All Things

God, the Creator of all things, upholds, directs, disposes, and governs … all … creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest event to the least. All things come to pass according to the decree of God. He is the cause of all things and has sovereign dominion over them.

Some of the things God decrees through providence and His sovereign power are not always thought of by natural man as good. There are some things either sent or allowed by God that are judged as evil brought upon sinful man.

Deuteronomy 29:29 … "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

The objective I have in mind for this dissertation is to present what the Word of God has revealed to us about the conduct of God concerning all that He allows to come our way. All things … good or evil … are here by God's decree for a purpose or reason which we may not understand at this present time.

There may be some things we will never know the reason for; secret things that belong only to God that are never revealed to us. That's why they are secret … we don't need to know, they belong to Him alone.

Isaiah 14:24 … "The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand …"

Isaiah 45:7 … "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."

Isaiah 46:9-11 … "I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning … saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure … yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it."

These verses of scripture in the Old Testament declare … for whatever purpose God had in mind, when He spoke or decreed anything, it happened; it came to pass as He ordained it, and His sovereign will became … reality.

Augustine, the 6th century Benedictine monk who was the first Archbishop of Canterbury and founder of the English Church has said …"Evil, which is sin, the Lord hath not done; evil, which is punishment for sin, the Lord bringeth."

When God said that He created evil, He was not speaking of the evil of sin, but of the natural evils which are many; evils that He cursed the earth with as the result of man's original sin. Sickness, disease and death are an ongoing punishment decreed by God to remind us that we live in a fallen sinful world and have need of a savior.

From what looks like permission to sin by giving man a free will to choose sin … God is neither the author nor approver of sin. The sinfulness proceeds only from the creature, and not from God.

Amos 3:6 …"Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?"

Job 1:21 …" Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

Job 2:10 … "What, shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?"

Lamentations 3:32-33 … "Though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men."

Lamentations 3:38-39 …"Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? Wherefore doth a living man complain … for the punishment of his sins?"

The Amplified states it this way … "Is it not out of the mouth of the Most High that evil and good both proceed … why does a man complain for the punishment of his sins?"

Whatever a man's lot in life is, it is God that orders it … He still forms the light and creates the darkness, as he did at first.

But know this … though we may pour out our complaints before God, we must never complain against God. His judgment is not against us, but our sin.

R.C. Sproul speaks to this fact when he says … "If there were no sin in the world, there would be no suffering. Because sin is present in the world, suffering is present in the world; but it doesn’t always work out that if you have five pounds of guilt, you’re going to get five pounds of suffering."

In the New Testament we find the Apostle Paul speaking of the suffering and problems brought on by the curse of sin in the world.

Romans 8:28 … "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

All things … that's what Paul said, "all things" according to His purpose, whether we like it or not. All means … "all, any, every, the whole thing" with nothing left out.

Not only does God "order" your lot in life, in Ephesians 1:11, Paul states "… according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."

Worketh means … "to be active" and involved in all things. God not only directs things in your life but is also "actively involved working" them.

There are times when God is the cause of how things work in our lives. At other times our decisions may be the direct result of His influence at work on our lives to bring about His Sovereign Will.

I believe that God is sovereign over everything that happens in the world either by direct cause from His hand or the secondary causes He has already placed in nature … including the curse of sickness and disease operated by Satan.

I've said it before and I will say it again … part of being Sovereign is that God must be in total control of everything created … everything. If there is even one molecule that is not under His control, one tiny little speck running around in God's created universe that He is not in control of … just one … then that means that God is not in total control of what He made.

If anything is outside of His authority, outside of His control … including Satan and sickness; then He is no longer God over all things … and that can not be. God therefore is … ultimately responsible … for everything.

Why does God allow trials? We usually need an attitude adjustment.

Proverbs 3:11-12 … "My son, do not despise or shrink from the chastening of the Lord [His correction by punishment or by subjection to suffering or trial]; For whom the Lord loves He corrects, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights." Amp.

The writer of Hebrews also speaks to this …

Hebrews 12:5-6 … "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, (disciplines) and scourgeth (flogs) every son whom he receiveth."

Ecclesiastes 3:1 … "To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven …"

God has a purpose for what He does and what He allows and even a time when it is to be performed. God governs the world; but we cannot always see … the reasons for His conduct.

If there is one thing I have learned about God … His conduct … should never be called into question.



Comments welcome.