Re-forming the Image of God

I was sharing with some people the other day and made the statement that God controls all things both good and bad as He chooses.  I just flat came out and said ... "God is in charge of everything that happens."  Not everyone was in agreement with that statement.

I believe that God is ... ultimately responsible ... for everything.  This can all be filed under the sovereignty of God which He brings about through His providence.  These two terms are not spoken of today as much as they were years ago.

Many of today's Christian's have re-formed the image they have of God into something they imagine He is like, desiring to make Him into what they want Him to be ... and that's not a good thing to do.  We must see Him as he is in the Bible, not how we want Him to be.  We are made in His image ... but some in their own mind have re-formed Him into their personal image.

I suppose if one does not have the true scriptural picture and understanding of who God is; if life's experiences have formed the image you have of god ... then it's time to re-form the image you have of Him through the truth about Him that's in the Word of God.

Because I always try to have Scripture for everything I believe, I bring the following scriptures for you to consider.  These are just the ones that come quickly to mind ... there are many more.

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

In Amos 3:6, this statement is made ... "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?"

This is basically what Amos is saying ... "If it happens, God has done it."

God is the author of all things but sin; of the works of creation and providence, of grace and salvation; and He works all these things according to His will ... as He pleases.

According to the Word, these things or events are all by His appointment; He determines what kind and what nature they will be; how far they will go; and their duration ... how long they shall last.

And so all things come from God, even all temporal things.  Everything in God's providence have their purpose and being ... even nature's evil ... meant to be for our good.  These are all according to the appointment of God, through the determination of His will.

John Wesley says ... "God by his wise and holy providence governs all the actions of men and devils, and the affairs of earth are much the subject of the counsels of the unseen world. That world is dark to us, but we lie open to it."

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."

Natural evil is the punishment of moral evil.  God sends the former when the latter is persisted in.  (I'm speaking of mankind as a whole.)

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."

This is where the old saying comes from that states ... "God afflicts not willingly, but if it must be done, let Satan do it."

 An example of this is in 1st Corinthians 5:1-5, where Paul instructed that, a certain man in the church be turned over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, because he was having sex with his father's wife.  So in this case, Satan was used as an agent of God.  And Satan delights in doing so at every opportunity.

Consider this question in Lamentations 3:38 ... "Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?"

The Amplified Bible says it this way ... "Is it not out of the mouth of the Most High that evil and good both proceed [adversity and prosperity, physical evil or misfortune and physical good or happiness]?"

The question then is this ... "Does not evil or trouble come out of God's mouth, from His direction, as well as good?"  Certainly they do; they both come to pass as God's will has determined it ... either from His own hand, or by the hands of those He employs.  Whom ever or what ever are the instruments used, God is the principal agent and cause behind them.  Out of His mouth both good and evil proceed.

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.  And no ... not all men are born with the same chance in life ... simply because life as we know it is not fair.

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

I believe that God is sovereign over everything that happens in the world by direct cause from His hand or the secondary causes He has already placed in nature because of Adam's sin ... including the curse of sickness, disease and death.

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 anywhere 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 created.

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 cannot be.  Because of this, God is therefore ... ultimately responsible ... for everything.

1st Peter 4:19 ... "Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator."

"Suffering according to the will of God?"  Yep ... that's what it said.

Ephesians 1:11 ... "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will."

The affirmation here is not merely that God accomplishes the designs of salvation according to the counsel of His own will, but that ... He does everything.  God governs all things.  His work is not confined to one thing, or to one class of objects.  Every object and event ... is under His control ... and is in accordance with His eternal plan.

God doesn't judge us and bring bad things each time we sin, but because sin is already in the world ... well here's R.C. Sproul, he says it much better than I can ...

"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."

I think he is simply saying that life isn't fair as far as we are concerned, at least it doesn't look like it to us anyway.  But to God ... His view may be different than ours.

Many times God allows in His wisdom what His power could prevent.  Some days the grace of God allows you to enjoy what is happening.  And some days the grace of God allows you to endure what is happening.

My youngest daughter was asking God one day how she was supposed to pray about a certain problem and the Lord spoke these words to her ... "Do not concern yourself with how to pray over this thing.  It is not for you to tell Me what needs to be done.  I already know.  Just come to Me with a pleading spirit and need of my hand, and I will move.  Do not burden yourself with the how."

God knows the problem and He already knows how to fix it.  You can trust Him to do the right thing ... even if the answer isn't always what we have asked for.

We need to understand there is nothing we can do that will make Him do what we want Him to do.  He is not obligated to us for anything.  We receive everything through His grace, including His mercy.  It's not even about our faithfulness to him; we don't earn His faithfulness by our faithfulness.  He can't help being anything other than what He is ... lovingly faithful.

And now, having said basically that God can do whatever He wants, whenever he wants, to whomever he wants, which may not be the image you had pictured of God ... but even so, if you still want to re-form your image of God correctly ... then take my advise and look at Jesus who is the visible face of God; the very image and nature of God, the express image of His person, and is such a likeness, that it can be said that ... "He who has seen the one has seen the other."

Colossians 1:15 ... "He (Jesus) is the exact likeness of the unseen God, the visible representation of the invisible ..."

The image that is seen is of the Son of God ... Jesus.  He is the perfect and complete image of His Father; more than just a visible likeness; this image includes the same nature as His Father but with His own personality and distinction as the Son.

Hebrews 1:3 ... "He is the sole expression of the glory of God, and He is the perfect imprint and the very image of God's nature ..."

What is God's nature? ... Love.

He is our light and life, our peace and hope.  He is also our maker and keeper.

Once again it comes down to ... "GOD'S ANSWER is always Jesus."




Comments welcome.