Matt. 2:13 Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod (Herod the Great) is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.” 14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 15 He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.” Herod Slaughters Babies 16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. 17 Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: 18 “A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE.” 19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, 20 “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.” 21 So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, 23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Acts 12:21 On an appointed day Herod (Agrippa), having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. 22 The people kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” 23 And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.
In 1981 in the midst of a heartbreaking situation I was seeking the Lord for some answers, and for the first time I hung out in the book of Job. Job whom the Scripture says was a “man blameless, upright, fearing the Lord, and turning away from evil,” also sought the Lord for answers, for he had just lost almost everything. As the book progresses, Job increasingly questions how unjust, and unfairly God had dealt with Him. He felt he deserved better. In the end, Job had an encounter with God and repented of his anger toward God by saying, “Then Job answered the LORD and said, 2 “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. 3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” 4 ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ 5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; 6 Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”
Job still didn’t understand everything, but what he did understand were two simple things; God is Big, and God is Good. This is what the Lord told me. He said “Chuck I am big, and I can do anything with your life that I want to without owing you an explanation, for I am Lord; but I am also good, and no matter what happens in your life you can trust in my goodness.” He then told me that no matter what happens in my life to never put His goodness on trial, regardless of my understanding. He was after my confidence, not my comprehension. I settled the issue of His goodness 36 years ago, and I’ve never questioned it since then, even though there are many things that have happened that I did not fully understand. This is the foundation of all my theology; God is Big, and God is Good.
In the Scriptures I have quoted above Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great is struck down by an Angel of the Lord in a moment, but Herod the Great isn’t struck down And lives to carry out the murder of innocent little children. Obviously God had the ability and exercised the choice to strike Herod Agrippa down in a moment; but He didn’t do that with Herod the Great which would have kept him from carrying out His evil plan. Why? God is Big. God is Good. Huh??? I know. I know; but He has my confidence, even if He doesn’t always have my comprehension. I’m not called to always understand; but I am called to always trust. Is God ever the author of evil? Absolutely not, but in the midst of a fallen world, GOD IS BIG, and GOD IS GOOD.