A Soberania de Deus

A Soberania de Deus

How different is the God of the Bible from the God of modern Christendom! The conception of Deity which prevails most widely today, even among those who profess to give heed to the Scriptures, is a miserable caricature, a blasphemous travesty of the Truth. The God of the twentieth century is a helpless, effeminate being who commands the respect of no really thoughtful man. The God of the popular mind is the creation of maudlin sentimentality. The God of many a present-day pulpit is an object of pity rather than of awe-inspiring reverence. To say that God the Father has purposed the salvation of all mankind, that God the Son died with the express intention of saving the whole human race, and that God the Holy Spirit is now seeking to win the world to Christ; when, as a matter of common observation, it is apparent that the great majority of our fellowmen are dying in sin, and passing into a hopeless eternity; is to say that God the Father is disappointed, that God the Son is dissatisfied, and that God the Holy Spirit is defeated. We have stated the issue baldly, but there is no escaping the conclusion. To argue that God is "trying His best" to save all mankind, but that the majority of men will not let Him save them, is to insist that the will of the Creator is impotent, and that the will of the creature is omnipotent. To throw the blame, as many do, upon the Devil, does not remove the difficulty, for if Satan is defeating the purpose of God, then, Satan is Almighty and God is no longer the Supreme Being.

Deus é soberano. Todos dizem, todos concordam, são poucos que discutam isso. Mas, o que isso quer dizer? E depois declarando o que é a soberania de Deus, porque a maioria descobrem que não querem acridtar isso ainda que continuem declarando que crer?

we must be reminded that in this universe God’s sovereign government is the only totalitarian government and men must assume in it the place of humble submission and obedience. “The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the cherubims; let the earth be moved. The Lord is great in Sion; and he is high above all the people” (Ps. 99:1, 2). “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth” (Ps. 46:10). God’s supremacy demands subjection to His law and guarantees for every transgression judgment sure and inexorable. All history is under His control and is moving towards His final judgment where every infraction of truth and deviation from justice will receive its final adjustment and adjudication. “He cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity” (Ps. 98:9).

Secondly, we must be reminded that all events, great and small, are embraced in God’s sovereign providence. He has not resigned the reins of government. Present history is not moving towards chaos. It is moving in the grand drama of God’s plan to the accomplishment of His holy designs and to the vindication of His glory. “Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day” (Isa. 2:10, 11). The people of God must “suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock” and recognise, in the words of the great reformer, Calvin, “that while the turbulent state of the world deprives us of our judgment, God, by the pure light of his own righteousness and wisdom, regulates all these commotions in the most exact order, and directs them to their proper end” (Institutes, I, xvii. 1).

The sovereignty of God is the absolute authority, rule, and government of God in the whole of that reality that exists distinct from Himself. It respects His relation to other beings and to all other being and existence. The possession and exercise of this absolute authority, rule, and government are founded upon certain basic truths.

Deus pode fazer o que quer sem pedir permissão de ninguém ou se justificar a qualquer um.

The Sovereignty of God. What do we mean by this expression? We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the god-hood of God. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that God is God. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Most High, doing according to His will in the army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, so that none can stay His hand or say unto Him what doest Thou? (Dan. 4:35). To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in Heaven and earth, so that none can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist His will (Psa. 115:3). To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is "The Governor among the nations" (Psa. 22:28), setting up kingdoms, overthrowing empires, and determining the course of dynasties as pleaseth Him best. To say that God is Sovereign is to declare that He is the "Only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords" (1 Tim. 6:15). Such is the God of the Bible.

To declare that the Creator's original plan has been frustrated by sin, is to dethrone God. To suggest that God was taken by surprise in Eden and that He is now attempting to remedy an unforeseen calamity, is to degrade the Most High to the level of a finite, erring mortal. To argue that man is a free moral agent and the determiner of his own destiny, and that therefore he has the power to checkmate his Maker, is to strip God of the attribute of Omnipotence. To say that the creature has burst the bounds assigned by his Creator, and that God is now practically a helpless Spectator before the sin and suffering entailed by Adam's fall, is to repudiate the express declaration of Holy Writ, namely, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain" (Psa. 76:10). In a word, to deny the Sovereignty of God is to enter upon a path which, if followed to its logical terminus, is to arrive at blank atheism.

The Sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible, infinite. When we say that God is Sovereign we affirm His right to govern the universe which He has made for His own glory, just as He pleases. We affirm that His right is the right of the Potter over the clay, i. e., that He may mold that clay into whatsoever form He chooses, fashioning out of the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. We affirm that He is under no rule or law outside of His own will and nature, that God is a law unto Himself, and that He is under no obligation to give an account of His matters to any.

My God knows how many rain drops are going to fall on this world in this year. My God knows how many leaves are going to be on the trees of all the forests of this world. My God loves me so much that the very hairs of my head are numbered. A child once said to its mother, “Do you know how many hairs are on my head?” “No, my child.” “Then you do not love me as much as God does,” and the mother said, “No, my child, I do not.” It is well to remember that the hairs of our head are numbered, whether we have a full head or a bald head.

There is a great truth here. If you do not understand these things you will think God has let things get out of hand, and the devil is doing something outside God’s power. But that is not true. H. G. Wells once said, “Either God has the power and does not care, or cares and does not have the power.” But that is not true. There is the third alternative. God cares; God could have stopped the war and the bombing if He had wished. God could destroy Satan today if He wished. If you do not believe that, you have not an omnipotent God. I believe that it is of the very foundation of our Christian Faith that we should know what kind of a God we are dealing with.

Did God create all things? Has God all power? Has God all knowledge? Did God create Lucifer; and did He know he was going to become Satan? Could He have made him otherwise if He had wished? Certainly, you say. You do not understand; neither do I. If I could understand I would be as God, and there would be no need for faith. Faith is to believe what you do not understand: that is the essence of faith and love.

A story was told in one of our magazines by a marriage counselor. A young woman went to a marriage counselor in Boston and said, “I am afraid my marriage is going to break up. I am sure my husband is lying to me. He tells me he is working overtime; but I have been past the building where his office is, and there is no light. I have telephoned, and there is no answer; and he does not bring home any extra money.” The marriage counselor suggested that the husband should be brought in for interview. So the wife broached it to her husband, and when the whole story was told and he gave the true and right explanation, the young wife said, “How was I to know that you were working in a back room where the phone was cut off? How was I to know that you were saving the extra money to get me a fur coat for Christmas?” And he said, “That is where faith comes into love.” And that is true of all our relationships.

What God said to Moses, and what I said to the young minister, was a great fact: and it is true for all of us. Our Father knows these things. He knew before Job was struck by all the disasters that came upon him; He planned every detail in Job’s saga. The devil was the agent—God uses the devil. Don’t be disturbed when you read that there was come an evil spirit from the Lord; no evil spirit ever did anything that God had not planned for him to do. That is terrible for some people who look at things superficially; but if you do not believe it, if you think the devil is out of hand, and God is biting His fingernails and saying, “I do not know what to do about it,” you are wrong. We do not have that kind of God!

The Sovereign exercise of grace is illustrated on nearly every page of Scripture. The Gentiles are left to walk in their own ways while Israel becomes the covenant people of Jehovah. Ishmael the firstborn is cast out comparatively unblest, while Isaac the son of his parents' old age is made the child of promise. Esau the generous-hearted and forgiving-spirited is denied the blessing, though he sought it carefully with tears, while the worm Jacob receives the inheritance and is fashioned into a vessel of honor. So in the New Testament. Divine Truth is hidden from the wise and prudent, but is revealed to babes. The Pharisees and Sadducees

Someone says, Do you mean that God would allow a young minister to have an idiot child? Yes, He would. Do you think God would make someone be blind? Well, the Lord Jesus was asked by His disciples, “Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” and the Lord Jesus said, “Neither: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.” Do you mean, you say, that God Almighty let a man be blind for thirty or forty years so that Jesus could perform a miracle on him? Certainly.

