One of the boys in my Bible class recently asked this question: “If God knew that most of the kings of Israel and Judah were going to be bad, why did He allow them to be king?”
This question came from a fourth grader just as we were ending our study of the kings of Judah. It was a logical question and one I hadn’t anticipated.
We had to stop our lesson, and I had to try to explain to this young man and the rest of the class why God allows evil to rule. After all, that is what this is really about. It was true with the kings, the disciples, new Christians in the first century church, and in the church and world today. There were and are evil people who rule over us who profess to love God or who turn against Him, choosing rather to serve mankind.
We can explain why some of the kings were allowed to rule since they were sons of kings; and, therefore, they would have been expected to follow their fathers, but what about those that weren’t?
King Saul was chosen and appeared to be the man for the job, but he soon proved that he didn’t have what it takes. He was afraid of Goliath, and he cared more about what the praise he could receive from men than following God’s instructions.
King Solomon was wise in most things, but he allowed his wives to bring their idols into his kingdom. Soon he turned away from the God that gave him his wisdom and caused the division of the kingdoms.
Jeroboam was a slave, not in line to be king. God chose him and gave him every opportunity to do what was right. He told him that he would be with him if he would be faithful. Instead, he changed everything about worship to God. He changed the place, the time, the way they worshipped, and the object of worship.
We could go through all the kings of Israel and Judah and talk about each of the kings and their failings. Few kings were considered good kings; and in the end, both Israel and Judah were taken captive.
The kings are not the only place we see this. Judas Iscariot is truly an example of turning to evil. Judas wasn’t always evil. John 13:27 tells us that Satan entered into Judas. He didn’t start off bad, but he became corrupt because of his greed.
Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 appear to have been good people, concerned for the Christians gathered in Jerusalem following Pentecost. Greed and pride seem to have also been their weaknesses. They sold land for money to give the apostles, but they lied about what they received for it. Both of them ended up dead, struck by God for their sinfulness.
Peter said it all in Acts 5:29, “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” Had each of these examples obeyed God rather than listening to men, they would have done the right thing rather than the wrong thing. God would have been with them as He had promised, and the outcomes would have been very different.
The simple answer to my student’s questions is God can know everything. He knows our hearts. God won’t intervene to make someone worship, serve, or obey Him. Each one of us has a choice. What will you do?
Sandra Oliver
I so appreciate the wisdom here. May our Heavenly Father give you many years to serve Him.
Isn’t it a blessing that the Lord is the One who makes the decisions as to who our rulers are (Rom. 13:1-7; Eph. 1:11)? But we must remember He also chose Sennacharib (Assyria), Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon/Chaldea), Cyrus/Darius (Persians and Medes), Alexander the Great (Greece), Julius Caesar [or Augustus as some claim] (Rome), and literally destroyed the world with those men. As He told Baruch, He planted the men in the world, and He will root them up (Jer. 45:1-4).
“This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men” (Dan. 4:17).
Sometimes God needs jobs done that only a wicked person would do. Because of prophecy, we know that someone had to kill Jesus in order to fulfill God’s plan for our salvation. But who would He use to do such a job? A righteous person would certainly not do that job. But what about people who are already wicked enough that God has given up on them? Sometimes God keeps those wicked people alive just to do the wicked jobs that have to be done.