Genesis: Creation, Fall, and Dominion

How Good Are You At Receiving Evil?

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Old Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2023-02-03

Synopsis: Pastor John Weaver examines Job 2:7-10, focusing on Job's question, 'Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?' He explains that 'evil' here refers to adversity, affliction, and distress, not sin. God, in His sovereign providence, sends both good and evil for our benefit—to chasten, teach, and sanctify us. Believers must learn to receive both with submission and gratitude, trusting that God's grace is sufficient and that all things work for good.

[John Weaver] Job and we're going to be reading chapter 2 verses 7 through 10 the title of the message is How good are you at receiving evil? How good are you at receiving evil? notice in Job chapter 2 Beginning there with verse 7, the Bible says, So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with the sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

[John Weaver] And he took on him a potsherd to scrape himself withal, and he sat down among the ashes. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die! But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips."

[John Weaver] Have you ever stopped and think about this question? How good are you at receiving evil? How in the world would you answer such a question as that? I'm sure that you would answer that question with a question, and that question would be, what is meant by evil? Because normally you would say, when you think of the word evil, that you're thinking of that, about that, which is sinful, wicked, wrong, a transgression of God's law.

[John Weaver] And we would certainly not want to receive that in any way. And I believe it's only normal and natural that we hear the word evil and we think of sin and wickedness. But the truth of the matter is the word evil is not always used in that kind of context. It does not always refer to that which is a violation of God's law and that which is sinful in and of itself. In the context of Job's statement, in Job 2 and verse 10, evil happens to be the opposite of good. In our text in verse 10, the English word good is from the Hebrew word tolb, which refers to that which is good, pleasant, agreeable, a benefit, blessing and a bounty. The word evil is from the Hebrew word ra'ah which refers to that which is bad, sore, and adversity, and that which is an affliction, that which is disagreeable, displeasing, and ill-favored. The same word is used in verse 11. If you will look at that word again, now when Job's three friends heard all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Namathite, for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to

[John Weaver] comfort him. It is evil in the sense that it is hurtful, distressful, And it causes us misery.

[John Weaver] Now, when you read verse 11, now when the three friends of Job heard all this evil that was come upon him, that would refer you back to chapter 1. And when you stop and think in chapter 1, Job lost 10 children plus all of his possessions in one day. The loss of all of our children in one day would be sufficient, I am sure, to bring us to our knees, but the loss of our children and the loss of all of our possessions in one day would certainly bring us to a full stop. On top of that, you would have to consider that Job had what I would just simply identify as a nagging and a disagreeable wife who counseled him to go ahead and curse God and die. And on top of that, Job then was afflicted with a horrible disease or horrible plague. And just stop and think, in light of losing all of his children, all of his possessions, and his wife then urging him to curse God and die, he's now taking a potsherd, and he's scraping the pus and the worms from his body, If that would not bring you to a full stop, I

[John Weaver] don't know what really would. And so Job's wife, then, when she saw the agony and the suffering that he was going through, just said, curse God and die. Well, Job did not answer her in a rage. Job was very kind. He was very patient. He was very loving. But he answered her with reason. So in verse 9, Then his wife said unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did Job not sin with his lips."

[John Weaver] Now, the interesting thing is the word for foolish is the word nabal. And it literally means someone who is a fool, a vile person, someone who is foolish, either a man or a woman.

[John Weaver] Now, the same word is used in reference to a man's name in 1 Samuel chapter 25. You remember David was running from Saul and living in the wilderness, and he and his men had protected a man's shepherd and his sheep. And when David found out that the man was shearing his sheep and having a good feast, he sent his young men to him and asked for a blessing. And the man railed upon David's servants and sent them away. And the Bible says in 1 Samuel chapter 25 and verse 3, now the name of the man was Nabal and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance, but the man was churlish and evil in his doings, and he was of the house of Caleb." Now, when you read that verse, I cannot help but think how in the world could a wise, beautiful, good-looking woman fall for a man like that who is basically foolish and evil and wicked and selfish and unkind.

[John Weaver] Well, when he railed upon David's men, They went back and told David, and David said, gird every man on his sword. And he said, I'm going to teach him a lesson. And of course, the servants then came and told Abigail. And then she took a blessing, and she took figs, and she took raisins, and she took meat. And she came to meet David and fell down, and she said this. Let not, my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him, but I, thy handmaid, saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst sin. So she said, his name is Nabal, which means a fool. He's a fool. He is absolutely foolish. And she also called him then a son of Belial. So when Job then spoke to his wife and he said, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. Wow! He was saying to his wife very lovingly and very kindly that those who are willing to receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil at the hand of God are very foolish They're vile, and they're demonstrating themselves as being a son of Belial, or the son of the devil.

[John Weaver] Now, I certainly don't want to be considered foolish, and I certainly do not want to be considered a son of the devil. Now, I told you that the word evil here is used in the opposition to that which is good, and we must understand that in God's sovereign providence, He does indeed bring Into each of our lives that which is good and that which is evil and he has the absolute right to do so Because he has the absolute right to try us to test us and he also has the right to chase it us when we're disobedient now God's providence is many times and most of the time very favorable But sometimes it is not so favorable.

[John Weaver] Let me show you I want you to hold Job chapter 2 But turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. And let's begin reading there with verse 5. And stop and think about this with me. Hebrews chapter 12, beginning there with verse 5. Because here we're reading about God's hand of chastening. And he says this in verse 5, and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son despised not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? For if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons.

[John Weaver] Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence." Now here's the question, shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

[John Weaver] Now watch, for they, that is the earthly fathers, verily for a few days chasten us after their own pleasure, but he for our prophet, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterwards it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby." So, our Lord here talks about chastening and he also talks about the fact that our earthly fathers chastened us. And I can truthfully say that when I was a young boy, I got my share of what we would call whippings, chastening, and none of them were enjoyable. I laugh because I've heard my father say when I was a young child and he was about to whip me, he'd say, now, son, this is going to hurt me worse than it does you.

[John Weaver] And I thought, oh, no, he's lying, too. I knew it was going to hurt me until I got grown and I had to discipline my own children. And then I understood what he meant. Of course, it grieved him in order to have to do that. But the truth of the matter is this. After I got grown and mature, I really got to be very thankful for the chastening that my father gave me, because it pointed me in the right direction and certainly made me stop and think that, you know, you don't sin and get by with it. It's just that simple. So in light of this, we have to understand that God's chastening upon us for our sins, for our disobedience, is for our good.

[John Weaver] He always does it for our profit. He always does it for our own holiness. He always does it for our own benefit. And so clearly it always works.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to show you, I want you to turn back in your Bibles to Psalm 119, because I want you to see three verses. David understood this and David learned from the afflictions. from the chastisement, from the evil that God brought upon him in his life. So, in Psalm 119, the first verse is verse 67. David said, Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. Note that. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. What was it that brought David back in line? It was affliction, it was chastisement, it was some type of evil that God brought in his life. He said, now, however, I have kept thy word. Now, skip down to verse 71. Again, he said it like this, it is good for me that I've been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. So, in affliction, God oftentimes teaches us his principles, his truths, his word, that we may apply them to our lives. And then if you look in verse 75, David then confessed, I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hath afflicted me.

[John Weaver] Notice that, I know that thou in faithfulness hath afflicted me. In other words, a faithful parent will not only commend and bless obedience, but will also condemn and punish disobedience. And God, in His faithfulness to us, afflicts us oftentimes in His providence, bringing that upon us which is distressful and miserable, something that you and I do not like and do not enjoy.

[John Weaver] Now I want to read just a short article for you from Grace Gyms, and this happens to be on afflictions. It's taking the text of Lamentations chapter 3 and verse 33 when the Bible says concerning God, He doth not afflict willingly. And you must understand that godly parents do not afflict willingly either. They're not in any wise just waiting for their child to mess up just so they can chasten him. Likewise, God is not some old meanie in heaven with a big whipping stick in his hand just waiting for you and I to mess up. No, the Bible says, he doth not afflict willingly. Now here's the article. Here's a fact that is well known.

[John Weaver] The Lord afflicts his children. Trouble never springs out of the dust, nor do afflictions come by chance. No, every trial and affliction is sent from our Father's throne, and its direction is written by our Father's hand. He appoints the kind, the degree, and the direction of our afflictions. We are afflicted with disappointments, losses, and crosses. None are exempt. None can always escape, for the Lord tries the righteous, and many are the afflictions of the righteous.

[John Weaver] He does not afflict willingly. He only grieves us from necessity. He has fixed His end, which is to make us holy, and to conform us to the image of His Son. From this He will not be diverted, but He shall surely accomplish it. In the afflictions which He sends, God aims at our deeper sanctification, or our greater usefulness, or simply at His own glory, which is always linked with our good.

[John Weaver] He therefore afflicts us to exercise our graces. These would otherwise lie dormant, become weak, fade, and wither. God afflicts His children to wean us from the world, to which we are too much attached and would be more so if it were not for trials, disappointments, and vexations. God afflicts his children to embitter sin, which is the prolific root on which every pain, grief, and sorrow grows. God afflicts his children to endear the Savior, who is our solace in sorrow and will be our glorious deliverer from it.

[John Weaver] Never does Jesus appears so precious as in the hours of trouble and trial. God afflicts His children to prevent our falling into temptations, which we would do more frequently if we were not kept awake and watchful by our various sorrows. God afflicts His children to make us fit for usefulness, for as the land must be plowed, harrowed, and crushed, if it is to be fruitful and supply our needs, Just so much we be tempted tried and troubled if we're to be of much use to man or to bring much glory to God God afflicts his children to make us long for heaven which we seldom do when all is pleasant bright and sunny below So when we talk about afflictions when we talk about that, which is evil Just that one short article shows you that there are many uses for afflictions and that here's the truth

[John Weaver] The truth of the matter is you and I are so accustomed to receiving good at the hand of God that when something bitter, something vile, something distasteful, something that causes us misery or short bit of pain, we begin to wince and complain and bellyache even when things do not go as we plan and as we desire. In other words, we forget one truth. We forget that God always set the good and the evil together in order to teach us certain truths. Let me show you.

[John Weaver] If you will turn right over to the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Ecclesiastes chapter 7. After Proverbs you have Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and let's begin reading there with verse 13. Ecclesiastes chapter 7 Verse 13, the word of God says, consider the work of God for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked in the day of prosperity, be joyful. That's the good. But in the day of adversity, that's the evil. But in the day of adversity, consider God also has set the one over against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him. In other words, God weans us from ourselves. He weans us from the world. He weans us from the fact that we're not going to be able to keep whatever He's given us forever and ever and ever and ever. No.

[John Weaver] We can't boast in our riches because we'll take none of them with us. We can't boast of our strength because we will die and lose all of our strength. In other words, God has set the good over against the evil to teach us that we must find in Him our all and in all. Now, John Trapp, the old Puritan, said it like this, Shall we receive good at the hands of God and not evil?

[John Weaver] Shall we not eat the crust with the crumb? Drink the sour with the sweet? Bless God as well for taking away as forgiving. Accept the chastisement of our iniquity. Receive it patiently, thankfully, fruitfully. Shall we be all for comforts and nothing at all for crosses? Is it not equal that we should share in both since it is the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed." And that certainly is true.

[John Weaver] Now, also in Lamentations 3 and verse 39, there is another verse that is equally applicable to the truth that God is teaching us, and that is this. Jeremiah wrote, wherefore doth the living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins? So if we do that which deserves chastisement, if we do that which deserves punishment, why in the world should we complain when God chastens us or when God punishes us?

[John Weaver] In other words, we must recognize that as a faithful father, if we sin against him, he will indeed chasten us. Now, there are many things in the Bible there are many things in life that we understand and that we could label as an evil. If you ever stop to think about the loss of a child, or the loss of a spouse, that would certainly be an evil.

[John Weaver] One thing I mentioned about Ralph and Teresa and asking prayer for them. I almost laugh because Ralph, I don't know that he's more dependent upon Teresa, his wife, than I am upon Alice. But I usually tell people, if the Lord took her first, I'd have to marry 40 to take her place. And Steve, the one reason I've never left her is I don't know where everything is. She knows. I only know where my books and my weapons are and that's it. She keeps up with everything else.

[John Weaver] So, I'm just saying, it would be considered an evil. It would be considered something that would be distressful. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles, if you would, first of all, to Genesis chapter 44. Genesis 44. Genesis 44 you remember Joseph now is second-in-command in Egypt and his brethren have gone down to buy bread and Of course Joseph knows who they are and they do not know who he is and he has accused them of being spies And of course he said you're not going to see my face

[John Weaver] unless you bring Benjamin the younger son of Jacob. Of course, that was his full brother. And so, when they start to leave, then Joseph is going to detain Benjamin because his cup was found in Benjamin's sack. And so, Judah then begs to be the replacement for Benjamin because he knows what is going to happen when they go back and Benjamin is not there, his father will probably die.

[John Weaver] So look in Genesis 44, beginning there with verse 26. He said, And we said, We cannot go down, if our youngest brother be with us. Then we will go down, for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant my father said unto us, You know that my wife bare me two sons, and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces, and I saw him not since." That would be Joseph.

[John Weaver] And if you take this also from me, and mischief befall him, you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore, when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us, seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life, It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die. And thy servant shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant, that is Judah, became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord, and let the lad go with his brethren. Watch carefully, for how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me, lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come upon my father." So the evil here is that which is distressful, that which we would call bad.

