Evil Rust

The most famous car manufacturer of all time is probably Henry Ford. He developed the assembly line, which enabled him to mass produce vehicles that bore his name. Ford’s Model T revolutionized the automobile industry and transportation in America. To get your hands on a Model T today, you would have to go to a collector or hope to find one stashed away in someone’s barn. These “barn finds” are popular for collectors but the condition of these vehicles is usually quite low and oftentimes, a vehicle that is 100+ years old will have quite a bit of rust damage. Would it be logical to get angry with and blame Henry Ford for the rust found on one of his cars? Imagine that someone not only blames Henry Ford but then they just start to get really mad at him because of the rust on the vehicle! It’s absurd to think about, but people do this same sort of thing every day to God.

“The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.” (Genesis 3:6-7)

Rust provides us with a great analogy for evil in this world. Rust is hydrated iron oxide—that is, it’s the corrosion and oxidation of iron and metal alloys. You don’t just find rust in the wild; it has to be on some sort of metal that was once good. There is no such thing as rust that exists without a host. There are ways to remove rust; if someone wanted to restore that rusty Model T, they certainly could treat the rust and remove it and they would be left with a good car and good metal. But you couldn’t remove the car and just have the rust. Rust cannot exist on its own. It’s the same with evil. We only call something evil because we have a sense of what good is. We can remove evil and be left with good, but we can’t remove good and still have evil because we wouldn’t know it was evil without good to compare it to.

“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” (Romans 5:12)

Evil happens in this fallen world, it seems, more often today than ever before. People get cancer, car crashes take lives, drugs ruin families, murders, kidnappings, runaways, the lives of the unborn are cut short, governments blow up civilians to cover up their own messes; we could make a list of evils for the rest of the day. Blaming God for the evil in this world, for the evil that happened directly to you, is kind of like blaming Henry Ford for the rust on a Model T.

“Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.” (Genesis 1:31)

When the Model T was made, when it rolled off that line, it was good and free of rust. The rust would only come later as a consequence of the car not being maintained or taken care of. When God made this world, it was perfect and good. But He loves us so much that He gave us free will of choice, and while free will makes evil possible, it is the only thing that makes real love possible. We chose to rebel. We chose evil, and it was ushered into this world. But God didn’t leave it that way. He didn’t abandon us because we rebelled. He made a rescue plan to save us from this evil, and one day the world will be restored to the good and perfect way it was intended.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared.” (Revelation 21:1a)

It’s foolish to blame God for the evil that happens in this world. What God made was good and perfect, but sin entered the world and God still provided a rescue plan. You wouldn’t blame the car maker for the rust, so don’t blame our good and perfect God for the sin. God will burn away all of the evil and give us the earth as it was intended: good and perfect. Until then, when evil happens in this world, see it for what it is: an opportunity in this training ground to trust God more, not an opportunity to blame the One Who is saving us from it.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.