Proverbs 16:4 ESV
The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
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Men do horrific evil every day. Every day, people made in God’s image murder, enslave, kidnap, rape, torture, and every combination thereof, and they do it to other people made in God’s image. The world is dark and terrible, when we look at it square in the eye, and the question seems inescapable: could God truly have created an evil so great?
The message of this proverb at first appears simple, then ambiguous, then simple again. In the first reading, we get the general truth. God has made everything, and He made it for a purpose. Implied in this is a certainty that His creation will achieve its purpose in every aspect, for God has spoken: “I am the Lord. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it” (Ezekiel 24:14). The trouble appears when we interrogate the second part of the verse. What is the purpose which this proverb declares for the wicked?
Two possibilities appear. First, the ‘day of trouble’ is the destruction of the wicked; second the ‘day of trouble’ is a day of trouble for the righteous, initiated by the wicked. The first interpretation seems the more comforting, so it would be easy to default to it, but that would be a mistake. Remember that the Proverbs were written, in large part, by Solomon. If we look at Proverbs, the words ‘day of trouble’ do not appear in the rest of the book (according to my definitely fallible method of searching the ESV translation). If we turn to the Psalms, however, we find the term used several times, in context that renders its meaning clear. Because Solomon as David’s son would have been conversant in the language of Psalms 20, 27, and 41, in which the relevant term appears, we can use those psalms to clarify what Solomon meant in his own writing in Proverbs 16:4.
The ‘day of trouble,’ unfortunately for our easy solution, is not the destruction of the wicked. Psalm 20:1 reads, “May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!” The event here referenced is clearly the suffering of the righteous, those who can call upon God in truth. Psalm 27:5, 41:1, and 86:7, all David’s writing, use the term in the same role. Psalms 50, 77, and 94, while not David’s (the first two are Asaph’s, and the last is unattributed), use the term in the day way. The meaning of the phrase in Proverbs 16:4 is now clear, and we have an uncomfortable question.
How do we reconcile the fact that God made the wicked with the purpose of doing wickedness, of harming the righteous, with the truth of God’s goodness? The two seem diametrically opposed. Surely, if a man makes a poison with the specific intent of it harming his neighbor, we do not continue to call him a good man. How, then, can God make that which He intends to act so wickedly, without Himself being condemned?
God has given us an answer (and then some). Job 38:23 challenges Job, “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.” The sequence that follows drives home a message we must understand: God is God, and we are not. For that reason, because He is God, it is His right to turn every one of His creations to His purpose. It is His to create and His to destroy.
So man does evil. Yet God bears no guilt for that evil. Why? The simple truth is that man does not have the right to kill as he will or to inflict suffering upon another, but God does have that right. All men sin and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). In truth, no man has a right to complain of his treatment at God’s hands. God is just, and God is our Creator, and for both reasons we must be silent when we would speak against Him. We have all sinned, and we all deserve damnation, and that we do not now suffer it is merely His mercy.
What about those whom He has justified, His people? We who He has saved are not damned, not any longer, and though it is not by our virtue that we are made righteous, true righteousness does indeed cover us. Why, then, does God still create the wicked to trouble us?
Here we come to the end of this verse, the comfort of it. God made the wicked for their purpose, and so they will fulfil it, but that purpose is not the destruction of the righteous. Sure, they will try. They may even seem to succeed. The swords of the wicked are sharp, and their arms mighty in the wielding. God rules, though. He has made the wicked for their purpose, and so they cannot transgress it. Because their purpose is not to destroy, they will not and cannot destroy, for that is God’s alone to decide (Matt. 10:28).
The purpose of the day of trouble, as per Hebrews 12:1-6, is clear. Through the suffering of the ‘day of trouble’, the righteous are made more fit to eternity, are forged free of the sins which plague them. It is a slow and hard process; it is one which begins at the moment of new birth (John 3) and ends only with the final glorification which comes with death. Yet it is always God’s hand which shapes us, and will not He who loves us love us still in His every act? For His people, remember, have a purpose of their own: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28).
God bless.
Written by Colson Potter
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