[John Weaver] It's not necessarily a violation against God's law, but it's something that just causes us extreme misery. Now, if you would turn also in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 17, because in the similar vein, Elijah, when he discovered that the widow's son had died, he spoke of it as an evil. If you will look at it in 1 Kings chapter 17 and verse 17, Let's begin there. First Kings 17 and verse 17. And it came to pass after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick.

[John Weaver] And his sickness was so sore, there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, what am I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou coming to me to call my sin to remembrance and to slay my son? And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourned by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come unto him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came unto him again, and he revived." But notice, if you would please, what he said when he was praying to the Lord. The Bible says, in verse 20, and he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, has also brought evil upon the widow.

[John Weaver] Interestingly enough, the word evil in both 1st Kings 17 and Genesis 44 happens to be the exact same Hebrew word that you find in Job 2 and verse 10 when Job asked, shall we receive good at the hand of God and not evil? So the word evil then just simply refers to that which is disagreeable to us, which causes us distress and misery as well. Now, how good are you at receiving evil? Think about that question. Because there are a lot of things that happen to us oftentimes that we just simply do not like. Let me ask you again a question. How would you like for someone to stand up in your face, and as we say in South Georgia, cuss you out?

[John Weaver] I mean, just call you a low-down scumbag, call you everything under the earth that is displeasing, distasteful, despicable. How would you, what would you do? Well, let me show you what David did. I want you to turn in your Bibles. to 2 Samuel chapter 16. 2 Samuel chapter 16. And let's begin reading there with verse 5. Here's a man by the name of Shimei. Shimei was of the tribe of Benjamin.

[John Weaver] You remember King Saul was a Benjamite. Now, David has taken Saul's place as king. And by the way, David did not slay Saul. He did not slay any of Saul's family. In fact, he spared Saul's family. He not only spared Mephibosheth, who was Jonathan's son, but he restored to Mephibosheth everything that Saul had. So he took nothing from Saul. So if you'll look in 2 Samuel 16, beginning there with verse 5, Absalom has rebelled against David.

[John Weaver] He's run him off the throne. David and his household and those around him or fleeing Jerusalem and here's what happens and When King David came to Bahrain the whole fence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul whose name was Shimei the son of Gera he came forth and cursed still as he came and He cast stones at David And all the servants of King David, and all the people, and all the mighty men were on the right hand and on the left.

[John Weaver] Now I've got to tell you something right now. This man was not very bright. If you know anything about Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel, and some of these men with David, no, no, no. He was not very bright, I can assure you. He may have been very upset, but he was not very bright. So look what he said. In verse 7, And thus saith Shammai, when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, thou man of Belial. So he's calling David a murderer and he's calling him a son of the devil. Verse 8.

[John Weaver] He goes on, he says, The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned. And the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son. And behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man. Watch this. Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head.

[John Weaver] And I got news for you, he would have. had David said, go. And the king said, what have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? So let him curse, because the Lord had said unto him, curse David. Who shall then say, wherefore hast thou done so? And David said to Abishai and to all of his servants, behold, my son, which came forth of my own bowels, seeketh my life.

[John Weaver] How much more now may this Benjamite do it? Let him alone and let him curse for the Lord hath bidden it. It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction. That's the cursing. And that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day. And as David and his men went by the way, Shammai went along on the hillside over against him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and cast dust. Wow. And David said, let him curse. Let him curse. It may be that the Lord will turn this into a blessing. If the Lord has bidden him to curse me, let him curse me.

[John Weaver] It's not going to bother me. I'll just submit and keep going. Interestingly, listen carefully. No matter what the test, no matter what the trial, no matter what the evil, no matter what the affliction, the easiest and the quickest way out of it will be by obedience. submission some of us do not go through what others go through as some of us are spared some of us suffer more than others and it's God who determines what evil befalls us and he determines that evil for our good and for his glory When you think about Daniel, Daniel was cast in

[John Weaver] the den of lions and he stayed there overnight. Because the next morning the king came early saying, Oh, Daniel is I God whom thou servest able to deliver thee out of the mouths of lions. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown in the burning fire and furnace. In all probability, Daniel was in the lion's den longer than the three Hebrew children were in the fiery furnace. Job was probably afflicted much longer than Daniel was in the den of lions.

[John Weaver] So the point I'm trying to make at this point, the way out is always through submission and obedience. And the more stubborn we are, the more stiff-necked we are, the more hard-headed we are, the more rebellious we are, the longer we're going to stay in the test, in the trial, in the affliction, the longer we're going to stay in that which is evil. It's just that simple.

[John Weaver] Now, I want to tell you something. You may not want to hear what I'm about to say, but what I'm about to say is absolutely true. If you are a child of God, whatever God puts upon you, you can take. Whatever God puts upon you, you can take. God in His all-wise, holy, and righteous providence knows exactly what we need He knows exactly what it will take to break us and make us submissive. He knows exactly what it will take to make us obedient. He knows exactly what it will take to make us and to teach us to pray and to seek Him. He knows exactly what it will take to encourage us to exercise the graces and the gifts that He's given unto us. And He understands that whatever He sends our way, And what we need to understand is always for our good and for His glory. So, let me tell you this. The reason I can tell you is that whatever God places upon you, you can take, is because of God's promise.

[John Weaver] I want to show you that promise. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13. I will quote it to you. You need to memorize this verse. This verse has helped me immeasurably over the years. First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13, God says, there is no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.

[John Weaver] Now, let me just stop right there. There's no temptation. There's no test. There's no trial. There's no affliction. There's no evil taken you, but such as is common to man. So whatever Steve goes through is common to Gary. Whatever Gary goes through is common to David. Whatever David goes through is common to me. And in other words, God never puts anything superhuman or supernatural upon us. Whatever it is, it's common.

[John Weaver] That obliterates the excuse most people give when they say, but nobody's ever gone through what I'm going through. That's hogwash. Everything is common to man There are no temptation taking you but such as common demand listen to this But God is faithful who will not suffer or allow you to be tempted above that which you're able to understand God knows Exactly what you can take and what you cannot take He's never going to overload you there will never be the straw that breaks the camel's back placed upon you There's no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not allow you to be tempted above that you're able to listen carefully, but will with the temptation, make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. In other words, every time we go through a test or a trial or affliction or an evil, there's always a way of escape. Usually that way of escape is through submission and obedience. Now.

[John Weaver] I want you to stop and think about this. We should be thankful that most of our tests and afflictions and trials and evils are temporary. They're not permanent. They're temporary. I remember hearing about one old black preacher. Someone asked him what his favorite verse was in the Bible. He said, well, it's not just a verse. He said, it occurs over and over in the Bible. He says those four words.

[John Weaver] I said, what are they? Now it came to pass. He said, didn't come to stay. It came to pass. And he said, that's my philosophy. It came to pass. And that's true. It didn't come to stay, but sometimes we have to live with things reason let me show you look in your Bibles to 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 beginning there with verse 7 in this passage the Apostle Paul was given a thorn in the flesh 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 if you look at verse 7 The Apostle says, and lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. It was a thorn in the flesh. Something bothered him.

[John Weaver] For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

[John Weaver] So the Apostle Paul had this thorn in the flesh. Three times he asked God to remove it. God says, no, my grace is sufficient for thee. I'm going to let you keep this one. And Paul said he was going to therefore glory in his infirmities, in his weaknesses, that he might trust Christ to bring him through. So the question is, what in the world was this thorn in the flesh?

[John Weaver] I laughingly say, I know it was not his wife. Because as far as I know, he was not married, or at least if he was, his wife must have died or something happened. Because at one point in the scripture, he said, have not I and Barnabas have the power to lead around a wife, a sister as does Cephas or as does Peter? So evidently Paul was not married. Some think he was married at one time because you had to be married to be a member of the Sanhedrin. Whether he was or not, I do not know, but at one point he was not.

[John Weaver] So what in the world was this thorn in the flesh? Well, many scholars think that it was a condition related to his eyes of thalamia. And there's a reason for this. If you look in your Bibles, turn right over to the book of Galatians chapter 4, and begin there with verse 13. I want you to see what the scripture says. Paul is writing to these Galatians and he makes this statement. Galatians 4 verse 13. He says, you know how through infirmity of the flesh, see there's that weakness in the flesh, whatever it was, you know how through infirmity of the flesh I preach the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation There's my test, my trial, which was in my flesh. He's mentioning it again.

[John Weaver] You despise not, nor rejected, but receive me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is in the blessedness you speak of? For I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me. So many people take this passage and say it had to be related to his eyes. John Eady wrote and said this, but some give the phrase a more literal significance or rather suppose a more literal reason for the use of the figure. They suppose that the asthenia, that is weakness, was some kind of ophthalmic disorder. The meaning in that case is the Galatians would have parted with their eyes to him, could the gift have relieved the apostle. So that's what he said, you would have given me your eyes since I'm having such problem with my eyes.

[John Weaver] And whatever this condition was, it made him repulsive in his face. If you look back in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 and Look if you would please at verse 1 He says now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ who in presence and base among you But being absent and bold towards you now skip down to verse 10 and For his letters say they are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is contemptible." So, it undoubtedly affected his face and maybe his speech as well. Now, if you look back in your Bibles to the book of Galatians chapter 6 and verse 11, Here's another passage that seemingly indicates that Paul had very serious eye problems. In Galatians chapter 6 and verse 11, he just makes this statement, you see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.

[John Weaver] Now the Greek word for large is the word pelikos, which means how great or how large or literally with what good or great text letters. Now, it may surprise you to learn that Paul did not usually write his own epistles. He signed all of his epistles, but he usually had a secretary or one known as an aminuasis. Adam Clark, in his commentary, said this, some think that he refers to the length of the epistle, others to the largeness of the letters, in which the epistle is written, others to the inadequacy of the apostle's writing, which I really doubt that. It appears plain that most of his epistles were written by an aminous or a secretary and simply subscribed by himself. But the whole of the epistle to the Galatians is written with his own hands.

[John Weaver] Now, when you get to like Romans chapter 16 and verse 22, I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord. Paul had many secretaries who wrote for him, and he just normally signed, and when you read this in verse 11, you see how large a letter. It could be, and of course, Paul's epistles. Many of them are much larger than six chapters, but six chapters could have been a long letter for the apostle Paul, but it could also refer to the largeness of letters, and usually someone with poor eyesight Usually it writes in much larger letters as well. So whatever Paul's thorn in the flesh was, he lived with it. He ministered with it.

[John Weaver] Some of you may have seen a film that came out years ago about a Christian man who was in a plane. I think it was a private plane. that crashed. And he was burned horribly. His face totally, completely disfigured. And yet, he continued to be a preacher and teacher of truth. And when you stood and looked at him, you'd want to actually turn your head away because his face was so absolutely disfigured. by the fire.

[John Weaver] Even through reconstruction they could not do everything. And so the Apostle Paul, whatever it was, he lived with that and he preached through that and ministered through that. So sometimes there are things that God allows to stay in our lives that we cannot get rid of because it's not his will. It's his will that we bear under and bear up by His grace and by His mercy.

[John Weaver] Now I want to show you something. Look in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 24. Isaiah chapter 24. Then I'm going to make some applications. But look in Isaiah chapter 24 and verses 14 and 15. Isaiah 24 verses 14 and 15. Here it is. Then they shall lift up their voice Now look at that, they shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea, wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea. So we're called upon to glorify God in the fires.

[John Weaver] So the question has to be asked, How good are you at receiving evil? The truth is that we should become good at receiving whatever the Sovereign, Righteous, Holy Father sends to us, because He knows exactly what we need.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make a statement. If we understood one simple truth, we would never murmur, bellyache, or complain at whatever God sends us. And that simple truth is this. We do not deserve anything but justice. And anything that God gives us that is not justice mercy and grace. It's kind of like Jacob said in Genesis 32 in verse 10 when he said I do not deserve the least of thy mercies of all the truth which thou has shown unto me. So Job asked shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil. So we need to become good and receiving both good and evil. Now, let me make some applications. Here's the first one. The first one is a very, very simple truth. We're told in Lamentations 3 in verse 33, that he, God, doth not afflict willingly.

[John Weaver] So let me ask you, how many of you parents Have you ever taken a switch or a belt or a paddle to an obedient, loving child? And the answer is what? None of us. You don't chastise a loving, obedient child. You only chastise children that are disobedient, dishonorable. Disrespectful. So I'm just pointing this out. God is not some old meanie in heaven with a huge stick in his hand just waiting for us to mess up where he can whop us upside the head with it.

[John Weaver] No, he does not afflict willingly. He is not waiting to discipline us. He wants us to be obedient. He wants us to be holy. I pointed out when I read the article from Grace Gyms, there are other reasons for afflictions and tests. It's not just disobedience. It could be God needing to awaken some grace in us, or make us pray more, or seek Him more, or to love Him more, or to long more for heaven. There are plenty of reasons.

[John Weaver] But here's a truth that I've enunciated here over and over and over, and I'm going to say it again, and that is this. Blessings follow obedience, and curses follow disobedience. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 30, Deuteronomy chapter 30, and look if you would beginning there with verse 15. Deuteronomy 30 verse 15. Look what God says.

[John Weaver] Deuteronomy 30 verse 15 see I've set before thee this day life and good and death and evil and Then I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God To walk in his ways and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments that thou mayest live and multiply And the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whether thou goes to possess it But if thine heart turn away so that thou will not hear but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them. I denounce unto you this day that you shall surely perish, and that you shall not prolong your days upon this land, whether thou passest over Jordan, or go to Bethsaida."