When a man doubts the sovereignty of God he shows himself to be Adam more than at any other time. He is saying, “God, I do not want you to run things; I want to run them.” But when a man says, “Yes, Lord, You can do with me what You please; You created me,” he accepts the sovereignty of God. If you are blonde, God created you and He planned it; if you are a brunette, if you have a heavy head of hair, or a bald head, He planned it: the very hairs of your head are numbered. Our God is sovereign, our God is eternal, our God knows what He is doing; and you and I are in His plan.

I have one moment more, and I want to leave with you this last incident which I think may help you. There was a young woman married to an aviator in our army, and one day a telegram came, “The War Department regrets to inform you that your husband has been killed in Korea,” and she screamed out, “God can’t do that to me; God can’t do that to me.” But God had done it. There was in my church a Trustee who had a daughter married also to a young man in Korea, and one day there came a telegram to her also, saying that her husband had been killed. The mother and the daughter were standing together when the telegram came. When she read it the girl put her arm across her mother’s shoulders and said, “Mother, would you leave me alone; I want to go to my own room, and do not disturb me.” She ran upstairs, and her mother called the Trustee, who immediately left his office and hastened home. He said to his wife, “How is she?” and the mother said, “I have not disturbed her.” The father went upstairs and opened her door very quietly and tiptoed in. He saw she was kneeling by her bed, with telegram spread out with the open Bible. He got beside her very quietly, and heard her say, “My Father, my Father, oh my heavenly Father,” and he turned and went out and closed the door and went downstairs. He said to his wife, “She is in better hands than mine.”

Deus faz ou Deus deixa. Tanto um quanto o outro, Deus está no controle. E isto é de onde vem nosso conforto.

Tianna

Chris

It respects good and evil. Even the sins of men come within the scope of His rule and providence. “What?” asks the oppressed and the afflicted Job, bereft of flocks and herds, and smitten with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto the crown, “shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10). For with God he says again, “is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding. Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening” (Job 12:13, 14). He forms the light and creates darkness; He makes peace and creates evil. He kills and He makes alive; He wounds and He heals (Isa. 45:7; Deut. 32:39). He “hath made every thing for its own end; Yea, even the wicked for the day of evil” (Prov. 16:4). “Shall evil befall a city, and the Lord hath not done it?” (Amos 3:6).

God determines where and when a man should live - acts

God is Sovereign in the exercise of His love. Ah! that is a hard saying, who then can receive it? It is written, "A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from Heaven" (John 3:27). When we say that God is Sovereign in the exercise of His love, we mean that He loves whom He chooses. God does not love everybody*; if He did, He would love the Devil. Why does not God love the Devil? Because there is nothing in him to love; because there is nothing in him to attract the heart of God. Nor is there anything to attract God's love in any of the fallen sons of Adam, for all of them are, by nature, "children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3). If then there is nothing in any member of the human race to attract God's love,

"But," it may be asked, "Surely you do not deny that God loves the entire human family?" We reply, it is written, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated" (Rom. 9:13). If then God loved Jacob and hated Esau, and that before they were born or had done either good or evil, then the reason for His love was not in them, but in Himself.

The Sovereignty of God is an expression that once was generally understood. It was a phrase commonly used in religious literature. It was a theme frequently expounded in the pulpit. It was a truth which brought comfort to many hearts, and gave virility and stability to Christian character.

The Sovereignty of God is something more than an abstract principle which explains the rationale of the Divine government: it is designed as a motive for godly fear, it is made known to us for the promotion of righteous living, it is revealed in order to bring into subjection our rebellious hearts. A true recognition of God's Sovereignty humbles as nothing else does or can humble, and brings the heart into lowly submission before God, causing us to relinquish our own self-will and making us delight in the perception and performance of the Divine will.

