Why does a good and sovereign God permit so much wandering—and how does He turn bad toward good?
“He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD His God.”
— Micah 5:4
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Spurgeon reflects beautifully on this passage by describing Jesus as our Shepherd-King.
Christ does not merely occupy a throne. He actively shepherds His people. He feeds, guides, watches, protects, restores, and tends His flock. His reign combines absolute authority with extraordinary tenderness.
Spurgeon describes the Christian’s obedience as the willing response of sheep who know and love their Shepherd. Christ does not rule merely through raw power, but through truth, goodness, and love.
That is comforting.
But it also raises a difficult question.
If the Shepherd Is So Good, Why Are So Many Lost?
Look around.
Our world is filled with people who are spiritually lost, hurting, confused, deceived, and misguided. Even Christians sometimes wander far from the Shepherd they profess to follow.
If Christ is the Good Shepherd, if God is sovereign, and if He possesses unlimited power, why does He permit so much wandering?
Why sin?
Why suffering?
Why Satan?
Why does God allow people to make decisions that He knows will hurt themselves and others?
I don’t pretend to possess a complete answer. Some things remain mysteries belonging to God.
But Scripture gives us enough light to trust Him within the mystery.
One part of the answer appears to involve something God has given humanity that is both remarkably beautiful and terribly dangerous:
meaningful agency.
The Shepherd Leads—But Sheep Can Wander
Scripture repeatedly calls human beings to choose.
“I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life.”
— Deuteronomy 30:19
God created human beings in His image with genuine moral responsibility. Our decisions matter.
The Shepherd speaks.
We decide whether we will listen.
The Shepherd leads.
We decide whether we will follow.
Jesus said:
“My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.”
— John 10:27
There is relationship and response here.
This fits what I call:
Macro Sovereign • Micro Free
God is sovereign over the ultimate story while human beings exercise real, meaningful, consequential agency within it.
God’s sovereignty does not make our decisions meaningless.
Our freedom does not make God powerless.
Scripture somehow holds both truths together.
And unfortunately, we frequently use that freedom badly.
Isaiah describes the human condition perfectly:
“We all like sheep have gone astray; each one has turned to his own way.”
— Isaiah 53:6
His own way.
There is much of humanity’s problem in three words.
But Our Choices Aren’t Made in a Neutral World
Free will alone doesn’t explain everything.
Our choices take place within a fallen creation, and Scripture repeatedly identifies three powerful enemies:
The world. The flesh. The devil.
The flesh pulls us toward selfish desires.
The world develops cultures, systems, habits, and assumptions that can normalize what is contrary to God’s design.
And Satan deceives, tempts, accuses, and opposes God’s truth.
Jesus describes Satan as:
“a liar and the father of lies.”
— John 8:44
This means our spiritual problem isn’t merely a shortage of information.
Sometimes we simply don’t know better.
Sometimes we’ve been taught incorrectly.
Sometimes Satan deceives.
Sometimes culture distorts.
But sometimes we know—and still choose our own way.
Jesus gives the uncomfortable diagnosis:
“The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.”
— John 3:19
That is more than an information problem.
It is a Heart problem that distorts the Head and eventually directs the Hands.
And Then There Is the Perplexing Reality of Satan
Satan’s continued existence has always been somewhat perplexing to me.
God could eliminate Satan instantly.
Yet He presently permits Satan and his demons limited activity.
Why?
Scripture gives us glimpses but not every answer.
What Scripture makes unmistakably clear, however, is that Satan is not God’s equal opposite.
This isn’t Star Wars with two equal forces battling over an uncertain universe.
God alone is God.
Satan is created.
Finite.
Limited.
Judged.
And ultimately doomed.
The Cross has already determined the outcome.
“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
— Colossians 2:15
We therefore live within an unusual period of redemptive history:
The decisive victory has already occurred. The final removal of evil has not yet occurred.
Christ has won.
Yet the battle continues.
And we live, choose, work, love, suffer, serve, resist, and grow within that tension.
Perhaps that friction itself tells us something about God’s purposes.