[John Weaver] So what did he say? He said, I've set before you life and good, death and evil. Choose life, choose good, choose obedience. You do not punish an obedient, loving child. It's just that Simple so we need to learn that God doth not afflict us willingly. Here's the second one and This should be an absolute comfort to each one of us when we realize and when we recognize That everything that God sends our way both good and evil Works for our benefit and works for our Good.

[John Weaver] You can quote the verse Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that are called according to his purpose, to them that love the Lord, to them that were called according to his purpose. What? We know that all things work to good. Whether it's good, whether it's evil, whether we like it, whether we dislike it, all things work together for good. It's coming for our benefit. It's coming for our holiness, for our sanctification. It's coming for our good and for God's glory.

[John Weaver] And here's the third one. We must learn also, and we must also beware, that we do not lose the benefits of affliction. We don't want to lose the benefits of affliction. David said, before I went astray, and before I heard thy word, I went astray, but after I got afflicted, I kept your law, I kept your statute. I learned from my afflictions. You heard me say this because I've said it here before. When I was a teenager, I talked back to my father one time. That's all it took for me to learn. Because when he got through with me, I learned, you do not talk back to your father. All I'm saying is, listen, we must learn through all of our afflictions.

[John Weaver] Job said in Job 23 and verse 10, But he knoweth the way that I take, and when I come forth, I shall come forth as gold. David said it like this in Psalm 17 in verse 3, Thou hast proved my heart, Thou hast visited me in the night, Thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing, I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. In other words, think about it like this, Job said, Shall we not receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil? And then the next little statement, And all this Job's sin not with his lips.

[John Weaver] He didn't start crying, woe is me, why is me? Why is this happening to me? Lord, I don't want to do this. No, no, no, no. He just took it. He just took it.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to turn to one last passage. I want you to turn to 1 Peter chapter 1. I want you to see what Peter says to believers. 1 Peter. Chapter 1 and let's begin reading there with verse 6 1st Peter 1 and verse 6 Look what he says In fact, let's read verse 5 so you can see the context who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation Ready to be revealed in the last time wherein you greatly

[John Weaver] rejoice and Though now for a season, if need be, you were in heaviness through manifold temptations, that is, variegated, many-colored temptations, different kinds of temptations, that the trial of your faith, persecutions, being much more precious than that of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love, and whom though now you see him not yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." Isn't that interesting? When he talks about those manifold temptations, And he's talking about the trial of your faith. He's talking about loving and rejoicing.

[John Weaver] So Job asked, shall we receive good at the hand of God and not evil? When you understand that everything that God gives us is for our good and his glory. And when Job's wife said, Curse God and die, he said, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women. You're a Nabal. Don't be so foolish. Shall we not receive good and shall we not receive evil as both gifts from God. So how good are you at receiving evil? The truth is, we usually don't like it. And consequently, we don't learn from it. But if God brings it our way, we can take it and we can learn from it by His grace and His mercy. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that you would help us, that you would teach us, that you would build us up in the most holy faith, that you would make us thankful, Father, for both the good and the evil. In fact, we're told in the book of James, you've heard of the patience of Job. And how the Lord rewarded Job for his patience for his suffering Lord help us to understand that everything that happens to us comes of thy hand and we're to bow to thee and be thankful give us grace to serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear in thy name we pray amen ♪

[John Weaver] ♪ ♪ you

How Good Are You At Receiving Evil?

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	EmdPOb2N2yk
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Genesis: Creation, Fall, and Dominion
Genre	Sermon
Date	2023-02-03
Dictation Name
Book	Book 075: Genesis — Chapter 21
Source Timed Segments	79

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Question of Receiving Evil

Weaver introduces the topic from Job 2:7-10, posing the question of how well we receive evil, and clarifies that 'evil' in this context means adversity, not sin.

Job, and we're going to be reading chapter 2, verses 7 through 10. The title of the message is, "How Good Are You at Receiving Evil?" How good are you at receiving evil? Notice in Job chapter 2, beginning there with verse 7, the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Job 2:7-10

"So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." "And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal, and he sat down among the ashes. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die! But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips."

Have you ever stopped and thought about this question? How good are you at receiving evil? How in the world would you answer such a question as that? I'm sure that you would answer that question with a question, and that question would be, "What is meant by evil?" Because normally, when you think of the word "evil," you're thinking of that which is sinful, wicked, wrong, a transgression of God's law.

Defining 'Evil' in Job's Context

The Hebrew word 'ra‘ah' is defined as bad, sore, adversity, affliction—the opposite of 'tov' (good). Job's friends heard of this 'evil' that came upon him.

And we would certainly not want to receive that in any way. And I believe it's only normal and natural that we hear the word "evil" and we think of sin and wickedness. But the truth of the matter is, the word "evil" is not always used in that kind of context. It does not always refer to that which is a violation of God's law and that which is sinful in and of itself. In the context of Job's statement, in Job 2 and verse 10, evil happens to be the opposite of good. In our text in verse 10, the English word "good" is from the Hebrew word "tov," which refers to that which is good, pleasant, agreeable, a benefit, blessing, and a bounty. The word "evil" is from the Hebrew word "ra‘ah," which refers to that which is bad, sore, adversity, and that which is an affliction, that which is disagreeable, displeasing, and ill-favored. The same word is used in verse 11. If you will look at that word again, "Now when Job's three friends heard all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to

comfort him." It is evil in the sense that it is hurtful, distressful, and it causes us misery.

Job's Calamities and His Response

Job lost children, possessions, health, and faced a discouraging wife, yet he responded with reason and did not sin with his lips, calling her foolish.

Now, when you read verse 11, "Now when the three friends of Job heard all this evil that was come upon him," that would refer you back to chapter 1. And when you stop and think, in chapter 1, Job lost ten children plus all of his possessions in one day. The loss of all of our children in one day would be sufficient, I am sure, to bring us to our knees, but the loss of our children and the loss of all of our possessions in one day would certainly bring us to a full stop. On top of that, you would have to consider that Job had what I would just simply identify as a nagging and disagreeable wife who counseled him to go ahead and curse God and die. And on top of that, Job then was afflicted with a horrible disease or horrible plague. And just stop and think, in light of losing all of his children, all of his possessions, and his wife then urging him to curse God and die, he's now taking a potsherd, and he's scraping the pus and the worms from his body. If that would not bring you to a full stop, I

don't know what really would. And so Job's wife, then, when she saw the agony and the suffering that he was going through, just said, "Curse God and die." Well, Job did not answer her in a rage. Job was very kind. He was very patient. He was very loving. But he answered her with reason. So in verse 9, "Then his wife said unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did Job not sin with his lips."

Now, the interesting thing is the word for "foolish" is the word "nabal." And it literally means someone who is a fool, a vile person, someone who is foolish, either a man or a woman.

The Foolishness of Rejecting Evil from God

Using the word 'nabal' (fool), Weaver links Job's wife's counsel to the character of Nabal in 1 Samuel 25, showing that rejecting evil from God is foolish and akin to being a son of Belial.

Now, the same word is used in reference to a man's name in 1 Samuel chapter 25. You remember David was running from Saul and living in the wilderness, and he and his men had protected a man's shepherds and his sheep. And when David found out that the man was shearing his sheep and having a good feast, he sent his young men to him and asked for a blessing. And the man railed upon David's servants and sent them away. And the Bible says in 1 Samuel chapter 25 and verse 3, "Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance, but the man was churlish and evil in his doings, and he was of the house of Caleb." Now, when you read that verse, I cannot help but think, how in the world could a wise, beautiful, good-looking woman fall for a man like that who is basically foolish and evil and wicked and selfish and unkind?

Well, when he railed upon David's men, they went back and told David, and David said, "Gird every man on his sword." And he said, "I'm going to teach him a lesson." And of course, the servants then came and told Abigail. And then she took a blessing, and she took figs, and she took raisins, and she took meat. And she came to meet David and fell down, and she said this: "Let not, my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him, but I, thy handmaid, saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send." So she said, "His name is Nabal," which means a fool. He's a fool. He is absolutely foolish. And she also called him then a son of Belial. So when Job then spoke to his wife and he said, "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh," wow! He was saying to his wife very lovingly and very kindly that those who are willing to receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil at the hand of God are very foolish. They're vile, and they're demonstrating themselves as being a son of Belial, or the son of the devil.

Now, I certainly don't want to be considered foolish, and I certainly do not want to be considered a son of the devil. Now, I told you that the word "evil" here is used in opposition to that which is good, and we must understand that in God's sovereign providence, He does indeed bring into each of our lives that which is good and that which is evil, and He has the absolute right to do so, because He has the absolute right to try us, to test us, and He also has the right to chasten us when we're disobedient. Now, God's providence is many times, and most of the time, very favorable. But sometimes it is not so favorable.

God's Purpose in Chastening

Hebrews 12:5-11 teaches that God chastens those He loves for their profit and holiness. Earthly fathers chasten for good; God's chastening yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Let me show you. I want you to hold Job chapter 2, but turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. And let's begin reading there with verse 5. And stop and think about this with me. Hebrews chapter 12, beginning there with verse 5. Because here we're reading about God's hand of chastening. And he says this in verse 5, "And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? For if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons."

"Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence." Now here's the question, "Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?" Now watch, "For they," that is the earthly fathers, "verily for a few days chasten us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby." So, our Lord here talks about chastening, and He also talks about the fact that our earthly fathers chastened us. And I can truthfully say that when I was a young boy, I got my share of what we would call whippings, chastening, and none of them were enjoyable. I laugh because I've heard my father say when I was a young child and he was about to whip me, he'd say, "Now, son, this is going to hurt me worse than it does you."

And I thought, "Oh, no, he's lying, too." I knew it was going to hurt me until I got grown and I had to discipline my own children. And then I understood what he meant. Of course, it grieved him in order to have to do that. But the truth of the matter is this: after I got grown and mature, I really got to be very thankful for the chastening that my father gave me, because it pointed me in the right direction and certainly made me stop and think that, you know, you don't sin and get by with it. It's just that simple. So in light of this, we have to understand that God's chastening upon us for our sins, for our disobedience, is for our good. He always does it for our profit. He always does it for our own holiness. He always does it for our own benefit. And so clearly it always works.

Learning from Affliction: David's Testimony

Psalm 119:67, 71, 75 show David learned obedience through affliction, acknowledging God's faithfulness in sending it.

Now, I want to show you. I want you to turn back in your Bibles to Psalm 119, because I want you to see three verses. David understood this, and David learned from the afflictions, from the chastisement, from the evil that God brought upon him in his life. So, in Psalm 119, the first verse is verse 67. David said, "Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word." Note that. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. What was it that brought David back in line? It was affliction, it was chastisement, it was some type of evil that God brought in his life. He said, "Now, however, I have kept thy word." Now, skip down to verse 71. Again, he said it like this: "It is good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes." So, in affliction, God oftentimes teaches us His principles, His truths, His word, that we may apply them to our lives. And then if you look in verse 75, David then confessed, "I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hath afflicted me."

Notice that, "I know that thou in faithfulness hath afflicted me." In other words, a faithful parent will not only commend and bless obedience, but will also condemn and punish disobedience. And God, in His faithfulness to us, afflicts us oftentimes in His providence, bringing that upon us which is distressful and miserable, something that you and I do not like and do not enjoy. Now I want to read just a short article for you from Grace Gems, and this happens to be on afflictions. It's taking the text of Lamentations chapter 3 and verse 33, when the Bible says concerning God, "He doth not afflict willingly." And you must understand that godly parents do not afflict willingly either. They're not in any wise just waiting for their child to mess up just so they can chasten him. Likewise, God is not some old meanie in heaven with a big whipping stick in His hand just waiting for you and I to mess up. No, the Bible says, "He doth not afflict willingly." Now here's the article. Here's a fact that is well known.

The Necessity and Benefits of Affliction

Reading from Grace Gems, Weaver lists reasons God afflicts: to exercise graces, wean from the world, embitter sin, endear Christ, prevent temptation, make us useful, and make us long for heaven.

The Lord afflicts His children. Trouble never springs out of the dust, nor do afflictions come by chance. No, every trial and affliction is sent from our Father's throne, and its direction is written by our Father's hand. He appoints the kind, the degree, and the direction of our afflictions. We are afflicted with disappointments, losses, and crosses. None are exempt. None can always escape, for the Lord tries the righteous, and many are the afflictions of the righteous.

He does not afflict willingly. He only grieves us from necessity. He has fixed His end, which is to make us holy, and to conform us to the image of His Son. From this He will not be diverted, but He shall surely accomplish it. In the afflictions which He sends, God aims at our deeper sanctification, or our greater usefulness, or simply at His own glory, which is always linked with our good. He therefore afflicts us to exercise our graces. These would otherwise lie dormant, become weak, fade, and wither. God afflicts His children to wean us from the world, to which we are too much attached and would be more so if it were not for trials, disappointments, and vexations. God afflicts His children to embitter sin, which is the prolific root on which every pain, grief, and sorrow grows. God afflicts His children to endear the Savior, who is our solace in sorrow and will be our glorious deliverer from it.

Never does Jesus appear so precious as in the hours of trouble and trial. God afflicts His children to prevent our falling into temptations, which we would do more frequently if we were not kept awake and watchful by our various sorrows. God afflicts His children to make us fit for usefulness, for as the land must be plowed, harrowed, and crushed, if it is to be fruitful and supply our needs, just so must we be tempted, tried, and troubled if we're to be of much use to man or to bring much glory to God. God afflicts His children to make us long for heaven, which we seldom do when all is pleasant, bright, and sunny below. So when we talk about afflictions, when we talk about that which is evil, just that one short article shows you that there are many uses for afflictions and that here's the truth.

