They will say, “God did not take away Job’s health, kids and stuff, the devil did.” The devil is the bad guy, not God. My problem is the age-old question, “ How can a loving God allow (permit or will) evil (suffering or pain)?” I have often heard it said that God does not will evil, but he permits it. I have no problem with saying that God works everything out for our good (Romans 8:28 Ephesians 1:11). I am still wrestling with a lot of these issues. He is provocative and unashamed to tackle tough theological subjects. I do not always agree with him at the end of the day, but I love his passion for biblical and historical orthodoxy. I really wrestled today with an article by John Piper entitled, “ Is God Less Glorious Because He Ordained that Evil Be?” I love reading Piper. I then took some of these issues into a meeting with our elders where we spent 45 minutes discussing the pastoral concerns related to a biblical understand of sovereignty. I spent much of the day reading online articles and essays, mostly from Reformed thinkers, on the issues of sovereignty, suffering and evil. Is there such a thing as chance or coincidence? How much of life is controlled by God? Today is a perfect day to reflect on these questions, because the terrorist attacks of September 11th raise the questions about pain, suffering, tragedy and the providence of God. I am preparing for a sermon that I will preach at the end of the month on the subject of chance.

Today was the perfect day to wrestle with the issues of God’s sovereignty and providence. Had I taken that flight from Amsterdam to Atlanta in 2001, I would have been diverted to Canada. One of my possible itineraries had me returning on Tuesday, September 11th. I returned from my first trip to India on September 4, 2001, exactly one week prior to the terrorist attacks. Today is the fifth anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks.

John piper job