What Man Means for Evil, God Can Mean for Good
Joseph gives us one of Scripture’s clearest windows into this mystery.
His brothers betrayed him, sold him into slavery, and caused years of suffering.
Years later Joseph told them:
“As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.”
— Genesis 50:20
Notice what Joseph does not say.
He doesn’t say:
“What happened wasn’t actually bad.”
He calls it exactly what it was:
evil.
But then comes the astonishing part.
They intended evil. God intended good.
The same historical events contained genuine human wickedness and genuine divine providence.
The brothers remained responsible for what they chose.
Yet their choices could not overthrow God’s ultimate purposes.
Micro Free. Macro Sovereign.
And God turned a pit into a pathway toward a palace.
The Cross Is the Ultimate Example
If we want to understand how God can bring good from evil, we eventually arrive at Calvary.
Peter says Jesus was:
“delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge; and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.”
— Acts 2:23
Consider the tension.
God’s sovereign plan. Human wickedness. Real responsibility. Divine providence.
The murder of the perfectly innocent Son of God was perhaps humanity’s darkest act.
Yet God transformed that very event into the doorway of salvation.
Crucifixion became resurrection. Death became life. Condemnation gave way to grace. Apparent defeat became eternal victory.
God didn’t call the evil good.
He demonstrated that He is powerful enough to bring good even from evil.
That distinction matters.
Sad Into Glad. Bad Into Good.
This pattern appears throughout Scripture.
Joseph goes from pit to palace.
Israel goes from slavery to exodus.
David goes from persecution to kingship.
Peter goes from failure to restoration.
Jesus goes from Cross to empty tomb.
And ultimately creation itself moves from fallenness toward restoration.
God repeatedly demonstrates an extraordinary ability to redeem what appears irredeemable.
Romans 8:28 therefore doesn’t teach that everything that happens is good.
It teaches something far greater:
“And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.”
All things aren’t good.
But God can work all things toward good.
And the following verse helps define that good: becoming increasingly “conformed to the image of His Son.”
Sometimes God’s good isn’t making my circumstances easier.
Sometimes His good is making me more like Jesus through my circumstances.
The friction becomes formative.
The resistance produces strength.
The difficulty produces perseverance.
The wandering teaches dependence.
The failure produces humility.
The suffering deepens compassion.
The trial strengthens faith.
And what Satan, fallen humanity, or even my own foolish decisions intended for destruction can become raw material in the hands of the Master Redeemer.
For Our Good and His Glory
Perhaps this brings us closer to understanding why God presently permits some of the tension and friction we experience.
Not because evil is necessary for God to be glorious.
God was infinitely glorious before evil ever existed.
Not because suffering is secretly good.
Scripture calls evil evil and suffering suffering.
And certainly not because God approves of everything He temporarily permits.
Rather:
God’s glory is magnificently displayed in His ability to redeem what evil has damaged.
He doesn’t call bad good.
He brings good from bad.
He doesn’t pretend sad is glad.
He can turn mourning into joy.
He doesn’t eliminate every hardship immediately.
He can redeem hardship and use it to transform His people.
And He doesn’t promise His sheep a world without wolves.
He promises His sheep a Shepherd in a world where wolves still roam.
That brings us back to Micah.
“He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD.”
Our Shepherd is still standing.
Still feeding.
Still guiding.
Still protecting.
Still restoring.
Still calling wandering sheep home.
Still transforming His people.
Still accomplishing His purposes.
And still turning apparent defeats into eventual victories.
There are many things about God’s sovereignty, human freedom, suffering, evil, and Satan that I don’t completely understand.
But perhaps faith doesn’t require understanding every move on the board.
It requires knowing the One who ultimately governs the game.
The Shepherd is good. The Shepherd is strong. The Shepherd is present. And the Shepherd ultimately wins.
Somehow, someway, even amid the tension and friction of this fallen world, God remains at work—
for our ultimate good and His eternal glory.
Ponder This
Where in your life are you currently seeing only the bad, while God may still be writing the good?