God Sets Good and Evil Together

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 teaches that God sets prosperity and adversity together to teach us to find our all in Him. John Trapp's quote emphasizes receiving both.

If you will turn right over to the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Ecclesiastes chapter 7. After Proverbs you have Ecclesiastes chapter 7, and let's begin reading there with verse 13. Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 13, the word of God says,

Scripture Reading — Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

"Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked? In the day of prosperity, be joyful."

That's the good.

Scripture Reading — Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

"But in the day of adversity,"

that's the evil.

Scripture Reading — Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

"But in the day of adversity, consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him."

In other words, God weans us from ourselves. He weans us from the world. He weans us from the fact that we're not going to be able to keep whatever He's given us forever and ever and ever and ever. No.

We can't boast in our riches because we'll take none of them with us. We can't boast of our strength because we will die and lose all of our strength. In other words, God has set the good over against the evil to teach us that we must find in Him our all in all. Now, John Trapp, the old Puritan, said it like this: "Shall we receive good at the hands of God and not evil?" "Shall we not eat the crust with the crumb? Drink the sour with the sweet? Bless God as well for taking away as forgiving. Accept the chastisement of our iniquity. Receive it patiently, thankfully, fruitfully. Shall we be all for comforts and nothing at all for crosses? Is it not equal that we should share in both, since it is the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed?" And that certainly is true.

Biblical Examples of Receiving Evil

Examples include Judah fearing evil upon Jacob (Genesis 44), Elijah calling the widow's son's death evil (1 Kings 17), and David submitting to Shimei's cursing (2 Samuel 16), showing submission as the way out.

Now, also in Lamentations 3 and verse 39, there is another verse that is equally applicable to the truth that God is teaching us, and that is this. Jeremiah wrote,

Scripture Reading — Lamentations 3:39

"Wherefore doth the living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?"

So if we do that which deserves chastisement, if we do that which deserves punishment, why in the world should we complain when God chastens us or when God punishes us? In other words, we must recognize that as a faithful father, if we sin against Him, He will indeed chasten us. Now, there are many things in the Bible, there are many things in life that we understand and that we could label as an evil. If you ever stop to think about the loss of a child, or the loss of a spouse, that would certainly be an evil.

One thing I mentioned about Ralph and Teresa and asking prayer for them. I almost laugh because Ralph, I don't know that he's more dependent upon Teresa, his wife, than I am upon Alice. But I usually tell people, if the Lord took her first, I'd have to marry forty to take her place. And Steve, the one reason I've never left her is I don't know where everything is. She knows. I only know where my books and my weapons are, and that's it. She keeps up with everything else.

So, I'm just saying, it would be considered an evil. It would be considered something that would be distressful. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles, if you would, first of all, to Genesis chapter 44. Genesis 44. Genesis 44, you remember Joseph now is second-in-command in Egypt, and his brethren have gone down to buy bread. And of course, Joseph knows who they are, and they do not know who he is, and he has accused them of being spies. And of course, he said, "You're not going to see my face

unless you bring Benjamin, the younger son of Jacob." Of course, that was his full brother. And so, when they start to leave, then Joseph is going to detain Benjamin because his cup was found in Benjamin's sack. And so, Judah then begs to be the replacement for Benjamin because he knows what is going to happen when they go back and Benjamin is not there: his father will probably die. So look in Genesis 44, beginning there with verse 26. He said,

Scripture Reading — Genesis 44:26-34

"And we said, We cannot go down, if our youngest brother be with us. Then we will go down, for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant my father said unto us, You know that my wife bare me two sons, and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces, and I saw him not since."

That would be Joseph.

"And if you take this also from me, and mischief befall him, you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore, when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us, seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life, it shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die. And thy servant shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant," that is Judah, "became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord, and let the lad go with his brethren." Watch carefully, "For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me, lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come upon my father." So the evil here is that which is distressful, that which we would call bad.

It's not necessarily a violation against God's law, but it's something that just causes us extreme misery. Now, if you would turn also in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 17, because in a similar vein, Elijah, when he discovered that the widow's son had died, he spoke of it as an evil. If you will look at it in 1 Kings chapter 17 and verse 17, let's begin there. 1 Kings 17 and verse 17.

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 17:17-24

"And it came to pass after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick. And his sickness was so sore, there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come unto him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came unto him again, and he revived."

But notice, if you would please, what he said when he was praying to the Lord. The Bible says, in verse 20,

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 17:17-24

"And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow?"

Interestingly enough, the word "evil" in both 1 Kings 17 and Genesis 44 happens to be the exact same Hebrew word that you find in Job 2 and verse 10, when Job asked, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not evil?" So the word "evil" then just simply refers to that which is disagreeable to us, which causes us distress and misery as well. Now, how good are you at receiving evil? Think about that question. Because there are a lot of things that happen to us oftentimes that we just simply do not like. Let me ask you again a question. How would you like for someone to stand up in your face, and as we say in South Georgia, cuss you out? I mean, just call you a low-down scumbag, call you everything under the earth that is displeasing, distasteful, despicable. How would you—what would you do? Well, let me show you what David did. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 16. 2 Samuel chapter 16. And let's begin reading there with verse 5. Here's a man by the name of Shimei. Shimei was of the tribe of Benjamin.

You remember King Saul was a Benjamite. Now, David has taken Saul's place as king. And by the way, David did not slay Saul. He did not slay any of Saul's family. In fact, he spared Saul's family. He not only spared Mephibosheth, who was Jonathan's son, but he restored to Mephibosheth everything that Saul had. So he took nothing from Saul. So if you'll look in 2 Samuel 16, beginning there with verse 5, Absalom has rebelled against David.

He's run him off the throne. David and his household and those around him are fleeing Jerusalem, and here's what happens. "And when King David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came forth, and cursed still as he came. And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of King David, and all the people, and all the mighty men were on the right hand and on the left."

Now I've got to tell you something right now. This man was not very bright. If you know anything about Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel, and some of these men with David, no, no, no. He was not very bright, I can assure you. He may have been very upset, but he was not very bright. So look what he said. In verse 7, "And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, thou man of Belial." So he's calling David a murderer and he's calling him a son of the devil. Verse 8.

He goes on, he says, "The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned. And the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son. And behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man." Watch this. "Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head." And I got news for you, he would have, had David said, "Go." "And the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? So let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? And David said to Abishai and to all of his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my own bowels, seeketh my life.

How much more now may this Benjamite do it? Let him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction," that's the cursing, "and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day. And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hillside over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust." Wow. And David said, "Let him curse. Let him curse. It may be that the Lord will turn this into a blessing. If the Lord has bidden him to curse me, let him curse me.

It's not going to bother me. I'll just submit and keep going." Interestingly, listen carefully. No matter what the test, no matter what the trial, no matter what the evil, no matter what the affliction, the easiest and the quickest way out of it will be by obedience, submission. Some of us do not go through what others go through. Some of us are spared. Some of us suffer more than others. And it's God who determines what evil befalls us, and He determines that evil for our good and for His glory. When you think about Daniel, Daniel was cast in

the den of lions, and he stayed there overnight. Because the next morning the king came early saying, "O Daniel, is thy God whom thou servest able to deliver thee out of the mouths of lions?" Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown in the burning fiery furnace. In all probability, Daniel was in the lion's den longer than the three Hebrew children were in the fiery furnace. Job was probably afflicted much longer than Daniel was in the den of lions.

So the point I'm trying to make at this point: the way out is always through submission and obedience. And the more stubborn we are, the more stiff-necked we are, the more hard-headed we are, the more rebellious we are, the longer we're going to stay in the test, in the trial, in the affliction, the longer we're going to stay in that which is evil. It's just that simple.

God's Faithfulness in Temptation

1 Corinthians 10:13 promises God will not allow temptation beyond our ability and will provide a way of escape, usually through submission and obedience.

Now, I want to tell you something. You may not want to hear what I'm about to say, but what I'm about to say is absolutely true. If you are a child of God, whatever God puts upon you, you can take. Whatever God puts upon you, you can take. God in His all-wise, holy, and righteous providence knows exactly what we need. He knows exactly what it will take to break us and make us submissive. He knows exactly what it will take to make us obedient. He knows exactly what it will take to make us and to teach us to pray and to seek Him. He knows exactly what it will take to encourage us to exercise the graces and the gifts that He's given unto us. And He understands that whatever He sends our way—and what we need to understand—is always for our good and for His glory. So, let me tell you this. The reason I can tell you that whatever God places upon you, you can take, is because of God's promise.

I want to show you that promise. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13. I will quote it to you. You need to memorize this verse. This verse has helped me immeasurably over the years. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13, God says,

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 10:13

"There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man."

Now, let me just stop right there. There's no temptation. There's no test. There's no trial. There's no affliction. There's no evil taken you, but such as is common to man. So whatever Steve goes through is common to Gary. Whatever Gary goes through is common to David. Whatever David goes through is common to me. And in other words, God never puts anything superhuman or supernatural upon us. Whatever it is, it's common.

That obliterates the excuse most people give when they say, "But nobody's ever gone through what I'm going through." That's hogwash. Everything is common to man. There is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. Listen to this: "But God is faithful, who will not suffer or allow you to be tempted above that which ye are able." Understand, God knows exactly what you can take and what you cannot take. He's never going to overload you. There will never be the straw that breaks the camel's back placed upon you. "There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that ye are able." Listen carefully, "but will with the temptation make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it." In other words, every time we go through a test or a trial or affliction or an evil, there's always a way of escape. Usually that way of escape is through submission and obedience. Now.

I want you to stop and think about this. We should be thankful that most of our tests and afflictions and trials and evils are temporary. They're not permanent. They're temporary. I remember hearing about one old black preacher. Someone asked him what his favorite verse was in the Bible. He said, "Well, it's not just a verse." He said, "It occurs over and over in the Bible." He says, "Those four words."

Paul's Thorn in the Flesh

Paul's persistent affliction (2 Corinthians 12) taught him to glory in weakness. Evidence suggests it was an eye condition (Galatians 4:15, 6:11), yet he continued ministering.

I said, "What are they?" "Now it came to pass." He said, "Didn't come to stay. It came to pass." And he said, "That's my philosophy. It came to pass." And that's true. It didn't come to stay, but sometimes we have to live with things. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, beginning there with verse 7. In this passage, the Apostle Paul was given a thorn in the flesh. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, if you look at verse 7, the Apostle says, "And lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." It was a thorn in the flesh. Something bothered him.

"For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong."

So the Apostle Paul had this thorn in the flesh. Three times he asked God to remove it. God says, "No, my grace is sufficient for thee. I'm going to let you keep this one." And Paul said he was going to therefore glory in his infirmities, in his weaknesses, that he might trust Christ to bring him through. So the question is, what in the world was this thorn in the flesh? I laughingly say, I know it was not his wife. Because as far as I know, he was not married, or at least if he was, his wife must have died or something happened. Because at one point in the scripture, he said, "Have not I and Barnabas power to lead about a wife, a sister, as does Cephas," or as does Peter? So evidently Paul was not married. Some think he was married at one time because you had to be married to be a member of the Sanhedrin. Whether he was or not, I do not know, but at one point he was not.

So what in the world was this thorn in the flesh? Well, many scholars think that it was a condition related to his eyes, ophthalmia. And there's a reason for this. If you look in your Bibles, turn right over to the book of Galatians chapter 4, and begin there with verse 13. I want you to see what the scripture says. Paul is writing to these Galatians and he makes this statement. Galatians 4 verse 13. He says, "You know how through infirmity of the flesh," see there's that weakness in the flesh, whatever it was, "you know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation," there's my test, my trial, "which was in my flesh," he's mentioning it again.

"You despised not, nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness you speak of? For I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me." So many people take this passage and say it had to be related to his eyes. John Eadie wrote and said this, "But some give the phrase a more literal significance, or rather suppose a more literal reason for the use of the figure. They suppose that the astheneia, that is weakness, was some kind of ophthalmic disorder. The meaning in that case is the Galatians would have parted with their eyes to him, could the gift have relieved the apostle." So that's what he said, "You would have given me your eyes since I'm having such problem with my eyes."

And whatever this condition was, it made him repulsive in his face. If you look back in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, 2 Corinthians chapter 10, and look, if you would please, at verse 1. He says,

Scripture Reading — 2 Corinthians 10:1, 10

"Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you."

Now skip down to verse 10. "For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is contemptible." So, it undoubtedly affected his face and maybe his speech as well. Now, if you look back in your Bibles to the book of Galatians chapter 6 and verse 11, here's another passage that seemingly indicates that Paul had very serious eye problems. In Galatians chapter 6 and verse 11, he just makes this statement, "You see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand."

Now the Greek word for "large" is the word "pelikos," which means "how great" or "how large," or literally "with what good or great text letters." Now, it may surprise you to learn that Paul did not usually write his own epistles. He signed all of his epistles, but he usually had a secretary or one known as an amanuensis. Adam Clarke, in his commentary, said this: "Some think that he refers to the length of the epistle, others to the largeness of the letters in which the epistle is written, others to the inadequacy of the apostle's writing," which I really doubt that. "It appears plain that most of his epistles were written by an amanuensis or a secretary and simply subscribed by himself. But the whole of the epistle to the Galatians is written with his own hands."

