Habakkuk 1:13, Does God Hate Evil?

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong.

//Is this verse true, or does it reflect only the author's romantic picture of God? If God can't tolerate evil, where did evil come from?

The Psalms promise, "The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made." Lamentations 3:33 agrees, "For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men."

But other scripture seems to differ in opinion. Who made the Serpent of Eden, if not God? And can Satan really take all the blame for evil? Job's "brethen" recognized that God had brought evil upon Job. (Job 42:11)

Says Isaiah 45:7, "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil." Jeremiah 18:11 reads, "Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you." Judges 9:23 tells how "God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem;" Amos 3:6 asks, "Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?”

The problem of evil is one of the most troubling aspects for many believers. Many simply can't comprehend that God could be omniscient and omnipotent while still allowing evil to exist. It just doesn't jibe with our fervent wish that, above all else, God is good.

Today's verses prove that this topic troubled believers 2,500 years ago just as much as today.