Correct, I don't believe that He is to be blamed for evil - but he gives the permission for evil to be done, he gives his authority for the evil to be perpetrated. . . .
God is in control of everything - So if my friend is in an accident and is paralyzed - I can encourage her - "God allowed it and only meant it for good". If my friend was just told she has cancer - I can encourage her - "God allowed it and only meant it for good." . . . Would this grow her faith and love for God OR would it make her want to turn her back on God and if she wasn't a believer in the first place, would this encourage her to believe. . . . .This is a BIG stumbling block for me.
On one hand we have God allowing evil - on the other hand we see a war - a war between God and the spiritual forces of Satan. So we are told "Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." - why, if God is giving his permission in the first place then wouldn't it be his will for the devil to touch us . . .
You know there is a MUCH bigger picture to this whole thing with Job - the key point is NOT Satan asking permission, but Satan's accusation to God was that Job ONLY feared God
(held Himin the greatest honor and reverence)
because of what He had done for him. . . Satan is setting forth a challenge to God - Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household and around all that he has on every side? (Job 1:9-10) IOW - "why wouldn't Job have the greatest honor and reverence for you when you have this hedge of protection around him and everything he owns - let me take all this away and we'll just see what happens". So the battle is on and the battleground is Job's heart, his mind, and his being. In this conflict - Satan is allowed to afflict one of God's servants because of the challenge he set forth at the beginning of the chapter. . . . There is SO much in this chapter - Job NEVER blamed God even believing that God was perpetrating the evil against him and "it rains on the just and the unjust". Probably even so much more there even after I have read it many times . . .
Okay, so by your first paragraph, you have changed your mind kind of drastically by talking it through and grappling with it. I want to make sure this is so and I'm not just misunderstanding your first paragraph. (And by the way, we have to expect He will change our minds on some things or there would be NO renewing of our minds and no learning more of Him.
)
Okay, second paragraph. Yes, the way you phrase all of that would be a big stumbling block for me too! What occurs to me as I read it is how Jobs friends were quite a few days sitting with him while he mourned and not even saying a word. In fact, it was when they opened their mouths that the trouble began! Before that, they just sat and mourned with him and let him mourn.
They didn't tell him his children were dead and God allowed it and meant it only for good. Actually, when they did finally open their big mouths they blamed the death of his children and all his troubles as being because he must have sinned against God in some way. They basically said, oh you HAD to have done something to make God angry or your children wouldn't be dead and none of this trouble would have come to you. And Job was like, this is what you say to me and you call yourselves my friends??!
So yeah, the way you say in your second paragraph - NOT the way to comfort your friend who lost their child to say: God had your child killed to do good for you. Unless you want to HAVE no friends (or get shot) you won't do that.
God didn't cause his kids to die - satan did. And it's true that God blessed Job and turned what satan did for the good of Job because Job said in the end: before I had only
heard about God but now I've actually seen Him and
met Him for myself! It is good to meet God because no one who hasn't met Him will ever be with Him!
But we're back to the struggle over why God allows it to still go on. He allowed evil to touch Job. He could bring it all to a halt but He still hasn't. Which is Him permitting it to go on. Job went through hell. Just a horrible experience. The kind that just makes everyone very uncomfortable around the person and not knowing what you could possibly say. Before it all happened, he was very religious. He offered sacrifices even for possible unknown sins of his kids. But he'd never met God for himself. He'd only heard about Him. So you can't deny that God worked it all for his eternity and eternal good in the end.
And we earlier (the last few days) heard the same kind of testimony from a woman who was brutally attacked. That no matter how awful what she went through was, it turned her to God. But once again, God didn't perpetrate the evil but He did work it for her eternal good.
It's great comfort to me to know that when evil touches me in this world, God will work it for my good. That, as fantastical as it sounds, even the evil of someone else against me He can work for good.
The last paragraph of your post almost knocked my socks off.
And it gives me personally the impression that God permitted it all in order to try Jobs faith and remove any slag. And you know our trust (faith) is our most precious possession. It's what God SAVES us through (by grace, through trust). And if it's what He saves us through, it makes perfect sense that it's what satan would attack.