Now, when you get to like Romans chapter 16 and verse 22, "I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord." Paul had many secretaries who wrote for him, and he just normally signed. And when you read this in verse 11, "You see how large a letter." It could be—and of course, Paul's epistles, many of them are much larger than six chapters, but six chapters could have been a long letter for the apostle Paul—but it could also refer to the largeness of letters, and usually someone with poor eyesight usually writes in much larger letters as well. So whatever Paul's thorn in the flesh was, he lived with it. He ministered with it. Some of you may have seen a film that came out years ago about a Christian man who was in a plane—I think it was a private plane—that crashed. And he was burned horribly. His face totally, completely disfigured. And yet, he continued to be a preacher and teacher of truth. And when you stood and looked at him, you'd want to actually turn your head away because his face was so absolutely disfigured by the fire.

Even through reconstruction they could not do everything. And so the Apostle Paul, whatever it was, he lived with that and he preached through that and ministered through that. So sometimes there are things that God allows to stay in our lives that we cannot get rid of because it's not His will. It's His will that we bear under and bear up by His grace and by His mercy.

Applications: Receiving Both Good and Evil

Applications: (1) God does not afflict willingly; blessings follow obedience. (2) All things work for good (Romans 8:28). (3) We must learn from affliction and not lose its benefits. Job did not sin with his lips; we should glorify God in the fires (Isaiah 24:15).

Now I want to show you something. Look in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 24. Isaiah chapter 24. Then I'm going to make some applications. But look in Isaiah chapter 24 and verses 14 and 15. Isaiah 24 verses 14 and 15. Here it is. "They shall lift up their voice." Now look at that, "They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea." So we're called upon to glorify God in the fires.

So the question has to be asked: How good are you at receiving evil? The truth is that we should become good at receiving whatever the Sovereign, Righteous, Holy Father sends to us, because He knows exactly what we need. Now, let me make a statement. If we understood one simple truth, we would never murmur, bellyache, or complain at whatever God sends us. And that simple truth is this: We do not deserve anything but justice. And anything that God gives us that is not justice is mercy and grace. It's kind of like Jacob said in Genesis 32 in verse 10, when he said, "I do not deserve the least of thy mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast shown unto me." So Job asked, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil?" So we need to become good at receiving both good and evil. Now, let me make some applications. Here's the first one. The first one is a very, very simple truth. We're told in Lamentations 3 in verse 33 that He, God, doth not afflict willingly.

So let me ask you, how many of you parents have you ever taken a switch or a belt or a paddle to an obedient, loving child? And the answer is what? None of us. You don't chastise a loving, obedient child. You only chastise children that are disobedient, dishonorable, disrespectful. So I'm just pointing this out. God is not some old meanie in heaven with a huge stick in His hand just waiting for us to mess up where He can whop us upside the head with it.

No, He does not afflict willingly. He is not waiting to discipline us. He wants us to be obedient. He wants us to be holy. I pointed out when I read the article from Grace Gems, there are other reasons for afflictions and tests. It's not just disobedience. It could be God needing to awaken some grace in us, or make us pray more, or seek Him more, or to love Him more, or to long more for heaven. There are plenty of reasons.

But here's a truth that I've enunciated here over and over and over, and I'm going to say it again, and that is this: Blessings follow obedience, and curses follow disobedience. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 30, Deuteronomy chapter 30, and look if you would beginning there with verse 15. Deuteronomy 30 verse 15. Look what God says.

Deuteronomy 30 verse 15:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 30:15-18

"See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil. And I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply. And the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them, I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it."

So what did he say? He said, "I've set before you life and good, death and evil. Choose life, choose good, choose obedience." You do not punish an obedient, loving child. It's just that simple. So we need to learn that God doth not afflict us willingly. Here's the second one, and this should be an absolute comfort to each one of us when we realize and when we recognize that everything that God sends our way, both good and evil, works for our benefit and works for our good. You can quote the verse Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." What? We know that all things work together for good. Whether it's good, whether it's evil, whether we like it, whether we dislike it, all things work together for good. It's coming for our benefit. It's coming for our holiness, for our sanctification. It's coming for our good and for God's glory.

And here's the third one. We must learn also, and we must also beware, that we do not lose the benefits of affliction. We don't want to lose the benefits of affliction. David said, "Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word." I learned from my afflictions. You heard me say this because I've said it here before. When I was a teenager, I talked back to my father one time. That's all it took for me to learn. Because when he got through with me, I learned, you do not talk back to your father. All I'm saying is, listen, we must learn through all of our afflictions.

Job said in Job 23 and verse 10, "But he knoweth the way that I take, and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." David said it like this in Psalm 17 in verse 3, "Thou hast proved my heart, thou hast visited me in the night, thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing. I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress." In other words, think about it like this: Job said, "Shall we not receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil?" And then the next little statement, "In all this did not Job sin with his lips." He didn't start crying, "Woe is me, why is me? Why is this happening to me? Lord, I don't want to do this." No, no, no, no. He just took it. He just took it.

Now, I want you to turn to one last passage. I want you to turn to 1 Peter chapter 1. I want you to see what Peter says to believers. 1 Peter chapter 1, and let's begin reading there with verse 6. 1 Peter 1 and verse 6. Look what he says. In fact, let's read verse 5 so you can see the context: "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly

rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations," that is, variegated, many-colored temptations, different kinds of temptations, "that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." Isn't that interesting? When he talks about those manifold temptations, and he's talking about the trial of your faith, he's talking about loving and rejoicing. So Job asked, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not evil?" When you understand that everything that God gives us is for our good and His glory. And when Job's wife said, "Curse God and die," he said, "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women. You're a Nabal. Don't be so foolish. Shall we not receive good and shall we not receive evil as both gifts from God?" So how good are you at receiving evil? The truth is, we usually don't like it. And consequently, we don't learn from it. But if God brings it our way, we can take it and we can learn from it by His grace and His mercy. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that you would help us, that you would teach us, that you would build us up in the most holy faith, that you would make us thankful, Father, for both the good and the evil. In fact, we're told in the book of James, "You have heard of the patience of Job," and how the Lord rewarded Job for his patience, for his suffering. Lord, help us to understand that everything that happens to us comes of thy hand, and we're to bow to thee and be thankful. Give us grace to serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In thy name we pray. Amen.

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Study Guide

Major Themes

Definition of Evil as Adversity

Summary: The word 'evil' in Job 2:10 refers to adversity, affliction, and distress, not moral wickedness.

Evidence: Weaver explains the Hebrew words 'tov' (good) and 'ra‘ah' (evil) and cites Job 2:11 where friends heard of the 'evil' that came upon Job.

God's Sovereign Providence in Sending Both Good and Evil

Summary: God has the right to bring both prosperity and adversity into our lives for His purposes.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'in God's sovereign providence, He does indeed bring into each of our lives that which is good and that which is evil, and He has the absolute right to do so.'

Chastening as an Act of Love

Summary: God chastens His children for their profit and holiness, just as earthly fathers discipline out of love.

Evidence: Hebrews 12:5-11 is cited, emphasizing that chastening yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Learning from Affliction

Summary: Affliction teaches obedience, God's statutes, and His faithfulness.

Evidence: Psalm 119:67, 71, 75 show David learned to keep God's word through affliction.

Submission as the Way of Escape

Summary: The quickest way out of trials is through submission and obedience; stubbornness prolongs suffering.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'the easiest and the quickest way out of it will be by obedience, submission.'

God's Faithfulness in Limiting Trials

Summary: God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability and always provides a way of escape.

Evidence: 1 Corinthians 10:13 is quoted and explained.

All Things Work for Good

Summary: Both good and evil circumstances work together for the benefit of those who love God.

Evidence: Romans 8:28 is cited: 'And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.'

Receiving Evil without Sinning

Summary: Job did not sin with his lips; believers should glorify God in the fires and not complain.

Evidence: Job 2:10 and Isaiah 24:15 are referenced; Weaver emphasizes not murmuring.

Key Arguments

Evil in Job means adversity, not sin

Summary: The Hebrew word 'ra‘ah' denotes bad, sore, adversity, affliction—the opposite of good—not moral evil.

Evidence: Weaver defines the Hebrew terms and cites Job 2:11 where the same word describes Job's calamities.

Rejecting evil from God is foolish

Summary: Job's wife's counsel to curse God is called foolish ('nabal'), linking to Nabal in 1 Samuel 25, implying such rejection is vile and devilish.

Evidence: Weaver explains 'nabal' and connects it to Nabal and 'son of Belial.'

God chastens for our profit

Summary: Hebrews 12 shows that divine chastening is a mark of sonship and produces holiness and righteousness.

Evidence: Hebrews 12:5-11 is read and applied.

Affliction teaches obedience

Summary: David's afflictions led him to keep God's word and learn His statutes.

Evidence: Psalm 119:67, 71, 75 are quoted.

God sets good and evil together for our instruction

Summary: Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 teaches that God juxtaposes prosperity and adversity so that we find our all in Him.

Evidence: Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 is read and explained.

Submission is the path through trials

Summary: David's response to Shimei's cursing exemplifies submitting to God's will, trusting God to requite good.

Evidence: 2 Samuel 16:5-13 is recounted; David says, 'Let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him.'

God limits trials to what we can bear

Summary: 1 Corinthians 10:13 promises that no temptation is beyond our ability and God provides escape.

Evidence: 1 Corinthians 10:13 is quoted and explained.

All things work for good

Summary: Romans 8:28 assures that both good and evil circumstances benefit believers.

Evidence: Romans 8:28 is cited.

Scripture References

Job 2:7-10

Context: The main text: Satan smites Job with boils; his wife tells him to curse God; Job responds, 'Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?'

Job 2:11

Context: Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him.

1 Samuel 25:3

Context: Nabal is described as churlish and evil; his name means fool.

Hebrews 12:5-11

Context: God chastens those He loves; chastening yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Psalm 119:67

Context: Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word.

Psalm 119:71

Context: It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.

Psalm 119:75

Context: I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

Lamentations 3:33

Context: He doth not afflict willingly.

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

Context: In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God hath set the one over against the other.

Lamentations 3:39

Context: Wherefore doth the living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

Genesis 44:26-34

Context: Judah fears the evil that will come upon his father if Benjamin does not return.

1 Kings 17:17-24

Context: Elijah prays, 'O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow?'

2 Samuel 16:5-13

Context: Shimei curses David; David submits, saying, 'Let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him.'

1 Corinthians 10:13

Context: God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Context: Paul's thorn in the flesh; God's grace is sufficient; Paul glories in infirmities.

Galatians 4:13-15

Context: Paul mentions his infirmity of the flesh and that the Galatians would have plucked out their own eyes for him.

2 Corinthians 10:1, 10

Context: Paul's bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible.

Galatians 6:11

Context: Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.

Isaiah 24:14-15

Context: Glorify ye the Lord in the fires.

Deuteronomy 30:15-18

Context: I have set before thee life and good, and death and evil; choose life.

Historical References

John Trapp, Puritan commentator

Context: Quoted: 'Shall we receive good at the hands of God and not evil? Shall we not eat the crust with the crumb? Drink the sour with the sweet?'

Grace Gems article on afflictions

Context: Weaver reads an article listing reasons God afflicts His children.

Adam Clarke, commentator

Context: Mentioned regarding Paul's writing of Galatians with his own hand.

John Eadie, commentator

Context: Quoted on the possibility that Paul's thorn was an ophthalmic disorder.

Film about a Christian plane crash survivor

Context: Weaver references a film about a disfigured preacher who continued to minister.

Important Quotes

Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?

Significance: The central question of the sermon, highlighting the need to accept both prosperity and adversity from God.

Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.

Significance: Job's rebuke of his wife, showing that rejecting evil from God is foolish.

Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word.

Significance: David's testimony that affliction led him to obedience.

He doth not afflict willingly.

Significance: Emphasizes that God does not take pleasure in sending trials.

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Significance: God's response to Paul's request to remove the thorn, teaching reliance on divine strength.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Significance: Assurance that both good and evil circumstances benefit believers.

In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Significance: Job's example of receiving evil without complaining or sinning.

Discussion Questions

How does understanding the Hebrew word 'ra‘ah' change your view of 'evil' in Job 2:10?

Context: Weaver explains that 'evil' means adversity, not sin.

Why is it foolish to reject adversity from God, according to Job's response to his wife?

Context: Weaver links 'foolish' to Nabal and being a son of Belial.

How does Hebrews 12:5-11 shape your understanding of God's discipline?

Context: Weaver reads and applies this passage on chastening.

In what ways have you experienced learning from affliction, as David did in Psalm 119?

Context: Weaver cites Psalm 119:67, 71, 75.

How can David's response to Shimei's cursing (2 Samuel 16) model submission for us today?

Context: Weaver recounts David's submission to God's will.

What does 1 Corinthians 10:13 promise about the limits of our trials, and how have you seen this in your life?

Context: Weaver explains God's faithfulness in not overloading us.

How does Paul's thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12) encourage you to accept persistent difficulties?

Context: Weaver discusses Paul's acceptance of his weakness.

What practical steps can help us 'glorify God in the fires' (Isaiah 24:15) when facing adversity?

Context: Weaver calls believers to glorify God in trials.

Applications

Trust God's purpose in affliction

Summary: Recognize that God does not afflict willingly but for our profit, holiness, and good.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'He always does it for our profit. He always does it for our own holiness.'

Submit to trials rather than resist

Summary: The quickest way out of a trial is through submission and obedience; stubbornness prolongs suffering.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'the easiest and the quickest way out of it will be by obedience, submission.'

Learn from affliction

Summary: Like David, let affliction teach you to keep God's word and learn His statutes.

