Does evil come from God?

Here’s a very common question that I think most Bible teachers get often:

1 Samuel 16:14 says that God sent an evil spirit to torment King Saul.  Did God really send an evil spirit?  Or did it really come from Satan?

Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil 1spirit from the LORD tormented him.

Granted, this verse is troubling, but I personally find 1 Samuel 18:10 even more so:

The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did.

For that matter, how about this verse in Isaiah 45:7:

I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.

These verses and many others seem to indicate that a lot more than “good” comes from God.   According to the Creation account in Genesis, everything God originally created was “good.”  James 1:13 teaches in no uncertain terms that God cannot be tempted by evil and that He does not tempt anyone else with evil.  That is, God does not trick or manipulate people into committing a sin.

However, because God is completely moral and ethical and treats the people He created fairly and justly, He must demonstrate the difference between good and evil in a way that is abundantly clear to them.  Furthermore, because God is righteous and He has established a moral order for His creation and is the sustainer of that moral order, it is God’s responsibility to punish sin; regardless of how much He may love the sinner or how much compassion He may feel toward them.

If we take Isaiah 45:7 as the basis of our understanding of “evil” coming from God, the context must be taken into consideration.   Isaiah is referring to the approaching consequences of Israel’s sin and rebellion; those consequences came in the form of foreign invasions.

In the case of King Saul, in his pride and rebellion he performed a sacrifice to God in violation of God’s law and he spared King Agag and much of the cattle belonging to the Amalekites in spite of being commanded by the Word of God to put them all to death.  In addition, Saul was sinfully jealous of David because of the praise the young man got because of his victory over the giant Goliath.  These and more sinful, rebellious, and prideful acts accumulated to the point where the King opened himself up Satanic influence, much the way Judas Iscariot did after he decided it was in his best interest to betray Jesus.

God has established certain spiritual laws that govern His creation.  We are familiar with some of them:  a man reaps what he sows, for example.  Another good example is that the promised blessings of God are almost always contingent on us doing something that pleases God.   All of God’s spiritual laws are based on “cause and effect.”  Saul’s continued disobedience literally cut him off from fellowship with God and God’s guidance, both of which he had previously enjoyed in abundance.   Well said Henry David Thoreau,

Nature abhors a vacuum, and if I can only walk with sufficient carelessness I am sure to be filled.

Nature does indeed abhor a vacuum, so that where the Spirit of God is absent, another spirit will come in.  In Saul’s case, he was besieged with the spirits of depression and jealousy that eventually drove him to suicide.  The book of Job teaches that all spirits, good and bad, operate only with the permission of God.

The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything [Job] has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.  (Job 1:12)

James tells us how insidious sin works, and he places the blame wholly on man himself:

[B]ut each of you is tempted when you are dragged away by your own evil desire and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.  (James 1:14—15)

Regardless of how it is worded, all consequences of sin are penal in nature, and come by way of God.  God is the author of the moral law for His creation, and He always does what is right.

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