Where are you experiencing sad while God may still be working toward glad?
And where might the Shepherd be asking you—not to understand everything—but simply to hear His voice, trust His goodness, and follow?
God doesn’t call bad good. He is powerful enough to bring good from bad. God doesn’t call sad glad. He is loving enough to turn mourning into joy. He doesn’t remove every friction. He can redeem it.
That is more than positive thinking.
That is resurrection thinking.
Delight to Discover & Discern.
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Lyrics by Kirk Booher
(Verse 1)
So many cries, crowds of the lost,
So many hearts filled with dross.
Many wander like sheep, choosing their way,
Trading Your truth for the lies of the day.
The world pulls hard, the flesh wants control,
The enemy whispers his lies to the soul.
Yet over the noise, through valley and land,
I hear my good Shepherd’s voice.
And the Shepherd’s commands.
(Pre-Chorus)
You call, I choose to receive.
You lead, I choose to go.
I may not understand the why,
But I know the One I follow.
(Chorus)
The Shepherd still stands,
The Shepherd still feeds,
The Shepherd still guides us
And gives what we need.
When wolves are around us,
When darkness commands,
I will follow His voice—
For the Shepherd’s commands.
In the strength of the LORD,
By the might of His hand,
For my good and His glory—
The Shepherd still stands.
(Verse 2)
Joseph knew the darkness of betrayal and chains,
Years of injustice, rejection and pain.
What men meant for evil, You turned it around,
The road through the pit became higher ground.
You never called evil anything good,
But You worked through the evil as only You could.
From slave into servant, from prison to plan,
You were working behind the scenes—
And the Shepherd still stands.
(Pre-Chorus)
Macro Sovereign, Micro Free,
Our choices matter eternally.
Yet human failure cannot overthrow
The purposes of the God for Him to know
(Chorus)
The Shepherd still stands,
The Shepherd still feeds,
The Shepherd still guides us
And gives what we need.
When wolves are around us,
When darkness commands,
I will follow His voice—
For the Shepherd still stands.
In the strength of the LORD,
By the might of His hand,
For my good and His glory—
The Shepherd commands.
(Verse 3)
Then there was a hill and an old rugged Cross,
Where everything looked like terrible loss.
Lawless hands pierced the innocent One,
Darkness rejoiced, believing it had won.
But Heaven was working where no one could see,
The Cross became triumph, the grave lost its key.
What looked like defeat was redemption’s great plan—
Sunday morning declared:
The Shepherd still Stands!
(Bridge)
You turn sad into glad,
Bring good out of bad,
Not calling the darkness the light.
You take what is broken,
The wounds and the scars,
And redeem and make new these leaky jars.
Pit into palace,
Cross into crown,
Mourning to dancing,
The stone rolled away!
Death into life,
Lost into found,
Night into morning—
Resurrection Day!
(Breakdown)
The world may distort.
The flesh may demand.
The devil may whisper—
But the Shepherd still stands.
My choices still matter.
But you wash my feet and cleansed my hands,
A heart that loves You,
A head that seeks to understand.
Head • Heart • Hands—
All yielded to You.
Help me hear Your voice, Shepherd,
And faithfully do what it true.
(Final Chorus)
The Shepherd still stands,
The Shepherd still feeds,
The Shepherd still guides us
And gives what we need.
Though wolves still prowl among us,
They’re not in command.
Christ has already conquered—
And the Shepherd still stands!
In the strength of the LORD,
By the might of His hand,
For our ultimate good
And His glory and plan.
The Shepherd is good.
The Shepherd is strong.
The Shepherd is present
When the valley feels long.
The Shepherd has conquered.
The Shepherd will reign.
And one day the wolves
Will be driven away.
Until that great morning,
Whatever the land,
I’ll listen and follow—
For the Shepherd commands.
(Outro)
You don’t call bad good—
You bring good from the bad.
You don’t call sad glad—
You turn mourning to gladness.
You don’t remove every friction—
You redeem what You can
For our good and Your glory.
Micah five-four—
The Shepherd still stands.