Question:
Does God cause the earthquakes and volcanic eruptions? See Ps. 104:32. Does God allow Satan to bring harm to His people?
Answer:
To both questions, yes and no. All the power there is in the world is from God, and the Source of that power or energy designed that it should always be used for good. Satan and sin have perverted that power, so that God’s living law perverted “worketh wrath;” but it always works to the destruction of sin. What God permits, He is often said to do. He permits power to be perverted by rebellion so that men may see that His way only is life and preservation, and in His wisdom, He has so ordered that sin will always work out destruction. Therefore, He does not cause earthquakes in the sense that they are a part of His plan. They are among the evils that sin has brought, but which God is using to His glory. Yes, He allows Satan to bring temporal and seeming harm to His children. Satan brought it to Job, and he brought it to Christ. Are we better than our Master? The harm would be permanent if our God were not the living God, and to every soul who trusts Him, God will turn all the evil into good. For “we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Rom. 8:28.