Evidence: Psalm 119:67, 71 are quoted; Weaver says, 'I learned from my afflictions.'

Do not complain

Summary: Job did not sin with his lips; we should not murmur or complain at what God sends.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'we would never murmur, bellyache, or complain at whatever God sends us.'

Rely on God's sufficient grace

Summary: In persistent trials, trust that God's grace is sufficient and His strength is made perfect in weakness.

Evidence: 2 Corinthians 12:9 is quoted; Weaver applies it to enduring thorns.

Glorify God in the fires

Summary: We are called to glorify God even in the midst of fiery trials.

Evidence: Isaiah 24:15 is cited: 'glorify ye the Lord in the fires.'

Choose obedience to receive blessing

Summary: Blessings follow obedience; curses follow disobedience. Choose life and good.

Evidence: Deuteronomy 30:15-18 is read; Weaver says, 'Blessings follow obedience, and curses follow disobedience.'

Be thankful for both good and evil

Summary: Receive both good and evil as gifts from God, trusting that all things work for good.

Evidence: Weaver prays, 'make us thankful, Father, for both the good and the evil.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T21:41:05Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T13:32:57Z

Clean Transcript

How Good Are You At Receiving Evil?

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Job, and we're going to be reading chapter 2, verses 7 through 10. The title of the message is, "How Good Are You at Receiving Evil?" How good are you at receiving evil? Notice in Job chapter 2, beginning there with verse 7, the Bible says, "So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown."
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"And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal, and he sat down among the ashes. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die! But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips."
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Have you ever stopped and thought about this question? How good are you at receiving evil? How in the world would you answer such a question as that? I'm sure that you would answer that question with a question, and that question would be, "What is meant by evil?" Because normally, when you think of the word "evil," you're thinking of that which is sinful, wicked, wrong, a transgression of God's law.
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And we would certainly not want to receive that in any way. And I believe it's only normal and natural that we hear the word "evil" and we think of sin and wickedness. But the truth of the matter is, the word "evil" is not always used in that kind of context. It does not always refer to that which is a violation of God's law and that which is sinful in and of itself. In the context of Job's statement, in Job 2 and verse 10, evil happens to be the opposite of good. In our text in verse 10, the English word "good" is from the Hebrew word "tov," which refers to that which is good, pleasant, agreeable, a benefit, blessing, and a bounty. The word "evil" is from the Hebrew word "ra‘ah," which refers to that which is bad, sore, adversity, and that which is an affliction, that which is disagreeable, displeasing, and ill-favored. The same word is used in verse 11. If you will look at that word again, "Now when Job's three friends heard all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to
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comfort him." It is evil in the sense that it is hurtful, distressful, and it causes us misery.
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Now, when you read verse 11, "Now when the three friends of Job heard all this evil that was come upon him," that would refer you back to chapter 1. And when you stop and think, in chapter 1, Job lost ten children plus all of his possessions in one day. The loss of all of our children in one day would be sufficient, I am sure, to bring us to our knees, but the loss of our children and the loss of all of our possessions in one day would certainly bring us to a full stop. On top of that, you would have to consider that Job had what I would just simply identify as a nagging and disagreeable wife who counseled him to go ahead and curse God and die. And on top of that, Job then was afflicted with a horrible disease or horrible plague. And just stop and think, in light of losing all of his children, all of his possessions, and his wife then urging him to curse God and die, he's now taking a potsherd, and he's scraping the pus and the worms from his body. If that would not bring you to a full stop, I
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don't know what really would. And so Job's wife, then, when she saw the agony and the suffering that he was going through, just said, "Curse God and die." Well, Job did not answer her in a rage. Job was very kind. He was very patient. He was very loving. But he answered her with reason. So in verse 9, "Then his wife said unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did Job not sin with his lips."
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Now, the interesting thing is the word for "foolish" is the word "nabal." And it literally means someone who is a fool, a vile person, someone who is foolish, either a man or a woman.
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Now, the same word is used in reference to a man's name in 1 Samuel chapter 25. You remember David was running from Saul and living in the wilderness, and he and his men had protected a man's shepherds and his sheep. And when David found out that the man was shearing his sheep and having a good feast, he sent his young men to him and asked for a blessing. And the man railed upon David's servants and sent them away. And the Bible says in 1 Samuel chapter 25 and verse 3, "Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance, but the man was churlish and evil in his doings, and he was of the house of Caleb." Now, when you read that verse, I cannot help but think, how in the world could a wise, beautiful, good-looking woman fall for a man like that who is basically foolish and evil and wicked and selfish and unkind?
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Well, when he railed upon David's men, they went back and told David, and David said, "Gird every man on his sword." And he said, "I'm going to teach him a lesson." And of course, the servants then came and told Abigail. And then she took a blessing, and she took figs, and she took raisins, and she took meat. And she came to meet David and fell down, and she said this: "Let not, my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him, but I, thy handmaid, saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send." So she said, "His name is Nabal," which means a fool. He's a fool. He is absolutely foolish. And she also called him then a son of Belial. So when Job then spoke to his wife and he said, "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh," wow! He was saying to his wife very lovingly and very kindly that those who are willing to receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil at the hand of God are very foolish. They're vile, and they're demonstrating themselves as being a son of Belial, or the son of the devil.
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Now, I certainly don't want to be considered foolish, and I certainly do not want to be considered a son of the devil. Now, I told you that the word "evil" here is used in opposition to that which is good, and we must understand that in God's sovereign providence, He does indeed bring into each of our lives that which is good and that which is evil, and He has the absolute right to do so, because He has the absolute right to try us, to test us, and He also has the right to chasten us when we're disobedient. Now, God's providence is many times, and most of the time, very favorable. But sometimes it is not so favorable.
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Let me show you. I want you to hold Job chapter 2, but turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. And let's begin reading there with verse 5. And stop and think about this with me. Hebrews chapter 12, beginning there with verse 5. Because here we're reading about God's hand of chastening. And he says this in verse 5, "And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? For if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons."
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"Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence." Now here's the question, "Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?"
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Now watch, "For they," that is the earthly fathers, "verily for a few days chasten us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby." So, our Lord here talks about chastening, and He also talks about the fact that our earthly fathers chastened us. And I can truthfully say that when I was a young boy, I got my share of what we would call whippings, chastening, and none of them were enjoyable. I laugh because I've heard my father say when I was a young child and he was about to whip me, he'd say, "Now, son, this is going to hurt me worse than it does you."
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And I thought, "Oh, no, he's lying, too." I knew it was going to hurt me until I got grown and I had to discipline my own children. And then I understood what he meant. Of course, it grieved him in order to have to do that. But the truth of the matter is this: after I got grown and mature, I really got to be very thankful for the chastening that my father gave me, because it pointed me in the right direction and certainly made me stop and think that, you know, you don't sin and get by with it. It's just that simple. So in light of this, we have to understand that God's chastening upon us for our sins, for our disobedience, is for our good.
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He always does it for our profit. He always does it for our own holiness. He always does it for our own benefit. And so clearly it always works.
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Now, I want to show you. I want you to turn back in your Bibles to Psalm 119, because I want you to see three verses. David understood this, and David learned from the afflictions, from the chastisement, from the evil that God brought upon him in his life. So, in Psalm 119, the first verse is verse 67. David said, "Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word." Note that. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. What was it that brought David back in line? It was affliction, it was chastisement, it was some type of evil that God brought in his life. He said, "Now, however, I have kept thy word." Now, skip down to verse 71. Again, he said it like this: "It is good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes." So, in affliction, God oftentimes teaches us His principles, His truths, His word, that we may apply them to our lives. And then if you look in verse 75, David then confessed, "I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hath afflicted me."
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Notice that, "I know that thou in faithfulness hath afflicted me." In other words, a faithful parent will not only commend and bless obedience, but will also condemn and punish disobedience. And God, in His faithfulness to us, afflicts us oftentimes in His providence, bringing that upon us which is distressful and miserable, something that you and I do not like and do not enjoy.
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Now I want to read just a short article for you from Grace Gems, and this happens to be on afflictions. It's taking the text of Lamentations chapter 3 and verse 33, when the Bible says concerning God, "He doth not afflict willingly." And you must understand that godly parents do not afflict willingly either. They're not in any wise just waiting for their child to mess up just so they can chasten him. Likewise, God is not some old meanie in heaven with a big whipping stick in His hand just waiting for you and I to mess up. No, the Bible says, "He doth not afflict willingly." Now here's the article. Here's a fact that is well known.
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The Lord afflicts His children. Trouble never springs out of the dust, nor do afflictions come by chance. No, every trial and affliction is sent from our Father's throne, and its direction is written by our Father's hand. He appoints the kind, the degree, and the direction of our afflictions. We are afflicted with disappointments, losses, and crosses. None are exempt. None can always escape, for the Lord tries the righteous, and many are the afflictions of the righteous.
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He does not afflict willingly. He only grieves us from necessity. He has fixed His end, which is to make us holy, and to conform us to the image of His Son. From this He will not be diverted, but He shall surely accomplish it. In the afflictions which He sends, God aims at our deeper sanctification, or our greater usefulness, or simply at His own glory, which is always linked with our good.
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He therefore afflicts us to exercise our graces. These would otherwise lie dormant, become weak, fade, and wither. God afflicts His children to wean us from the world, to which we are too much attached and would be more so if it were not for trials, disappointments, and vexations. God afflicts His children to embitter sin, which is the prolific root on which every pain, grief, and sorrow grows. God afflicts His children to endear the Savior, who is our solace in sorrow and will be our glorious deliverer from it.
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Never does Jesus appear so precious as in the hours of trouble and trial. God afflicts His children to prevent our falling into temptations, which we would do more frequently if we were not kept awake and watchful by our various sorrows. God afflicts His children to make us fit for usefulness, for as the land must be plowed, harrowed, and crushed, if it is to be fruitful and supply our needs, just so must we be tempted, tried, and troubled if we're to be of much use to man or to bring much glory to God. God afflicts His children to make us long for heaven, which we seldom do when all is pleasant, bright, and sunny below. So when we talk about afflictions, when we talk about that which is evil, just that one short article shows you that there are many uses for afflictions and that here's the truth.
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The truth of the matter is, you and I are so accustomed to receiving good at the hand of God that when something bitter, something vile, something distasteful, something that causes us misery or short bit of pain, we begin to wince and complain and bellyache even when things do not go as we plan and as we desire. In other words, we forget one truth. We forget that God always sets the good and the evil together in order to teach us certain truths. Let me show you.
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If you will turn right over to the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 7. Ecclesiastes chapter 7. After Proverbs you have Ecclesiastes chapter 7, and let's begin reading there with verse 13. Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse 13, the word of God says, "Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked? In the day of prosperity, be joyful." That's the good. "But in the day of adversity," that's the evil. "But in the day of adversity, consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him." In other words, God weans us from ourselves. He weans us from the world. He weans us from the fact that we're not going to be able to keep whatever He's given us forever and ever and ever and ever. No.
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We can't boast in our riches because we'll take none of them with us. We can't boast of our strength because we will die and lose all of our strength. In other words, God has set the good over against the evil to teach us that we must find in Him our all in all. Now, John Trapp, the old Puritan, said it like this: "Shall we receive good at the hands of God and not evil?"
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"Shall we not eat the crust with the crumb? Drink the sour with the sweet? Bless God as well for taking away as forgiving. Accept the chastisement of our iniquity. Receive it patiently, thankfully, fruitfully. Shall we be all for comforts and nothing at all for crosses? Is it not equal that we should share in both, since it is the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed?" And that certainly is true.
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Now, also in Lamentations 3 and verse 39, there is another verse that is equally applicable to the truth that God is teaching us, and that is this. Jeremiah wrote, "Wherefore doth the living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?" So if we do that which deserves chastisement, if we do that which deserves punishment, why in the world should we complain when God chastens us or when God punishes us?
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In other words, we must recognize that as a faithful father, if we sin against Him, He will indeed chasten us. Now, there are many things in the Bible, there are many things in life that we understand and that we could label as an evil. If you ever stop to think about the loss of a child, or the loss of a spouse, that would certainly be an evil.
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One thing I mentioned about Ralph and Teresa and asking prayer for them. I almost laugh because Ralph, I don't know that he's more dependent upon Teresa, his wife, than I am upon Alice. But I usually tell people, if the Lord took her first, I'd have to marry forty to take her place. And Steve, the one reason I've never left her is I don't know where everything is. She knows. I only know where my books and my weapons are, and that's it. She keeps up with everything else.
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So, I'm just saying, it would be considered an evil. It would be considered something that would be distressful. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles, if you would, first of all, to Genesis chapter 44. Genesis 44. Genesis 44, you remember Joseph now is second-in-command in Egypt, and his brethren have gone down to buy bread. And of course, Joseph knows who they are, and they do not know who he is, and he has accused them of being spies. And of course, he said, "You're not going to see my face
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unless you bring Benjamin, the younger son of Jacob." Of course, that was his full brother. And so, when they start to leave, then Joseph is going to detain Benjamin because his cup was found in Benjamin's sack. And so, Judah then begs to be the replacement for Benjamin because he knows what is going to happen when they go back and Benjamin is not there: his father will probably die.
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So look in Genesis 44, beginning there with verse 26. He said, "And we said, We cannot go down, if our youngest brother be with us. Then we will go down, for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant my father said unto us, You know that my wife bare me two sons, and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces, and I saw him not since." That would be Joseph.
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"And if you take this also from me, and mischief befall him, you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore, when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us, seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life, it shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die. And thy servant shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant," that is Judah, "became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord, and let the lad go with his brethren." Watch carefully, "For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me, lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come upon my father." So the evil here is that which is distressful, that which we would call bad.
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It's not necessarily a violation against God's law, but it's something that just causes us extreme misery. Now, if you would turn also in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 17, because in a similar vein, Elijah, when he discovered that the widow's son had died, he spoke of it as an evil. If you will look at it in 1 Kings chapter 17 and verse 17, let's begin there. 1 Kings 17 and verse 17. "And it came to pass after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick.
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And his sickness was so sore, there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come unto him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came unto him again, and he revived." But notice, if you would please, what he said when he was praying to the Lord. The Bible says, in verse 20, "And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow?"
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Interestingly enough, the word "evil" in both 1 Kings 17 and Genesis 44 happens to be the exact same Hebrew word that you find in Job 2 and verse 10, when Job asked, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not evil?" So the word "evil" then just simply refers to that which is disagreeable to us, which causes us distress and misery as well. Now, how good are you at receiving evil? Think about that question. Because there are a lot of things that happen to us oftentimes that we just simply do not like. Let me ask you again a question. How would you like for someone to stand up in your face, and as we say in South Georgia, cuss you out?
