Week Ten - Day One: Sovereignty Examined

“Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases Him.” Psalm 115:3

“God’s authority is ultimate; His power is omnipotent. He is sovereign.” R. C. Sproul

“The sovereignty of God may be defined as the exercise of His greatness.” A. W. Pink

Three weeks ago we started on the topic of the sovereignty of God. We said that the part of the trail we were about to walk could get tricky. Here’s where it starts to do so.

Okay … if the statements at the beginning of today are all true, then we inevitably run into two problems: if that’s all true, then what do we make of the presence of suffering; and if that’s all true what does that say about human freedom? We will deal with the first question today and the second tomorrow.

Why does God exercise His power in some ways and not in others? Why does He allow things to happen that are obviously not good? I have prayed well-intentioned prayers many times in my life that have been as thoroughly examined for motive as I’m capable of examining, they have been other-centered and the results would have been God-honoring without question. Yet sometimes those prayers are not affirmed. For example, I prayed often and earnestly over the last many months for the healing of my nephew’s cancer. He wanted to be a pastor. He was as intoxicated with love for God as anyone I’ve ever known. I’m sure his life here would have given God glory.

And yet, God did not answer that prayer – or perhaps His answer was “no”. I sometimes try to tell myself that my nephew got the greater healing by being ushered into God’s presence. And while that may be true, it is not what I prayed for.

I’ll bet you’ve experienced the same thing! Maybe some of those unanswered prayers are more self-centered, or maybe they have other motivational flaws that make them difficult or unwise for God to affirm. But not always. I can say that because I know that if my prayers for my nephew were somehow off-center, then I’ve never prayed an on-center prayer.

In other words, if God discounted that prayer because of something unsatisfactory in me, then I have certainly never prayed a satisfactory prayer and therefore should never have received an affirmative answer. So, I do not believe this explains God’s rejection of my request. I’ll bet you’ve experienced the same thing.

With the remainder of our time this morning and tonight, I want us to affirm truth. That is often the way out of an emotional or logical swamp for me. If I allow truth to be a lighthouse, then I can step safely in the right direction. Otherwise, I can wander aimlessly for a long time.

We will affirm that there are three sources for our affliction, but we will also affirm that the sovereignty of God places Him in control over all of those circumstances and sources. As I warned three weeks ago, the answers given here will not fully satisfy, but they will be fully true. So, let me say again that today’s exercise will be an exercise in affirming truth. If you want a devotional thought to accompany this truth then it may be this: in the case of God’s sovereignty, what we have is a case where we can demand fully-satisfying-answers or we can have God, but we cannot have both. There are times in life when the demand for satisfying answers keeps us stuck in a place of bitterness and/or confusion. But if we let go and look for/wait on God, we get Him. And when we get Him we find that He is really all the answer that we need.

Truth #1: Affliction sometimes comes directly from the hand of God.

Sometimes our troubles, our sicknesses, our lack of productivity and our difficulties come directly from the hand of God. Look at the following two passages. These are just representative examples. There are many, many more.

Leviticus 26:20-22

(20) Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.

(21) “‘If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. (22) I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.

Deuteronomy 8:2-5

(2) Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. (3) He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (4) Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. (5) Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

In both of these passages, God is the source of the difficulty and affliction. In the Leviticus passage, the affliction is multiplied because of their sins. In other words, this is punishment. And we can’t think of this as natural consequences. The lack of productivity and the problems with wild animals could not be viewed as a natural consequence of whatever they had done. No, these are conditions that God is bringing on His people as punishment for their hostility toward Him.

In the Deuteronomy passage, God brings difficulty in order to humble them and to test them. This ultimately is a form of fatherly discipline. (It is also heartwarming to see that He not only brings the difficulty, but He also provides for its relief.)

Certainly, we can conclude that when God brings calamity, He does so with purpose. He is serving His ultimate glory and our ultimate good. But, He does bring calamity!

Truth #2: Affliction sometimes comes from the hand of the devil, but in this case God allows it.

We have not yet addressed the devil in our reflections and we will ultimately need to do so. For now, let’s acknowledge that he is real and he is against us and against God’s purposes for us. The book of Job is written to illustrate this profound dynamic. Satan robs Job first of his livelihood and then his family and then his health. And he does it all with God’s consent! In fact, Job portrays the devil entering into the throne room of God to ask permission to bring difficulty to Job! And God gives His permission!

Say what?

Needless to say, Job is troubled. So he tackles the issue of God’s sovereignty and his suffering head-on. He questions God. But this does not prove to be an effective strategy; in the end he does not get answers.

Let me repeat. Job questions God and does not get answers to his questions. But what he does get is so much more! In fact, Job offers us his version of the same devotional thought we offered earlier today. Sometimes we cannot get fully-satisfying-answers and get God. If we choose to demand fully-satisfying-answers we may get neither. But if we choose God, we get God and the satisfaction of our deepest longings. Let’s end our morning by looking once again at Job’s response to God’s sovereign presence.

Job 42:2-6

(2) “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

(3) You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

(4) “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’

(5) My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.

(6) Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

Before You Start Your Day

1. In prayer, acknowledge and affirm the two truths about affliction that we have discussed.
2. Acknowledge that God is sovereign and surrender your day to Him.