Sunday, March 11, 2012

The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all. Psalm 103:19

To say God is in control of every circumstance in our life is not politically correct. Many consider this Calvinism, others heresy, while others ask; 'what about the baby born blind or physically impaired? What about 9/11? What about the premature death of a spouse, a son or a daughter or the devastation of earthquake, tornado or tsunami? If God is loving, Why...?'

Question after question with seemingly no answers.

His Word fills us with hope if we will but realize we are not victims of random circumstance, that God is good and not evil and; '.. know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.' Romans 8:28

And what is His purpose? That we might be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.

Suffering is beyond our comprehension to understand. Yet it is evident in our lives that it is only through adversity that many will cry out to God, and none would be conformed to the Image of His Son without it.

"Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered."  Hebrews 5:8

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9

God uses short term suffering to accomplish long term good.

"That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these." Isaiah 45:6-7

The Lord spoke to Moses in Exodus 4:  "Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?"

Some ask 'why serve God if good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people.' But this question is not new.

Malachi records:

"It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape. Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored His name. They will be mine, says the LORD Almighty, in the day when I make up my treasured possession I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not."

The final chapter of our lives has not yet been written. There are many more battles to fight, tears to shed, sorrows to endure - all opportunities to grow and be conformed to the image of our Sovereign Saviour and LORD.

Remember:   "The LORD Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand."  Isaiah 14:24

4 comments:

  1. The fact that God causes all things to eventually work together for the good of those who are His followers, does not thereby mean that he causes everything that takes place.

    Does God sometimes intervene supernaturally in His creation? Yes - we see it in Scripture all the time. But to extrapolate from that a doctrine that God causes everything to happen is a misunderstanding of Scripture.
    
This logic means that God caused the little girl to be raped, that God caused the murderer to kill, that every time an automobile is out of control on ice - God caused it. This make God the author of sin.

    Scripture says that WHEN God plans things, they will happen. But it doesn’t say that He plans everything. If that was the case, then we would all be nothing but pre-programmed robots.

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  2. God allows, he does not cause....

    I still content that God is Sovereign and we will never understand this side of heaven all that entails.

    Many times the things that happen to us are a result of our own poor judgment and misguided choices, others are not as evidenced by the life of Job.

    I do not pretend to know it all, and pray I will continue to grow daily, being conformed into the image of my LORD.

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  3. "God allows, He does not cause..." Exactly. To say otherwise is to deny His sovereignty. For instance, my mother died of lung cancer as a result of smoking for 40+ years, did God cause this? No, but He did allow her to suffer the physical consequences of sin. Job's case was totally different, as you stated. We cannot know the 'why and why not's' of what God does or does not allow, for instance, the daily slaughter of unborn babies. God allows this, but He is not the cause of it, nor does it does not go unnoticed by Him. There indeed is a day of reckoning coming, and it isn't far off.

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  4. He is either LORD of all, or He is not Lord at all.

    Thanks Lyn.

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