Why is it that, today, the masses are so utterly unconcerned about spiritual and eternal things, and that they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God? Why is it that even on the battlefields multitudes were so indifferent to their soul's welfare? Why is it that defiance of Heaven is becoming more open, more blatant, more daring? The answer is, Because "There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Rom. 3:18). Again; why is it that the authority of the Scriptures has been lowered so sadly of late? Why is it that even among those who profess to be the Lord's people there is so little real subjection to His Word, and that its precepts are so lightly esteemed and so readily set aside? Ah! what needs to be stressed today is that God is a God to be feared.

1. ONE OF GODLY FEAR.

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge" (Prov. 1:7). Happy the soul that has been awed by a view of God's majesty, that has had a vision of God's awful greatness, His ineffable holiness, His perfect righteousness, His irresistible power, His Sovereign grace. Does someone say, "But it is only the unsaved, those outside of Christ, who need to fear God"? Then the sufficient answer is that the saved, those who are in Christ, are admonished to work out their own salvation with "fear and trembling." Time was when it was the general custom to speak of a believer as a "God-fearing man"-that such an appellation has become nearly extinct only serves to show whither we have drifted. Nevertheless, it still stands written "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear Him" (Psa. 103:13)!

2. ONE OF IMPLICIT OBEDIENCE.

A sight of God leads to a realization of our littleness and nothingness and issues in a sense of dependency and of casting ourselves upon God. Or, again; a view of the Divine Majesty promotes the spirit of godly fear and this, in turn, begets an obedient walk. Here then is the Divine antidote for the native evil of our hearts. Naturally, man is filled with a sense of his own importance, with his greatness and self-sufficiency; in a word, with pride and rebellion. But, as we remarked, the great corrective is to behold the Mighty God, for this alone will really humble him. Man will glory either in himself or in God. Man will live either to serve and please himself, or he will seek to serve and please the Lord. None can serve two masters.

Irreverence begets disobedience. Said the haughty monarch of Egypt "Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD; neither will I let Israel go" (Exo. 5:2). To Pharaoh, the God of the Hebrews was merely a god, one among many, a powerless entity who needed not to be feared or served. How sadly mistaken he was, and how bitterly he had to pay for his mistake he soon discovered; but what we are here seeking to emphasize is that Pharaoh's defiant spirit was the fruit of irreverence, and this irreverence was the consequence of his ignorance of the majesty and authority of the Divine Being.

Now if irreverence begets disobedience, true reverence will produce and promote obedience.

3. ONE OF ENTIRE RESIGNATION.

A true recognition of God's Sovereignty will exclude all murmuring. This is self-evident, yet the thought deserves to be dwelt upon. It is natural to murmur against afflictions and losses. It is natural to complain when we are deprived of those thing upon which we had set our hearts. We are apt to regard our possessions as ours unconditionally. We feel that when we have prosecuted our plans with prudence and diligence that we are entitled to success; that when by dint of hard work we have accumulated a 'competence' we deserve to keep and enjoy it; that when we are surrounded by a happy family no power may lawfully enter the charmed circle and strike down a loved one; and if in any of these cases disappointment, bankruptcy, death, actually comes, the perverted instinct of the human heart is to cry out against God. But in the one who, by grace, has recognized God's Sovereignty, such murmuring is silenced, and instead, there is a bowing to the Divine will and an acknowledgment that He has not afflicted us as sorely as we deserve.

A true recognition of God's Sovereignty will avow God's perfect right to do with us as He wills. The one who bows to the pleasure of the Almighty will acknowledge His absolute right to do with us as seemeth Him good. If He chooses to send poverty, sickness, domestic bereavements, even while the heart is bleeding at every pore, it will say, Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right! Often there will be a struggle, for the carnal mind remains in the believer to the end of his earthly pilgrimage. But though there may be a conflict within his breast, nevertheless, to the one who has really yielded himself to this blessed truth there will presently be heard that Voice saying, as of old it said to the turbulent Gennesareth, "Peace be still"; and the tempestuous flood within will be quieted and the subdued soul will lift a tearful but confident eye to Heaven and say, "Thy will be done."