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I mean, just call you a low-down scumbag, call you everything under the earth that is displeasing, distasteful, despicable. How would you—what would you do? Well, let me show you what David did. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 16. 2 Samuel chapter 16. And let's begin reading there with verse 5. Here's a man by the name of Shimei. Shimei was of the tribe of Benjamin.
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You remember King Saul was a Benjamite. Now, David has taken Saul's place as king. And by the way, David did not slay Saul. He did not slay any of Saul's family. In fact, he spared Saul's family. He not only spared Mephibosheth, who was Jonathan's son, but he restored to Mephibosheth everything that Saul had. So he took nothing from Saul. So if you'll look in 2 Samuel 16, beginning there with verse 5, Absalom has rebelled against David.
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He's run him off the throne. David and his household and those around him are fleeing Jerusalem, and here's what happens. "And when King David came to Bahurim, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came forth, and cursed still as he came. And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of King David, and all the people, and all the mighty men were on the right hand and on the left."
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Now I've got to tell you something right now. This man was not very bright. If you know anything about Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel, and some of these men with David, no, no, no. He was not very bright, I can assure you. He may have been very upset, but he was not very bright. So look what he said. In verse 7, "And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, thou man of Belial." So he's calling David a murderer and he's calling him a son of the devil. Verse 8.
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He goes on, he says, "The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned. And the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son. And behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man." Watch this. "Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head."
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And I got news for you, he would have, had David said, "Go." "And the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? So let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? And David said to Abishai and to all of his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my own bowels, seeketh my life.
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How much more now may this Benjamite do it? Let him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction," that's the cursing, "and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day. And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hillside over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust." Wow. And David said, "Let him curse. Let him curse. It may be that the Lord will turn this into a blessing. If the Lord has bidden him to curse me, let him curse me.
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It's not going to bother me. I'll just submit and keep going." Interestingly, listen carefully. No matter what the test, no matter what the trial, no matter what the evil, no matter what the affliction, the easiest and the quickest way out of it will be by obedience, submission. Some of us do not go through what others go through. Some of us are spared. Some of us suffer more than others. And it's God who determines what evil befalls us, and He determines that evil for our good and for His glory. When you think about Daniel, Daniel was cast in
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the den of lions, and he stayed there overnight. Because the next morning the king came early saying, "O Daniel, is thy God whom thou servest able to deliver thee out of the mouths of lions?" Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown in the burning fiery furnace. In all probability, Daniel was in the lion's den longer than the three Hebrew children were in the fiery furnace. Job was probably afflicted much longer than Daniel was in the den of lions.
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So the point I'm trying to make at this point: the way out is always through submission and obedience. And the more stubborn we are, the more stiff-necked we are, the more hard-headed we are, the more rebellious we are, the longer we're going to stay in the test, in the trial, in the affliction, the longer we're going to stay in that which is evil. It's just that simple.
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Now, I want to tell you something. You may not want to hear what I'm about to say, but what I'm about to say is absolutely true. If you are a child of God, whatever God puts upon you, you can take. Whatever God puts upon you, you can take. God in His all-wise, holy, and righteous providence knows exactly what we need. He knows exactly what it will take to break us and make us submissive. He knows exactly what it will take to make us obedient. He knows exactly what it will take to make us and to teach us to pray and to seek Him. He knows exactly what it will take to encourage us to exercise the graces and the gifts that He's given unto us. And He understands that whatever He sends our way—and what we need to understand—is always for our good and for His glory. So, let me tell you this. The reason I can tell you that whatever God places upon you, you can take, is because of God's promise.
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I want to show you that promise. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 13. I will quote it to you. You need to memorize this verse. This verse has helped me immeasurably over the years. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 13, God says, "There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man."
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Now, let me just stop right there. There's no temptation. There's no test. There's no trial. There's no affliction. There's no evil taken you, but such as is common to man. So whatever Steve goes through is common to Gary. Whatever Gary goes through is common to David. Whatever David goes through is common to me. And in other words, God never puts anything superhuman or supernatural upon us. Whatever it is, it's common.
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That obliterates the excuse most people give when they say, "But nobody's ever gone through what I'm going through." That's hogwash. Everything is common to man. There is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. Listen to this: "But God is faithful, who will not suffer or allow you to be tempted above that which ye are able." Understand, God knows exactly what you can take and what you cannot take. He's never going to overload you. There will never be the straw that breaks the camel's back placed upon you. "There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that ye are able." Listen carefully, "but will with the temptation make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it." In other words, every time we go through a test or a trial or affliction or an evil, there's always a way of escape. Usually that way of escape is through submission and obedience. Now.
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I want you to stop and think about this. We should be thankful that most of our tests and afflictions and trials and evils are temporary. They're not permanent. They're temporary. I remember hearing about one old black preacher. Someone asked him what his favorite verse was in the Bible. He said, "Well, it's not just a verse." He said, "It occurs over and over in the Bible." He says, "Those four words."
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I said, "What are they?" "Now it came to pass." He said, "Didn't come to stay. It came to pass." And he said, "That's my philosophy. It came to pass." And that's true. It didn't come to stay, but sometimes we have to live with things. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, beginning there with verse 7. In this passage, the Apostle Paul was given a thorn in the flesh. 2 Corinthians chapter 12, if you look at verse 7, the Apostle says, "And lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure." It was a thorn in the flesh. Something bothered him.
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"For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong."
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So the Apostle Paul had this thorn in the flesh. Three times he asked God to remove it. God says, "No, my grace is sufficient for thee. I'm going to let you keep this one." And Paul said he was going to therefore glory in his infirmities, in his weaknesses, that he might trust Christ to bring him through. So the question is, what in the world was this thorn in the flesh?
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I laughingly say, I know it was not his wife. Because as far as I know, he was not married, or at least if he was, his wife must have died or something happened. Because at one point in the scripture, he said, "Have not I and Barnabas power to lead about a wife, a sister, as does Cephas," or as does Peter? So evidently Paul was not married. Some think he was married at one time because you had to be married to be a member of the Sanhedrin. Whether he was or not, I do not know, but at one point he was not.
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So what in the world was this thorn in the flesh? Well, many scholars think that it was a condition related to his eyes, ophthalmia. And there's a reason for this. If you look in your Bibles, turn right over to the book of Galatians chapter 4, and begin there with verse 13. I want you to see what the scripture says. Paul is writing to these Galatians and he makes this statement. Galatians 4 verse 13. He says, "You know how through infirmity of the flesh," see there's that weakness in the flesh, whatever it was, "you know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation," there's my test, my trial, "which was in my flesh," he's mentioning it again.
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"You despised not, nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness you speak of? For I bear you record that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me." So many people take this passage and say it had to be related to his eyes. John Eadie wrote and said this, "But some give the phrase a more literal significance, or rather suppose a more literal reason for the use of the figure. They suppose that the astheneia, that is weakness, was some kind of ophthalmic disorder. The meaning in that case is the Galatians would have parted with their eyes to him, could the gift have relieved the apostle." So that's what he said, "You would have given me your eyes since I'm having such problem with my eyes."
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And whatever this condition was, it made him repulsive in his face. If you look back in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 10, 2 Corinthians chapter 10, and look, if you would please, at verse 1. He says, "Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you." Now skip down to verse 10. "For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is contemptible." So, it undoubtedly affected his face and maybe his speech as well. Now, if you look back in your Bibles to the book of Galatians chapter 6 and verse 11, here's another passage that seemingly indicates that Paul had very serious eye problems. In Galatians chapter 6 and verse 11, he just makes this statement, "You see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand."
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Now the Greek word for "large" is the word "pelikos," which means "how great" or "how large," or literally "with what good or great text letters." Now, it may surprise you to learn that Paul did not usually write his own epistles. He signed all of his epistles, but he usually had a secretary or one known as an amanuensis. Adam Clarke, in his commentary, said this: "Some think that he refers to the length of the epistle, others to the largeness of the letters in which the epistle is written, others to the inadequacy of the apostle's writing," which I really doubt that. "It appears plain that most of his epistles were written by an amanuensis or a secretary and simply subscribed by himself. But the whole of the epistle to the Galatians is written with his own hands."
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Now, when you get to like Romans chapter 16 and verse 22, "I, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord." Paul had many secretaries who wrote for him, and he just normally signed. And when you read this in verse 11, "You see how large a letter." It could be—and of course, Paul's epistles, many of them are much larger than six chapters, but six chapters could have been a long letter for the apostle Paul—but it could also refer to the largeness of letters, and usually someone with poor eyesight usually writes in much larger letters as well. So whatever Paul's thorn in the flesh was, he lived with it. He ministered with it.
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Some of you may have seen a film that came out years ago about a Christian man who was in a plane—I think it was a private plane—that crashed. And he was burned horribly. His face totally, completely disfigured. And yet, he continued to be a preacher and teacher of truth. And when you stood and looked at him, you'd want to actually turn your head away because his face was so absolutely disfigured by the fire.
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Even through reconstruction they could not do everything. And so the Apostle Paul, whatever it was, he lived with that and he preached through that and ministered through that. So sometimes there are things that God allows to stay in our lives that we cannot get rid of because it's not His will. It's His will that we bear under and bear up by His grace and by His mercy.
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Now I want to show you something. Look in your Bibles to the book of Isaiah chapter 24. Isaiah chapter 24. Then I'm going to make some applications. But look in Isaiah chapter 24 and verses 14 and 15. Isaiah 24 verses 14 and 15. Here it is. "They shall lift up their voice." Now look at that, "They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye the Lord in the fires, even the name of the Lord God of Israel in the isles of the sea." So we're called upon to glorify God in the fires.
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So the question has to be asked: How good are you at receiving evil? The truth is that we should become good at receiving whatever the Sovereign, Righteous, Holy Father sends to us, because He knows exactly what we need.
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Now, let me make a statement. If we understood one simple truth, we would never murmur, bellyache, or complain at whatever God sends us. And that simple truth is this: We do not deserve anything but justice. And anything that God gives us that is not justice is mercy and grace. It's kind of like Jacob said in Genesis 32 in verse 10, when he said, "I do not deserve the least of thy mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast shown unto me." So Job asked, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil?" So we need to become good at receiving both good and evil. Now, let me make some applications. Here's the first one. The first one is a very, very simple truth. We're told in Lamentations 3 in verse 33 that He, God, doth not afflict willingly.
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So let me ask you, how many of you parents have you ever taken a switch or a belt or a paddle to an obedient, loving child? And the answer is what? None of us. You don't chastise a loving, obedient child. You only chastise children that are disobedient, dishonorable, disrespectful. So I'm just pointing this out. God is not some old meanie in heaven with a huge stick in His hand just waiting for us to mess up where He can whop us upside the head with it.
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No, He does not afflict willingly. He is not waiting to discipline us. He wants us to be obedient. He wants us to be holy. I pointed out when I read the article from Grace Gems, there are other reasons for afflictions and tests. It's not just disobedience. It could be God needing to awaken some grace in us, or make us pray more, or seek Him more, or to love Him more, or to long more for heaven. There are plenty of reasons.
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But here's a truth that I've enunciated here over and over and over, and I'm going to say it again, and that is this: Blessings follow obedience, and curses follow disobedience. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 30, Deuteronomy chapter 30, and look if you would beginning there with verse 15. Deuteronomy 30 verse 15. Look what God says.
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Deuteronomy 30 verse 15: "See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil. And I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply. And the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them, I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it."
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So what did he say? He said, "I've set before you life and good, death and evil. Choose life, choose good, choose obedience." You do not punish an obedient, loving child. It's just that simple. So we need to learn that God doth not afflict us willingly. Here's the second one, and this should be an absolute comfort to each one of us when we realize and when we recognize that everything that God sends our way, both good and evil, works for our benefit and works for our good.
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You can quote the verse Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." What? We know that all things work together for good. Whether it's good, whether it's evil, whether we like it, whether we dislike it, all things work together for good. It's coming for our benefit. It's coming for our holiness, for our sanctification. It's coming for our good and for God's glory.
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And here's the third one. We must learn also, and we must also beware, that we do not lose the benefits of affliction. We don't want to lose the benefits of affliction. David said, "Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word." I learned from my afflictions. You heard me say this because I've said it here before. When I was a teenager, I talked back to my father one time. That's all it took for me to learn. Because when he got through with me, I learned, you do not talk back to your father. All I'm saying is, listen, we must learn through all of our afflictions.
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Job said in Job 23 and verse 10, "But he knoweth the way that I take, and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." David said it like this in Psalm 17 in verse 3, "Thou hast proved my heart, thou hast visited me in the night, thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing. I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress." In other words, think about it like this: Job said, "Shall we not receive good at the hand of God and not receive evil?" And then the next little statement, "In all this did not Job sin with his lips."
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He didn't start crying, "Woe is me, why is me? Why is this happening to me? Lord, I don't want to do this." No, no, no, no. He just took it. He just took it.
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Now, I want you to turn to one last passage. I want you to turn to 1 Peter chapter 1. I want you to see what Peter says to believers. 1 Peter chapter 1, and let's begin reading there with verse 6. 1 Peter 1 and verse 6. Look what he says. In fact, let's read verse 5 so you can see the context: "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly
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rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations," that is, variegated, many-colored temptations, different kinds of temptations, "that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." Isn't that interesting? When he talks about those manifold temptations, and he's talking about the trial of your faith, he's talking about loving and rejoicing.
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So Job asked, "Shall we receive good at the hand of God and not evil?" When you understand that everything that God gives us is for our good and His glory. And when Job's wife said, "Curse God and die," he said, "Thou speakest as one of the foolish women. You're a Nabal. Don't be so foolish. Shall we not receive good and shall we not receive evil as both gifts from God?" So how good are you at receiving evil? The truth is, we usually don't like it. And consequently, we don't learn from it. But if God brings it our way, we can take it and we can learn from it by His grace and His mercy. Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that you would help us, that you would teach us, that you would build us up in the most holy faith, that you would make us thankful, Father, for both the good and the evil. In fact, we're told in the book of James, "You have heard of the patience of Job," and how the Lord rewarded Job for his patience, for his suffering. Lord, help us to understand that everything that happens to us comes of thy hand, and we're to bow to thee and be thankful. Give us grace to serve thee acceptably with reverence and godly fear. In thy name we pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T21:41:05Z

How Good Are You At Receiving Evil?

