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Again listening to a recent Searchlight sermon, I examine the related commentary.
Quote in regard to Isaiah 45: 5-7
Isaiah 45:5-7: New American Standard Bible (NASB)
5 “I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will [a]gird you, though you have not known Me; 6 That [b]men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, 7 The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing [c]well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.
Footnotes:
Isaiah 45:5 Or arm
Isaiah 45:6 Lit they
Isaiah 45:7 Or peace
'On the eye of their being carried into captivity, God says He has plans for His people they wouldn't understand. The Hebrew word translated "evil" is ra, or "catastrophe." This means that the Lord is the One who at the very least allows, if not creates, certain situations in my life that to me might seem unsettling or catastrophic.' (428).
David F. Payne writes in regard to this section: 'prosperity and disaster, alike come from Him (God, my add)'.(751).
Bible Hub
Strong's with 7451 lists בּוֺרֵא רָ֑ע Isaiah 45:7 (of God).
'ra' from 7489 (144), a prime root to spoil, figurative, to make, or be good for nothing. (145) 'Ra' in 7451 defines as bad or evil, adversity, affliction, calamity as the first examples.
Therefore, there is basic agreement between the texts.
Continued with Pastor Courson:
'Too often, we blame Satan for the wrong in our lives. But, as we know from Job 1, Satan can't do a single thing to us unless it is allowed by the Lord.' (428).
Courson views this as a form of purification. (428). The Master Potter is transforming those in him to the type of vessel desired. (428).
In this case, the Pastor states that one should not seek their own will, but accept God's plans for their own betterment. (428). This is of course, far easier said than done, humanly speaking and these connect to problems of evil and problems of suffering. God's assistance is prayerfully required.
Pastor Courson to me is not an obvious Reformed adherent, but in this section his views reflect a biblical, Reformed perspective.
Within a compatibilist view, God would cause, will, create and allow all things within his perfect nature and morality, for his holy divine purposes. Satanic beings and human beings could indeed be secondary causes of same events, but without perfectly holy motives. Satanic beings, of course directly opposing God with distinctly unholy motives, while simultaneously serving him. Human motives will at least, minimally, be tainted by sin.
COURSON, JON (2005) Application Commentary, Thomas Nelson, Nashville.
PAYNE, DAVID F. (1986) 'Isaiah' in The New International Bible Commentary, Zondervan/Marshall Pickering, Grand Rapids.
STRONG, J. (1890)(1986) Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Burlington, Welch Publishing Company.
