-9 is a passage of Scripture that people often use to ask if God is the author of pain. The answer to that can often be, “Yes and no.” We can say without a doubt that God is not, nor has ever been, the author of sin or evil. The Bible is clear on that point (Jas. 1:13; 1 John 1:5). The Bible is also clear, however, that God can allow pain to occur for the sake of accomplishing His purposes (Rom. 8:18,28). The greatest example of which is the life and death of Jesus. The Bible is very clear that Jesus’ death on the cross at the hands of wicked men was God’s good work in Jesus’ life to redeem us all (Acts 2:22-24; 4:27-28). In other words, the pain that Jesus experienced was a result of God’s plan to redeem humanity. That does not mean that God authored the sin that evil men executed against Jesus, but it does mean that God planned and permitted it so that, in His wisdom, His purposes might be accomplished.