We know of God He “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Eph 1:11). We also know “the LORD is upright . . . and there is no unrighteousness in him” (Psalm 92:15), and that “The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works” (Psalm 145:17).

What is the most evil thing that ever happened upon the earth (or in the entire universe)? Was it not the murder of the Holy One, the Creator of heaven and earth, and all that therein are? And yet of this it is written, “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23).

God delivered and determined Christ to be slain. It will not do to say He but “allowed” it, for He determined it. Yet He is holy in all His works, and righteous in all His ways.

When what we call evil God means for good, His purpose overrules our categories and value judgments. In the eschaton, when all is said and done in this age, and we are on New Earth with Him, we shall see that all that happened we thought evil—experienced as evil—was not evil to Him as He worked out our glory and everlasting joy by it.

Note that this does not exculpate men who do evil, nor absolve them of responsibility for what they have done. But whatever God does truly is holy, just, and righteous. It is that His ways are not our ways, and they are too high above us to comprehend. So we trust Him. When we suffer, we trust Him. We may hold men accountable, and see them punished. But God we trust, for we know He loves us with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3). This is what godly men and women have helped me to understand. I think this is right.