knows better than he doeswhat's happening in the land.
He sees all this sin, hesees all this corruption.
So it looks like from a human standpointthat God should just do one thing and
that is intervene and put an end to this.
Now, that's the way thatour simple minds work.
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And I'm not trying to say that theprophet of Habakkuk is as bad as
we are about that, because he wasa prophet of God, but he was human.
And from the human standpoint, theanswers seem simple, but that's because
we're looking at the situation as men.
We don't see the entire picture.
We see a small part of the total picture.
We don't see everything in the past,everything in the present or everything,
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especially in the future, other thanwhat] God tells us about the future.
God sees everything in the past, in thepresent and in the future concerning all
who were involved, not just the peopleof Judah, not just the Babylonians,
but everybody who might be affectedby a war that takes place between the
Chaldeans and the people of Judah.
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So those are just a few thingsthat we fail to consider because
we have our mind set on one thing.
You know, when you're focused onone wrong and you don't look at
anything else, then you're not likelyto be wise about your conclusions.
And that was true herein many Bible examples.
And we're looking at one more here.
So Habakkuk sees all this.
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He has prayed to God before.
Now look at the words in verse two.
He said, “O Lord, how long shallI cry and you will not hear?” So
evidently he's been praying before.
He's been asking God to do somethingabout all this and nothing has happened.
How long?
I don't know.
For weeks, for months, for years,we're not told, but we do find
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that he is getting impatient here.
And unlike Jeremiah, when Jeremiahwas upset about the situation,
Habakkuk gets right to the point.
Remember in Jeremiah chapter 12that Jeremiah walked cautiously
when he approached God in prayer.
He said, you're righteous, and yetI want to talk to you about this.
The prophet Habakkuk says, how long Lord?
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How much longer am I going to cry outto you and you won't hear me about this?
And if you look at verses threeand four, he talks about this
corruption that's in the land.
He says, “Why do you show meiniquity?” Why do you let me see all
this and cause me to see trouble forplundering and violence are before me.
There is strife and contention arises.
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Therefore, the law is powerless.
Now that simply means thatthere's no justice in the land.
And justice he says never goes forth,for the wicked surround the righteous,
therefore, perverse judgment proceeds.
Now that lays the background for,that sets the stage for, the book
of Habakkuk, and what you find inthis book is that God responds.
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God tells him, I am going to dosomething about this, but I will
do it in my way and I will do itwhen I decide is best not you.
And sometimes in life we have to rememberthat God is the one that knows much
better about the situation than we do.
God knew that the evil was goingto happen before it even happened.
Yet we come on the scene andwe try to advise God about it.
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At least we try to plead withGod about what he should do.
Now, that's our human side.
Habakkuk was doing that out of a goodmotive, but he was not seeing what God saw
and God has to take him to school here.
God has to give him an education inthis and we can get the same education
and should, if we just read the Bible.
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Let's go to Revelation chapter six.
At the very end of the Bible,you find an interesting statement
made about this problem.
In Revelation, you find that the peopleof God are being persecuted, the saints
of God are being persecuted, and asa result, some of these people are
dying for their faith in Jesus Christ.
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In Revelation chapter six, beginningin verse nine, the Bible says, “When
he opened the fifth seal, I saw underthe altar the souls of those who had
been slain for the word of God andfor the testimony which they held.
They cried with a loud voice, saying,How long, O Lord, holy and true,
until you judge and avenge our bloodon those who dwell on the earth?”
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Now these are the saintswho have been put to death.
They have been beheaded forthe cause of Jesus Christ.
This is the first century settingnow because persecution was
getting very intense at this time.
There was a Jewish wave of persecutionthat was followed by the Roman wave of
persecution against the church, and soChristians were being arrested, they
(28:54):
were being beaten, and some of themwere being put to death for their faith.
Now these saints are representedthen as their souls crying out
from the altar, saying how muchlonger, Lord until you intervene,
until you do something about that?
And that's where it gets interestingbecause the Book of Revelation actually
does address that kind of questionbecause it talks about the judgment of
(29:16):
God, especially upon those persecutors.
So from the early days of theBible, all the way through the
Book of Revelation, you find thissubject is very, very common.
You find great men of God.
You find holy men of God crying outto him about the injustice of life and
about the fact that it's so unfair.
Now, all these men had the same feelingsand the same questions, the same thoughts,
(29:38):
and the same doubts that you and I do.
But they never gave up.
They never turned against God.
They didn't get so madthat they turned bitter.
They did just the opposite.
They used the problem of sin and sufferingas steps to a higher level of faith.
You and I can do the same now.
That's why we'll be talking aboutthis profound topic for weeks to come.
(29:59):
Thank you for listeningto My God and My Neighbor.
Stay connected with our podcast on ourwebsite, and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or wherever fine podcasts our distributed.
Tennessee Bible College, providingChristian education since 1975
in Cookeville, Tennessee, offersundergraduate and graduate programs.
(30:19):
Study at your level.
Aim higher and get in touch with us today.
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