4. ONE OF DEEP THANKFULNESS AND JOY.

The heart's apprehension of this most blessed truth of the Sovereignty of God produces something far different than a sullen bowing to the inevitable. The philosophy of this perishing world knows nothing better than to "make the best of a bad job." But with the Christian it should be far otherwise. Not only should the recognition of God's supremacy beget within us godly fear, implicit obedience, and entire resignation, but it should cause us to say with the Psalmist, "Bless the Lord, Omy soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name." Does not the Apostle say, "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 5:20)? Ah! it is at this point the state of our souls is so often put to the test. Alas, there is so much self-will in each of us. When things go as we wish them we appear to be very grateful to God; but what of those occasions when things go contrary to our plans and desires?

We take it for granted when the real Christian takes a train-journey that, upon reaching his destination, he devoutly returns thanks unto God-which, of course, argues that He controls everything; otherwise, we ought to thank the engine-driver, the stoker, the signalmen, etc. Or, if in business, at the close of a good week, gratitude is expressed unto the Giver of every good (temporal) and every perfect (spiritual) gift-which again, argues that He directs all customers to your shop. So far, so good. Such examples occasion no difficulty. But imagine the opposites. Suppose my train was delayed for hours, did I fret and fume; suppose another train ran into it and I am injured! Or, suppose I have had a poor week in business, or that lightning struck my shop and set it on fire, or that burglars broke in and rifled it, then what: do I see the hand of God in these things?

5. ONE OF ADORING WORSHIP.

It has been well said that "true worship is based upon recognized GREATNESS, and greatness is superlatively seen in Sovereignty, and at no other footstool will men really worship" (J. B. Moody). In the presence of the Divine King upon His throne even the seraphims 'veil their faces.'

Divine Sovereignty is not the Sovereignty of a tyrannical Despot, but the exercised pleasure of One who is infinitely wise and good! Because God is infinitely wise He cannot err, and because He is infinitely righteous He will not do wrong. Here then is the preciousness of this truth. The mere fact itself that God's will is irresistible and irreversible fills me with fear, but once I realize that God wills only that which is good my heart is made to rejoice.

Here then is the final answer to the question of this chapter, What ought to be our attitude toward the Sovereignty of God? The becoming attitude for us to take is that of godly fear, implicit obedience, and unreserved resignation and submission. But not only so: the recognition of the Sovereignty of God, and the realization that the Sovereign Himself is my Father, ought to overwhelm the heart and cause me to bow before Him in adoring worship. At all times I must say "Even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy sight."

IT IS DEEPLY HUMBLING TO THE CREATURE.

This doctrine of the absolute Sovereignty of God is a great battering-ram against human pride, and in this it is in sharp contrast from the "doctrines of men." The spirit of our age is essentially that of boasting and glorying in the flesh. The achievements of man, his development and progress, his greatness and self-sufficiency, are the shrine at which the world worships today. But the truth of God's Sovereignty, with all its corollaries, removes every ground for human boasting and instills the spirit of humility in its stead. It declares that salvation is of the Lord-of the Lord in its origination, in its operation, and in its consummation. It insists that the Lord has to apply as well as supply, that He has to complete as well as begin His saving work in our souls, that He has not only to reclaim but to maintain and sustain us to the end. It teaches that salvation is by grace through faith, and that all our works (before conversion), good as well as evil, count for nothing toward salvation. It tells us we are "born, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13). And all this is most humbling to the heart of man who wants to contribute something to the price of his redemption and do that which will afford ground for boasting and self-satisfaction.

