Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
I’ve recently been working through Tim Keller’s Reason for God, and I’ve been very much enjoying the process. Early in the book, I found one of Keller’s thoughts fascinating, and I’ll try to reproduce it in my own way below. As I do so, we will see how a person who leans on their own understanding (Prov 3:5) will find himself or herself missing truth.
The Faulty Understanding
Many times I have heard someone argue that if God is totally good and totally powerful, evil cannot exist. The philosopher will then conclude that, since evil does exist, God must either be not totally good, not totally powerful, or simply non-extant.
ON the surface, such reasoning is compelling, especially to someone who is looking for a way not to have to deal with the God of the Bible. Indeed, if the premise is true that a totally good God would not allow evil to exist, the argument might seem insurmountable.
A Philosophical Response
The argument above is, however, quite flawed. The flaw becomes evident in the use of the word “evil.” At this point, I have never yet read any atheistic or secular philosopher who has successfully come up with a way to define evil once the concept of the existence of God has been eliminated from the discussion. All moral relativists must eventually relinquish such a category as evil, for they ultimately lack a final authority to appeal to for a definition of what is good or evil.
Put another way, we only know what is evil or not based on the simple fact that God, the ultimate Authority, has defined evil for us,. We could not say that murder is wrong did we not have God create us with an implicit understanding that murder is wrong and reveal that truth to us. We would not know that leaving one’s spouse for another is wrong were it not told us by God. (In fact, many moral relativists would argue against the second standard vehemently, and some the first standard as well.)
If we understand that evil cannot be defined without there being a moral standard which is violated, a moral standard which cannot exist without there being an ultimate authority to whom or to which to appeal, we begin to see the problem with the argument posed above. Simply put, it requires God to define what is and what is not evil.
IF it requires God to define what is truly evil, the argument above is self-defeating. To say that the existence of evil in our world disproves the existence of God is to ultimately disprove the key premise of the argument. If God does not exist, then evil cannot exist. If evil cannot exist without God, then the presence of evil cannot be used to attack the concept of the existence of God. IN essence, the weapon that the philosopher attempts to wield against God disappears the moment he tries to use it, imploding on itself.
A Biblical Alternative
Proverbs 3:5 tells us to trust in the Lord and not to lean on our own understanding. The Bible defines God as ultimately holy, good, wise, powerful, knowing, etc. The Bible also makes it plain that, in comparison to God, our own understanding of the universe and right and wrong is rather puny (see Job and God’s response to his questions as an example). Is it not then more sensible to say that if an all-good and all-knowing God has allowed the existence of evil in our world, we can assume that God has a reason for allowing the existence of evil that is beyond the ability of our minds to understand from our earthly perspective?
Christians, we need not shrink back in fear from a difficult-sounding argument. Sometimes the answers will come easily. Sometimes the answers will be difficult. Perhaps a good secular philosopher might find holes in my reasoning above that render my arguments invalid in their present form. However, the truth remains that God is the God of truth. Jesus himself told us that he is the truth (John 14:6). God is not shaken by the darts of secular thinkers. On the contrary, the more they attack him, the more they prove his word to be true. God is. God is glorious. God is our Creator, Master, and Lord. We will either come to him as he has commanded, or we will be judged by him according to his standards. No philosophical argument will ever exculpate a person from the fact that they are a sinner before a holy God in need of God’s grace for life. Thankfully, God has offered his grace to all who will simply turn away from self-reliance, trust in him, and cry out for mercy in Christ Jesus.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
(Proverbs 3:5-6)
Pastor Travis Peterson 