The Ssovereign God Exerciese Control Over All He Has Ordained

Who is wise?

Let him unterstand

these things.

Who is prudent?

Let him know them.

For the ways

of the LORD

are right;

the righteous walk

in them.
But transgressors 

stumble in them.

Hosea 14:9

     These entire blogs or essays have one goal in mind; to lead people to know the ways of the Lord and that His ways are the right ways; this is where the righteous walk. The Holy Spirit guided the Prophet Hosea to write this warning, those who do not walk in the ways of the Lord are transgressor and in their transgression; they stumble. God is ever clear about Himself and what He demands of His people, then, with the ancients of Israel, and now in the modern world of today. God is Sovereign and He is Providential over all that He has created and all that He has ordained. Sentient people do not have an excuse for not admitting that which may be seen by the; God that is Providential over all His creatures and all their actions, this is universal. When Providence is spoken of there are three distinctions made: (1) The general; (2) Special; (3) Extraordinary. These are proper distinctions and have the reference to the effects they produce and not to His agency in their production; for this is the same in all cases. Men are apt to apply the general reference of Providence to such as the heavenly bodies, or that they support the idea of regular Laws of Nature. This general reference of superintendence of the world on the part of God, men are willing to admit. Yet, many of those men will object or deny His intervention in the production of definite effects. What does the Bible teach about men in this regard? Men instinctively believe in a special Providence. Men readily admit that God uses His control over the Laws of Nature and when they are, as they are so often, in turmoil, sickness, or in danger, they cry out in their distress and pray to God for help. Is this irrational coming from men who are rational? No! Why? Because the prayer comes from the very constitutional nature of man, that which I wrote about in earlier blogs, and that constitution of man in regards to God presupposes that God would do precisely what is declared in the Bible. Everywhere we look in His Scripture we see God acting towards man to bring about good, even if He must chastise them as He did to the people of Israel. Does God then set aside the Laws of Nature to accomplish His will? No! Let us not suppose that God counteracts or set those Laws aside, rather He simply controls them and caused to produce whatever effects He sees fit. Some may object and cavil at that last statement and say: "See, God has set those Laws aside for how else could He use them for His purpose and allow those Laws to remain in effect? First, allow this fact, the Scriptures are abundant in their records of history and God dealing with man, and in every man's experience as recorded, the Scriptures bear witness to such divine interpositions. Secondly, I don't know how God does such a thing, only that God is the creator, all that is, is His, and He knows every detail of everything, therefore for it would not be impossible for God to use that which He has created and knows infinitely about for His purposes. Can we do that? No! Only in very limited ways can we manipulate the Laws of Nature for some temporary purpose. On the other hand, God can control all creation so that what He has willed, decreed, and ordained will accomplish His purpose and He can do that with all His efficiency without usurping the efficiency of man. 

     It is to the praise of God, the One who alone is worthy of all praise and worship for if it was not for God's Providence then man would be left to their own devises and as orphans they would succumb to their failures and temporary successes. Yes, at times God's intervention by Providence is unusual but the evidences of the effects of that Providential intervention are so clear as nothing more can be admitted than that it was by the hand of God that they occurred. We are left with only one thing to admit, it was by the hand of God and that He is the Sovereign One who by is dispensation and economy that He rules over all that is and that rule is Providential. Nothing the occurs is extraordinary in the agency of God. What is correct in this regard is that we are the witnesses of His absolute control, control that He exercises over the Laws of Nature, those very Laws that He created, decreed, and ordained. 

     You may have more questions about God's Providence over nature, those Laws of Nature because of their uniformity. What does Scripture say and how do they reconcile this question. That is the next blog's emphasis.

The LORD is My

     Strength;

He will make my

     feet 

like deer's feet,

    and He will

make me walk

    on my hills.

              Habakkuk 3:19a

May the Joy of The LORD be with you

Richard L. Crumb