But if this doctrine humbles us it results in praise to God. If, in the light of God's Sovereignty, we have seen our own worthlessness and helplessness we shall indeed cry with the Psalmist "All my springs are in Thee" (Psa. 87:7). If by nature we were "children of wrath," and by practice rebels against the Divine government and justly exposed to the "curse" of the Law, and if God was under no obligation to rescue us from the fiery indignation and yet, notwithstanding, He delivered up His well-beloved Son for us all; then how such grace and love will melt our hearts, how the apprehension of it will cause us to say in adoring gratitude "Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy, and for Thy truth's sake" (Psa. 115:1).

IT AFFORDS A SENSE OF ABSOLUTE SECURITY.

God is infinite in power and therefore it is impossible to withstand His will or resist the outworking of His decrees. Such a statement as that is well calculated to fill the sinner with alarm, but from the saint it evokes naught but praise. Let us add a word and see what a difference it makes: My God is infinite in power! then "I will not fear what man can do unto me." My God is infinite in power, then "what time I am afraid I will trust in Him." My God is infinite in power, then I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: "for Thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety" (Psa. 4:8). Right down the ages this has been the source of the saints' confidence. Was not this the assurance of Moses when, in his parting words to Israel, he said "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun (Israel), who rideth upon the Heaven in Thy help, and in His excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut. 33:26, 27)? Was it not this sense of security that caused the Psalmist, moved by the Holy Spirit to write "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God: in Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler: Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right band, but it shall not come nigh thee. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High thy Habitation; There shall no evil befall thee (instead, all things will work together for good), neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling" (Psa. 91:1-7, 9-10)?

"Death and plagues around me fly,

Till He bid, I cannot die;
Not a single shaft can hit,
Till the God of love sees fit."

Oh the preciousness of this truth! Here am I, a poor, helpless, senseless "sheep," yet am I secure in the hand of Christ. And why am I secure there? None can pluck me thence because the hand that holds me is that of the Son of God, and all power in Heaven and earth is His! Again; I have no strength of my own: the world, the flesh, and the Devil, are arrayed against me so I commit myself into the care and keeping of the Lord and say with the Apostle "I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12). And what is the ground of my confidence? How do I know that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him? I know it because God is almighty, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

IT SUPPLIES COMFORT IN SORROW.

The doctrine of God's Sovereignty is one that is full of consolation and imparts great peace to the Christian. The Sovereignty of God is a foundation that nothing can shake and is more firm than the heavens and earth. How blessed to know there is no corner of the universe that is out of His reach! as said the Psalmist, "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into Heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me. If I say surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee" (Psa. 139:7-12). How blessed it is to know that God's strong hand is upon every one and every thing! How blessed to know that not a sparrow falleth to the ground without His notice!

How blessed to know that our very afflictions come not by chance, nor from the Devil, but are ordained and ordered by God: "That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto" (1 Thess. 3:3)!

But our God is not only infinite in power. He is infinite in wisdom and goodness too. And herein is the preciousness of this truth. God wills only that which is good and His will is irreversible and irresistible! God is too wise to err and too loving to cause His child a needless tear. Therefore if God be perfect wisdom and perfect goodness how blessed is the assurance that everything is in His hand and molded by His will according to His eternal purpose! "Behold, He taketh away, who can hinder Him? who will say unto Him what doest Thou?" (Job 9:12). Yet, how comforting to learn that it is "He," and not the Devil, who "taketh away" our loved ones! Ah! what peace for our poor frail hearts to be told that the number of our days is with Him (Job 7:1; 14:5); that disease and death are His messengers and always march under His orders; that it is the Lord who gives and the Lord who takes away!

IT GUARANTEES THE FINAL TRIUMPH OF GOOD OVER EVIL.