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

Pastor John Weaver examines Job 2:7-10, focusing on Job's question, 'Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?' He explains that 'evil' here refers to adversity, affliction, and distress, not sin. God, in His sovereign providence, sends both good and evil for our benefit—to chasten, teach, and sanctify us. Believers must learn to receive both with submission and gratitude, trusting that God's grace is sufficient and that all things work for good.

Introduction: The Question of Receiving Evil

Weaver introduces the topic from Job 2:7-10, posing the question of how well we receive evil, and clarifies that 'evil' in this context means adversity, not sin.

Scripture Reading — Job 2:7-10

"So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." "And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal, and he sat down among the ashes. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God, and die! But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips."

Defining 'Evil' in Job's Context

The Hebrew word 'ra‘ah' is defined as bad, sore, adversity, affliction—the opposite of 'tov' (good). Job's friends heard of this 'evil' that came upon him.

comfort him." It is evil in the sense that it is hurtful, distressful, and it causes us misery.

Job's Calamities and His Response

Job lost children, possessions, health, and faced a discouraging wife, yet he responded with reason and did not sin with his lips, calling her foolish.

Now, the interesting thing is the word for "foolish" is the word "nabal." And it literally means someone who is a fool, a vile person, someone who is foolish, either a man or a woman.

The Foolishness of Rejecting Evil from God

Using the word 'nabal' (fool), Weaver links Job's wife's counsel to the character of Nabal in 1 Samuel 25, showing that rejecting evil from God is foolish and akin to being a son of Belial.

God's Purpose in Chastening

Hebrews 12:5-11 teaches that God chastens those He loves for their profit and holiness. Earthly fathers chasten for good; God's chastening yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Learning from Affliction: David's Testimony

Psalm 119:67, 71, 75 show David learned obedience through affliction, acknowledging God's faithfulness in sending it.

The Necessity and Benefits of Affliction

Reading from Grace Gems, Weaver lists reasons God afflicts: to exercise graces, wean from the world, embitter sin, endear Christ, prevent temptation, make us useful, and make us long for heaven.

God Sets Good and Evil Together

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 teaches that God sets prosperity and adversity together to teach us to find our all in Him. John Trapp's quote emphasizes receiving both.

Scripture Reading — Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

"Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked? In the day of prosperity, be joyful."

That's the good.

Scripture Reading — Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

"But in the day of adversity,"

that's the evil.

Scripture Reading — Ecclesiastes 7:13-14

"But in the day of adversity, consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him."

Biblical Examples of Receiving Evil

Now, also in Lamentations 3 and verse 39, there is another verse that is equally applicable to the truth that God is teaching us, and that is this. Jeremiah wrote,

Scripture Reading — Lamentations 3:39

"Wherefore doth the living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?"

Scripture Reading — Genesis 44:26-34

"And we said, We cannot go down, if our youngest brother be with us. Then we will go down, for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant my father said unto us, You know that my wife bare me two sons, and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces, and I saw him not since."

That would be Joseph.

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 17:17-24

"And it came to pass after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick. And his sickness was so sore, there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come unto him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came unto him again, and he revived."

But notice, if you would please, what he said when he was praying to the Lord. The Bible says, in verse 20,

Scripture Reading — 1 Kings 17:17-24

"And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow?"

God's Faithfulness in Temptation

1 Corinthians 10:13 promises God will not allow temptation beyond our ability and will provide a way of escape, usually through submission and obedience.

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 10:13

"There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man."

Paul's Thorn in the Flesh

Paul's persistent affliction (2 Corinthians 12) taught him to glory in weakness. Evidence suggests it was an eye condition (Galatians 4:15, 6:11), yet he continued ministering.

Scripture Reading — 2 Corinthians 10:1, 10

"Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you."

Applications: Receiving Both Good and Evil

Deuteronomy 30 verse 15:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 30:15-18

"See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil. And I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply. And the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them, I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it."

♪ ♪

How Good Are You At Receiving Evil?

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	EmdPOb2N2yk
Subject	Old Testament Studies
Course	Genesis: Creation, Fall, and Dominion
Genre	Sermon
Date	2023-02-03
Dictation Name
Book	Book 075: Genesis — Chapter 21
Source Timed Segments	79

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Question of Receiving Evil: Weaver introduces the topic from Job 2:7-10, posing the question of how well we receive evil, and clarifies that 'evil' in this context means adversity, not sin.
Defining 'Evil' in Job's Context: The Hebrew word 'ra‘ah' is defined as bad, sore, adversity, affliction—the opposite of 'tov' (good). Job's friends heard of this 'evil' that came upon him.
Job's Calamities and His Response: Job lost children, possessions, health, and faced a discouraging wife, yet he responded with reason and did not sin with his lips, calling her foolish.
The Foolishness of Rejecting Evil from God: Using the word 'nabal' (fool), Weaver links Job's wife's counsel to the character of Nabal in 1 Samuel 25, showing that rejecting evil from God is foolish and akin to being a son of Belial.
God's Purpose in Chastening: Hebrews 12:5-11 teaches that God chastens those He loves for their profit and holiness. Earthly fathers chasten for good; God's chastening yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
Learning from Affliction: David's Testimony: Psalm 119:67, 71, 75 show David learned obedience through affliction, acknowledging God's faithfulness in sending it.
The Necessity and Benefits of Affliction: Reading from Grace Gems, Weaver lists reasons God afflicts: to exercise graces, wean from the world, embitter sin, endear Christ, prevent temptation, make us useful, and make us long for heaven.
God Sets Good and Evil Together: Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 teaches that God sets prosperity and adversity together to teach us to find our all in Him. John Trapp's quote emphasizes receiving both.
Biblical Examples of Receiving Evil: Examples include Judah fearing evil upon Jacob (Genesis 44), Elijah calling the widow's son's death evil (1 Kings 17), and David submitting to Shimei's cursing (2 Samuel 16), showing submission as the way out.
God's Faithfulness in Temptation: 1 Corinthians 10:13 promises God will not allow temptation beyond our ability and will provide a way of escape, usually through submission and obedience.
Paul's Thorn in the Flesh: Paul's persistent affliction (2 Corinthians 12) taught him to glory in weakness. Evidence suggests it was an eye condition (Galatians 4:15, 6:11), yet he continued ministering.
Applications: Receiving Both Good and Evil: Applications: (1) God does not afflict willingly; blessings follow obedience. (2) All things work for good (Romans 8:28). (3) We must learn from affliction and not lose its benefits. Job did not sin with his lips; we should glorify God in the fires (Isaiah 24:15).

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Evil in Job means adversity, not sin

The Hebrew word 'ra‘ah' denotes bad, sore, adversity, affliction—the opposite of good—not moral evil.

Weaver defines the Hebrew terms and cites Job 2:11 where the same word describes Job's calamities.

Rejecting evil from God is foolish

Job's wife's counsel to curse God is called foolish ('nabal'), linking to Nabal in 1 Samuel 25, implying such rejection is vile and devilish.

Weaver explains 'nabal' and connects it to Nabal and 'son of Belial.'

God chastens for our profit

Hebrews 12 shows that divine chastening is a mark of sonship and produces holiness and righteousness.

Hebrews 12:5-11 is read and applied.

Affliction teaches obedience

David's afflictions led him to keep God's word and learn His statutes.

Psalm 119:67, 71, 75 are quoted.

God sets good and evil together for our instruction

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 teaches that God juxtaposes prosperity and adversity so that we find our all in Him.

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 is read and explained.

Submission is the path through trials

David's response to Shimei's cursing exemplifies submitting to God's will, trusting God to requite good.

2 Samuel 16:5-13 is recounted; David says, 'Let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him.'

God limits trials to what we can bear

1 Corinthians 10:13 promises that no temptation is beyond our ability and God provides escape.

1 Corinthians 10:13 is quoted and explained.

All things work for good

Romans 8:28 assures that both good and evil circumstances benefit believers.

Romans 8:28 is cited.

Scripture References

Job 2:7-10: The main text: Satan smites Job with boils; his wife tells him to curse God; Job responds, 'Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?'
Job 2:11: Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him.
1 Samuel 25:3: Nabal is described as churlish and evil; his name means fool.
Hebrews 12:5-11: God chastens those He loves; chastening yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
Psalm 119:67: Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word.
Psalm 119:71: It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.
Psalm 119:75: I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.
Lamentations 3:33: He doth not afflict willingly.
Ecclesiastes 7:13-14: In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God hath set the one over against the other.
Lamentations 3:39: Wherefore doth the living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
Genesis 44:26-34: Judah fears the evil that will come upon his father if Benjamin does not return.
1 Kings 17:17-24: Elijah prays, 'O Lord my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow?'
2 Samuel 16:5-13: Shimei curses David; David submits, saying, 'Let him curse, for the Lord hath bidden him.'
1 Corinthians 10:13: God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.
2 Corinthians 12:7-10: Paul's thorn in the flesh; God's grace is sufficient; Paul glories in infirmities.
Galatians 4:13-15: Paul mentions his infirmity of the flesh and that the Galatians would have plucked out their own eyes for him.
2 Corinthians 10:1, 10: Paul's bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible.
Galatians 6:11: Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.
Isaiah 24:14-15: Glorify ye the Lord in the fires.
Deuteronomy 30:15-18: I have set before thee life and good, and death and evil; choose life.

Historical References

John Trapp, Puritan commentator: Quoted: 'Shall we receive good at the hands of God and not evil? Shall we not eat the crust with the crumb? Drink the sour with the sweet?'
Grace Gems article on afflictions: Weaver reads an article listing reasons God afflicts His children.
Adam Clarke, commentator: Mentioned regarding Paul's writing of Galatians with his own hand.
John Eadie, commentator: Quoted on the possibility that Paul's thorn was an ophthalmic disorder.
Film about a Christian plane crash survivor: Weaver references a film about a disfigured preacher who continued to minister.

Important Quotes

Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?

The central question of the sermon, highlighting the need to accept both prosperity and adversity from God.

Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.

Job's rebuke of his wife, showing that rejecting evil from God is foolish.

Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word.

David's testimony that affliction led him to obedience.

He doth not afflict willingly.

Emphasizes that God does not take pleasure in sending trials.

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

God's response to Paul's request to remove the thorn, teaching reliance on divine strength.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Assurance that both good and evil circumstances benefit believers.

In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Job's example of receiving evil without complaining or sinning.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

How does understanding the Hebrew word 'ra‘ah' change your view of 'evil' in Job 2:10?

[Context]

Weaver explains that 'evil' means adversity, not sin.

[Question]

Why is it foolish to reject adversity from God, according to Job's response to his wife?

[Context]

Weaver links 'foolish' to Nabal and being a son of Belial.

[Question]

How does Hebrews 12:5-11 shape your understanding of God's discipline?

[Context]

Weaver reads and applies this passage on chastening.

[Question]

In what ways have you experienced learning from affliction, as David did in Psalm 119?

[Context]

Weaver cites Psalm 119:67, 71, 75.

[Question]

How can David's response to Shimei's cursing (2 Samuel 16) model submission for us today?

[Context]

Weaver recounts David's submission to God's will.

[Question]

What does 1 Corinthians 10:13 promise about the limits of our trials, and how have you seen this in your life?

[Context]

Weaver explains God's faithfulness in not overloading us.

[Question]

How does Paul's thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12) encourage you to accept persistent difficulties?

[Context]

Weaver discusses Paul's acceptance of his weakness.

[Question]

What practical steps can help us 'glorify God in the fires' (Isaiah 24:15) when facing adversity?

[Context]

Weaver calls believers to glorify God in trials.

Applications

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