the sovereignty of God
ok…so i didnt write this, my friend Tam did, but i wish i did. for several reasons….
1. its really good!
2. because if i did i would have this perspective and “get it”…which i am working on
3. i would be further along in my walk.
The reason i am posting what she wrote is cause it has messed with me all week. with all the junk i have been through in my life i lose perspective…i blame God…but He didnt do it…just caused my paradigm to shift a bit so i wanted to share it with you…so enjoy…
*******************************************************************************
sovereign…in control, authority, supreme, power, prerogative.
i think i am one of the few people who can honestly say this…but, i do not question God. i dont. i cant. i mean, i can – i am able, i just will not do it. in light of His sovereignty, being in control, having all authority in and of this universe, reigning supreme, all powerful with the prerogative to do as He sees fit cause He sees all…nope, i will not question that.
have there been times in my life when i could’ve questioned God? sure. i can think of several times. when i look down at my arm and my stomach and see the scars from beatings received from my mothers boyfriend – i could have questioned God. when i think of how my first marriage ended with a gun to my head then ultimately my husband taking his own life – i could have questioned God. when i think of the baby i miscarried – i could have questioned God. and i could go on and on and on.
but were any of those instances really Gods fault? the question i hear most from believers and unbelievers is “why would a sovereign God let this happen?” i guess im more of a simple thinker, i dont know, but i say we let this stuff happen. God didnt make that mean man beat me or molest me. although He knew it was going to happen and knew when it was happening, it wasnt Gods choice….it was the abusers choice. the abuser who exercised free will.
free will. a gift from God. a gift that is abused and can turn into a curse for others.
yet, He is still in control and sovereign. in the end…He wins. its the middle that concerns me. do we recognize His sovereignty in the darkest of times? looking back now on all those personal circumstances, and more, i see how God weaved and crafted everything together to get me here now. and He’s not done yet. is it a path i would’ve chosen? well, some of it i did choose. and God did allow that. and like the Gentleman He is, He didnt force me into something else. free will. but because He is in control He will allow these times to shape me, to grow me, to stretch and refine my character. and im quite fine with that. He’s working it together.
so, instead of questioning a sovereign God for the worlds injustices…i need to look inward, and at my fellow man, and question our own motives and defiant natures…not Gods Sovereignty.
*******************************************************************************
I would love to know your thoughts….
I did a long paper on the sovereignty of God, or God's providence and one of the ancient confessions (to us that is) of the reformers on this in the Westminster Confession of Faith to be good summation http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs...
God is God, He orders peoples steps and counts their hairs. He knows AND ordains for His Glory everything that was, is , and will be. There is not one action or spec of cosmic dust that is outside of His providence, or else He is not God.
Coram Deo……before the face of God
so are you saying that God saw it or that he let it happen or he made it happen?
I'm saying there is nothing that happens outside of God's foreknowledge or ordination. God can stop the sun in it's tracks, the waves and wind quiet at His command, The animals walk to His commands from the smallest insect to the largest of beasts.He knows the beginning from the end, and all things in all times (hard concept to grasp, but strait-up biblical) are done with His ordaining from eternity past for His ultimate Glory.
He sees the finished tapestry, we only see the loose ends and spots from our perspective.
Yet in this, man's responsibility for sin and the consequences of sin are real. But God's love and promises are real too. The Bible speaks of all these, hard as they are to intertwine, they are tangible. Be still and KNOW that He is God.
lynse – i will stand on my belief that the men who beat me, molested me and berated me were not made/forced to do so by God. they chose to in their own flesh, minds and sin. only they are to blame. not God, not me.
simple revelation. but the most powerful one ive ever had in my entire life.
and to say that i am honoUred you posted this would be a gross understatement,
i love you friend….
i have to be honest…reading this on Tyler's blog i wept…because for the first time it made sense to me. and i dont think it was necessarily your words, though they were amazing…but it was God revealing this to me.
i am honoUred to have you as a friend…and i thank you for writing this.
Don't misread me to say God orders or ordains sin, may that never be….. if you would read the article it goes something like this: The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His providence, that it extends itself even to the first fall, and all other sins of angels and men; and that not by a bare permission, but such as has joined with it a most wise and powerful bounding, and otherwise ordering, and governing of them, in a manifold dispensation, to His own holy ends; yet so, as the sinfulness thereof proceeds only from the creature, and not from God, who, being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.
the yet so is very important…..God neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin (period)! But as Job said : "though He slay me, yet will I praise Him. And when sentenced to burn in the fiery oven, shadrach meshach and abednego could say " even if we are consumed, He is still God." And Joseph could say to his brothers "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive."
got ya! i tried to read it, but honestly i tend to get lost in old english…it hurts my brain…especially on my day off.
I do love that God will turn things and let us praise Him and make them be used for His glory. He is truly a good God.