Ever since the day that Cain slew Abel, the conflict on earth between good and evil has been a sore problem to the saints. In every age the righteous have appeared to defy God with impugnity. The Lord's people, for the most part, have been poor in this world's good whereas the wicked in their temporal prosperity have flourished like the green bay tree. As one looks around and beholds the oppression of believers and the earthly success of unbelievers, and notes how few are the former and how numerous the latter; as he sees the apparent defeat of the right and the triumphing of might and the wrong; as he hears the roar of battle, the cries of the wounded, and the lamentations of the bereaved; as he discovers that almost everything down here is in confusion, chaos, and ruins, it seems as though Satan were getting the better of the conflict. But as one looks above, instead of around, there is plainly visible to the eye of faith a Throne, a Throne unaffected by the storms of earth, a Throne that is "set," stable and secure; and upon it is seated One whose name is the Almighty, and who "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11). This then is our confidence-God is on the Throne. The helm is in His hand, and being Almighty His purpose cannot fail for "He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? and what His soul desireth, even that He doeth" (Job. 23:13). Though God's governing hand is invisible to the eye of sense it is real to faith, that faith which rests with sure confidence upon His Word, and therefore is assured He cannot fail. What follows below is from the pen of our brother, Mr. A. C. Gaebelein.

"There can be no failure with God. 'God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the Son of man, that He should repent: hath He said and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" (Num. 23:19). All will be accomplished. The promise made to His own beloved people to come for them and take them from hence to glory will not fail. He will surely come and gather them in His own presence. The solemn words spoken to the nations of the earth by the different prophets will also not fail. 'Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies: He hath utterly destroyed them, He hath delivered them to the slaughter' (Isa. 34:1, 2). Nor will that day fail in which 'the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted' (Isa. 2:11). The day in which He is manifested, when His glory shall cover the heavens and His feet will stand again upon this earth, will surely come. His kingdom will not fail, nor all the promised events connected with the end of the age and the consummation.

"In these dark and trying times how well it is to remember that He is on the throne, the throne which cannot be shaken, and that He will not fail in doing all He has spoken and promised. 'Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: No one of these shall fail' (Isa. 34:16). In believing, blessed anticipation, we can look on to the glory-time when His Word and His Will is accomplished, when through the coming of the Prince of Peace, righteousness and peace comes at last. And while we wait for the supreme and blessed moment when His promise to us is accomplished, we trust Him, walking in His fellowship and daily find afresh, that He does not fail to sustain and keep us in all our ways."

Is God's sovereignty limited?

I reject this idea because the Bible doesn't teach it. In fact, it teaches the opposite.

It teaches that not a bird falls to the ground apart from our Father's will.

It teaches that the king's heart is like a river in the hands of the Lord; he turns it wherever he wills.

It teaches that when Joseph was sold into Egypt and finally turns around and his brothers are found to be guilty, God says, "You meant it for evil, but I meant it for good."

I reject it because the book of Proverbs says that the die is cast into the lap and its every decision is from the Lord; a man designs his way, but the Lord directs his steps; and on and on...

The Bible teaches that God is sovereign, that he rules over all things.

There are emotional reasons as well for believing in God's absolute sovereignty. If I rejected the sovereignty of God over all things including my will and my life, I would lose the very God, the very power that stands behind all the promises that make my life livable in pain.

So when you surrender the sovereignty of God in order to get him off the hook of calamity, you also lose him at the point where you need power to endure the calamity and see all the calamity turned for good. If God is going to be rejected here, then what have I got except God-less calamity?

If that is what people want to choose, they can make that existential decision; but it would be unbiblical and, I think, it would be folly for life.

Sometimes I feel like Elijah before a tidal wave of American unbelief. From back-yards to best-sellers people are asking “why bad things happen to good people,” and answering with a “limited God.” The revolt against God’s sovereignty is rampant. The soft-hearted rebels exploit heartache to push their heresy: the death of a daughter, a Down’s syndrome son, a freak accident, a husband’s cancer—is God a sadist? And so the rebels find broken hearts and pour their heresy in the cracks. But it is not healing. Only truth can heal. It need not be spoken callously. It need not be spoken at all in moments of anguish. But it must be believed and cherished. “He does according to his will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What doest thou?’” ( HYPERLINK "http://biblegateway.com/cgi-bin/bible?language=english&version=47&passage=Daniel%204.35" \t "_blank" Daniel 4:35).