Introduction: In American law we call it “negligent
supervision.” It means the person or company in charge of an
area failed to adequately protect those within from harm.
The issue arises in the workplace, in shopping centers, or
wherever someone else is in charge of your surroundings. Is
God guilty of negligent supervision? We have terrible evil
in the world and God is the powerhouse of the universe. Does
responsibility end with Him? Are we in a position to judge?
What does God say about His supervision of the world and the
problem of evil? Let’s plunge into our study of the Bible
and find out! Note that we are not going to explore the
origin of evil in the universe, but only the evil infecting
our world.
I. The Disaster in Eden
A. Read Genesis 1:31. What was the state of the world
when God first created it? (“It was very good.”)
B. Read Genesis 3:1-3. Who made this serpent? Who
made Eve? Who made the forbidden tree? (God made
all three.)
C. Read Genesis 3:4-7. You Bible students, what has
happened here? (Sin has entered the world of
humans. This is the beginning of evil for humans.)
D. Read Genesis 4:3-8. What is Cain’s motive to kill
his brother Abel?
1. These are the first children of Adam and Eve.
The evil of murder shows up in one generation
after perfection!
II. How Disaster Arose
A. We just read a thumbnail sketch of how humans
sinned and thus invited evil into the world. This
evil manifested itself in the first born killing
the second born of the original perfect couple!
How do you explain this?
B. Read Genesis 2:9. Where were these two trees
located? (In the middle of the Garden of Eden.)
1. What was the purpose of the tree of life?
2. What was the purpose of the tree of knowledge
of good and evil?
a. Why were they together?
b. Why would you be compelled to go near the
forbidden tree every time you wanted to
eat of the tree of life?
c. Why didn’t God put the forbidden tree
outside the garden? Or at least in a
remote part of the garden?
3. If you just looked at this logically, what
answer would you give to the positioning of
these two trees? (This was no accident. God
deliberately put them together.)
a. Does this mean God designed Eden so
humans would fail?
III. Job
A. Job gives us a lot of information about how God
created the world. Let’s look at what else Job
teaches us about the beginning. Read Job 1:6-8.
Why did God ask Satan this question? (Because
Satan asserted that He ruled the earth.)
B. Read Job 1:9-12. What does Satan argue is the
reason for Job’s allegiance to God? (God is
protecting and blessing Job.)
1. What is Satan really saying? (Job does not
love God, Job loves success.)
C. What do these verses tell us about the attitudes
of God and Satan regarding the world? (They are in
competition. They are in competition for the
allegiance of humans.)
1. What is the relative timing of the book of
Job? (It was written after Adam and Eve sinned
for that is the reason Satan claims rulership
of the world. At the same time it appears to
be early in Satan’s reign, for it seems to be
after the Revelation 12:7-9 report that Satan
was tossed out of heaven, but while he was
still allowed to visit.)
2. Are the attitudes of God and Satan a
revelation of the attitudes of God and Satan
during the creation of the Garden of Eden?
a. Is the positioning of the two trees in
Eden an agreed-upon contest, just like
the attacks upon Job?
IV. Getting to Why
A. Look again at Job 1:9. How important to God is
that the basis for the relationship between God
and Job be “love” and not “things?”
1. Assume that challenge was raised with regard
to the attitude of your children towards you?
2. Assume that challenge was raised with regard
to the attitude of your much younger spouse
towards you? How important is the answer?
B. Read Romans 8:38-39. God’s love is stronger than
what? (Everything that might separate us from
Him.)
C. Read Romans 8:31-34. What has God done to be able
to have a love relationship with us? (Jesus was
tortured and killed so that we might have a
relationship with Him.)
D. Read Genesis 1:26-28. What is the original pattern
for humans? (God!)
1. If we were not given freewill, would we be
like God? (A robot is not “like” us if it is
under our control.)
2. Go back to our discussion of the agreed-upon
contest in Eden. Think about the agreed-upon
contest for Job. What was God looking for in
each one of these? (That Adam, Eve, and Job
would choose Him as a matter of love, and not
because God had given them things.)
3. Is free choice essential for true love?
V. The Impossible Why?
A. Read Job 23:3-4 and Job 31:35-37. What does Job
want? (Job says he wants God to give him a
hearing. Later he says he wants to sue God. The
problem is that Job has no one above God who can
make God explain why Job is suffering and then
render a verdict. Job says that his suffering is
unjust.)
B. Read Job 38:1-3 and then scan the rest of the
chapter and chapter 39. What answer does God give
to the charges raised by Job? Does God explain
why Job is suffering? (God essentially says, “I’m
God and you are not.” The verses that follow Job
38:2 are an extended explanation of why Job is
such an ignorant fellow.)
C. Read Job 40:1-5. How does Job reply? (Job agrees
that he is not God and he will be silent about
bringing charges against God. God then spends the
balance of chapter 40 and chapter 41 continuing
with His assertion that humans do not begin to
understand what God understands.)
1. What do you think about God’s answer? Does it
sound like what your parents said, “Do it
because I told you so.” No explanation was
needed. (God never explains anything to Job
other than Job’s relative ignorance.)
D. Let’s step back a minute and discuss this. Did God
have a simple answer that He could have given Job?
(Yes. This was an agree-upon contest.)
1. Could Job have ever reasoned out this answer?
(I cannot imagine he could.)
2. The book of Job is part of the Bible because
God wants us to know the true answer as to why
Job suffered. Why give us the answer and not
Job who suffered so much?
E. We started this lesson with the promise to try to
determine the reason why evil exists in this world
and whether God is responsible for it. Then we
read a number of texts which suggested answers to
us. What is the best and most direct answer? (Sit
down and shut up. God is God and we are not. While
God explains the Job situation to us (which in my
opinion also explains the Eden situation), the
best answer is that we do not have God’s
understanding and we need to simply know that He
loves us. We must trust Him whether it makes sense
to us or not.)
F. Friend, God died for you. God created you and your
universe. Will you trust Him?
VI. Next week: Free Will, Love, and Divine Providence.
Copr. 2025, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are
from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing
ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All
rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within
parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail,
but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this
link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the
Holy Spirit as you study.
