The Just Dispensation of Evil by God and the Hardness of the Hearts of his Enemies

"The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him" (Rev. 16:8,9 NIV).

The general and popular consensus is that God does not have any hand whatsoever in the evil that befalls man. They rail, "If God was sovereign he could have prevented this evil. This evil is evidence that God does not exist." Or "God did not have anything personally to do with this evil. His presence is far from it. Rather it is the fruit of bad men that brought such and such evil on us. Or, maybe it is the work of the devil who keeps God at bay and busy trying to clean up his messes." This line of reasoning is backwards. We should not assume that God has no part by way of an active role in the disasters that there be. It is not that he has no control over them. He is the dispenser of them. We should not assume that God is distantly absent from evil when on the contrary he may be directly causing it. It is not that this evil happened because there is no God. It happened because there is a God! It is not that God sins or is "evil" in doing so, but that he is sovereign in the governing of the world and just in his punishment of man who in fact is sinfully evil. His justice is in no way compromised and vitiated when he punishes his enemies with plagues and other disasters. Furthermore the just recompenses of God manifestly make evident the true nature of his enemies by bringing to the surface and out into the intense sunlight the hardness of man's heart. But in spite of this and because of this he will not call on God for mercy in order that he might withdraw his fierce wrath, sheath his sword, and abate his anger, that they might no longer suffer under his mighty and terrible indignation. Instead they refuse to repent and give him the glory that is due his name. It is not that the wicked do not discern that God is punishing them with his vengeance and if they only knew this they would give him the honor that is due him. They know in their heart that it is God who is in control and it is him who plagues them. Their consciences' and flesh are seared, but it is not mother nature, chance, or bad luck that they curse. In their depraved hardened hearts it is God that they curse.