Twice Paul repeated his request. Is that recorded as the limit to which we should go? By that time we should carefully weigh the situation, and consider whether the evil of which we wish to rid ourselves is not a blessing in disguise. If it humbles us, that is one of the greatest of boons. Even weakness may be a means of displaying God’s power. We are only an infinitesimal fraction of humanity, and partake of a minute portion of God’s purpose with the whole. He created evil in order to provide a background for blessing, and to reveal Himself through it. So that we should not ask to have all evil extracted from our experience, but rather inquire as to its ultimate effect. Then we may be able to thank God for it, rather than entreat Him to remove it.
When God wiped out evil with the Flood, was He revealing Himself or was He revealing the evil? It might be better to say that God identifies evil and we're revealing ourselves if we don't understand that.
