By J.B. Stoney
TO the question, Why is evil permitted? I believe the true answer is, That the greater good may be declared. It is very interesting to note that for every evil expressed there is a good manifested to supersede it. That is, the one great purpose with God is to bring out the good. Hence, whenever evil intrudes and forces its way, He makes this inroad only a fresh occasion for setting forth the good, so that the evil becomes a foil for the good. The good becomes more distinct by the very distinctness of the evil.
The more we study and are acquainted with all the ways of God with man, the more we see that the existence of evil gave occasion for the declaration of good. A man of full age, or matured, is one who has his senses exercised to discern good and evil; he knows that whenever there is an evil there must be a good to supersede it, and he can always determine an evil by, and according to, his knowledge of the good. The existence of evil is trying to each one according as he is led of God, for God is good and doeth good, but though he will be tried by it, he is not to be overcome by it, but to overcome evil with good, for this is God's way.
Nothing tries the God-fearing soul more than that one professing the same faith as himself, and apparently enlightened by the same truth, should perversely insist on and maintain his own mind contrary to the mind of the Lord; yet this very great trial -- which is a heresy, we read -- is necessary, that the approved may be made manifest. The fact that heresies are necessary for this end, while on the one hand it supplies a balm to the godly one tried by the heresy, is on the other hand of great warning; for when the testing comes, it is only those equal to the test who shall be manifested. The approved must not remain unseen. It is the gracious purpose of God that the good must come abroad; He that sees in secret rewards openly.
The disciples were exhorted not to conceal what they were, for there was nothing secret which should not come abroad; it is thus evidently good. On the one hand it humbles that there is so little open reward, for if there had been more to be approved of, there would have been more open reward; while, on the other hand, if I have simple faith, I can go on with the Lord, assured in heart that He will in His own time openly reward what He has approved of, for "not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth".
Abram, the man of faith, might appear to be surpassed by Lot when the latter chose the best part of the land, but this very act not only declared the faith of Abram, but was used of God to raise him to a higher position - to reward him openly. "And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee", Genesis 13:14-17. And much more so afterwards, Abram the approved one is made manifest, when after having delivered his brother Lot, he was met by Melchizedek, and blessed in the name of "the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth". The wilfulness in even natural things became an occasion for the manifestation of the virtue and grace of the approved one.
