The fourteenth verse of this chapter is probably familiar to many of us, and one often quoted in light of the current turmoil in our nation: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” But it is only part of the sentence. We don’t usually quote the first phrase, from verse 13, “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people.”
It does not say, “if” God sends these judgements, but “when.”
We live in a time where people do not like to give God credit for anything, good or bad. Yet God’s Word is very clear about His sovereignty. Jesus told His disciples, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.” (Matthew 10:31)
There are sixty-six verses in the Bible that speak of the sovereignty of God. I won’t share them all, but perhaps a few will drive home the point:
Isaiah 46:10: Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';
Psalm 135:6: Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.
Psalm 115:3: But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.
Daniel 4: 35: All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, 'What have You done?'
Romans 9:19-21: You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?" On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
There is no disaster which befalls us for which God is taken by surprise. No harm may touch us except through the fingers of His protective hands around us, and His character and His Word demands that any harm He allows is necessary for some greater purpose.
But we may never see that purpose until we see Him face to face. The essence of faith in God is trusting His Word that He loves us and watches over us in the face of overwhelming hardship, disaster, and disease. In fact, it is so challenging for us to trust Him in those situations, that we often opt to undermine the sovereignty of God by suggesting He was impotent, unable to save or protect His children. We credit the enemy with being more powerful than God, even if unintentionally, because we cannot fathom how God could allow the horrors we see in this world.
Yet as Christ was arrested, knowing that He would be crucified, He said, "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?"
It does not say, “if” God sends these judgements, but “when.”
We live in a time where people do not like to give God credit for anything, good or bad. Yet God’s Word is very clear about His sovereignty. Jesus told His disciples, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.” (Matthew 10:31)
There are sixty-six verses in the Bible that speak of the sovereignty of God. I won’t share them all, but perhaps a few will drive home the point:
Isaiah 46:10: Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';
Psalm 135:6: Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.
Psalm 115:3: But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.
Daniel 4: 35: All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, 'What have You done?'
Romans 9:19-21: You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?" On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
There is no disaster which befalls us for which God is taken by surprise. No harm may touch us except through the fingers of His protective hands around us, and His character and His Word demands that any harm He allows is necessary for some greater purpose.
But we may never see that purpose until we see Him face to face. The essence of faith in God is trusting His Word that He loves us and watches over us in the face of overwhelming hardship, disaster, and disease. In fact, it is so challenging for us to trust Him in those situations, that we often opt to undermine the sovereignty of God by suggesting He was impotent, unable to save or protect His children. We credit the enemy with being more powerful than God, even if unintentionally, because we cannot fathom how God could allow the horrors we see in this world.
Yet as Christ was arrested, knowing that He would be crucified, He said, "Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?"
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