Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” Job 2:3
If you read this verse without reading the first chapter of Job you would think it was God who brought all the destruction into Job’s life. It sounds like God was angry with Job and ruined him, yet we know it was Satan who caused Job’s demise. However, God accepted responsibility for Job’s suffering.
We find a similar situation when Satan enticed Adam and Eve to sin but it was God who set about resolving the situation. Firstly he promised a Saviour, one who would crush Satan’s head (Genesis 3:15) and secondly he sacrificed animals so Adam and Eve could be clothed (Genesis 3:21). While God didn’t cause Adam and Eve to sin, he’s the one who accepts responsibility for solving the problem.
Old Testament-Jewish thinking saw everything as coming from the hand of God. So they believed sin was God’s problem because he gave us free will. If he had made robots, instead of people, sin would never have been a problem, but it’s harsh to blame God for the results of our free will.
Ultimately God would send Jesus to fix the sin problem for good. He didn’t have to do this. God wasn’t at fault and under no obligation to do anything. Yet he initiated the action which would redeem us.
In Jesus’ death on the cross, we see God accepting responsibility for sin and suffering being in the world.
