Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be calamity in a city, and the LORD has not done it?
All Commentaries on Amos 3:6 Go To Amos 3
John of Damascus
AD 749
Since the word evil is ambiguous it has two meanings, for it sometimes means what is by nature evil, being the opposite of virtue and against God's will, while at other times it means what is evil and painful in relation to our sensibility, which is to say, tribulation and distress. Now while these last seem to be evil, because they cause pain, actually they are good because to such as understand them they are a source of conversion and salvation. It is these last that Scripture says are permitted by God. Moreover, one must know that we too cause them because involuntary evils spring from voluntary ones.
