My question is from 1 Samuel 18:10 where God sends an evil spirit upon Saul. I am confused about God using an evil spirit. I can’t think of another place where He does this. I know that God had a conversation with Satan about Job so I guess this could be something similar. Can you shed some light on this for me?
God’s intention in 1 Samuel 18 was to show Saul that he would not prevail against David. Having withdrawn His Holy Spirit from Saul (1 Sam. 16:14), He allowed the evil spirit to stir Saul up against David, and then helped David defend himself against Saul’s attack.
In addition to several other situations I could cite, Paul wrote that God will send a great delusion upon the unbelievers of the End Times so that they’ll believe the anti-Christ’s lie and condemn themselves after rejecting Him. (2 Thes. 2:11-12) And in Rev. 17:17 we’re told that God will prompt the anti-Christ and his associates to attack and destroy the apostate religious system. He does use the forces of evil to defeat their own kind.