God is not measured against another standard and found to pass. God IS the standard.
Good is good in so much as it is consistent with God and His purposes. It is important not to hold that God is good because of all the good things he does for us. The problem being that saying God is good because of the good things He does means that there is a higher standard than God that is called Good that God is measured by. While God IS good, and He DOES do great things for us, His goodness is not measured by our comfort and happiness. The goodness of our comfort and joy is measured by its basis in our relationship with God.
In a similar manner, in the final analysis, Evil is not Evil because of how it affects us or how terrible it may make our life (even if it does). Evil is evil exactly to the extent that it is something other than what the sovereign God has planned. Evil is just as evil if it is making life more enjoyable and giving us times of enjoyment.
One may consider a disaster or calamity to be evil. But this is a man centered view. Consider Moses leading Israel between the parted waters, and then drowning pharaoh's army. I'm certain that the army thought that was evil, and so did their families. In this case that disaster was caused by God, and I would be circumspect about terming it evil. One can then meditate on judging God by the effects of hurricanes, floods, and natural great fires.
By the way, those of your who recognize me here may have noticed that I do not usually mention Satan by name, I do use the term devils as a class of being, but I seldom use the term The Devil (a specific one of devils). This is not a matter of superstition so much as a choice. We must continue to remember that people around us are not our enemies. They may have a different world view whether political or spiritual, or social; but that does not make them our enemy, just someone with whom we disagree. Unless the basis of our world view is ourselves rather than our Lord, we should not take it personally.
But Satan is our enemy. He will with malice of fore-thought and planning entice unbelievers away from the Lord, and while he cannot separate the believer from entry into the Kingdom, he can defeat us in terms of making the rest of our mortal life of no consequence.
Good is good in so much as it is consistent with God and His purposes. It is important not to hold that God is good because of all the good things he does for us. The problem being that saying God is good because of the good things He does means that there is a higher standard than God that is called Good that God is measured by. While God IS good, and He DOES do great things for us, His goodness is not measured by our comfort and happiness. The goodness of our comfort and joy is measured by its basis in our relationship with God.
In a similar manner, in the final analysis, Evil is not Evil because of how it affects us or how terrible it may make our life (even if it does). Evil is evil exactly to the extent that it is something other than what the sovereign God has planned. Evil is just as evil if it is making life more enjoyable and giving us times of enjoyment.
One may consider a disaster or calamity to be evil. But this is a man centered view. Consider Moses leading Israel between the parted waters, and then drowning pharaoh's army. I'm certain that the army thought that was evil, and so did their families. In this case that disaster was caused by God, and I would be circumspect about terming it evil. One can then meditate on judging God by the effects of hurricanes, floods, and natural great fires.
By the way, those of your who recognize me here may have noticed that I do not usually mention Satan by name, I do use the term devils as a class of being, but I seldom use the term The Devil (a specific one of devils). This is not a matter of superstition so much as a choice. We must continue to remember that people around us are not our enemies. They may have a different world view whether political or spiritual, or social; but that does not make them our enemy, just someone with whom we disagree. Unless the basis of our world view is ourselves rather than our Lord, we should not take it personally.
But Satan is our enemy. He will with malice of fore-thought and planning entice unbelievers away from the Lord, and while he cannot separate the believer from entry into the Kingdom, he can defeat us in terms of making the rest of our mortal life of no consequence.