I received a question from a dear brother concerning the sovereignty of God and affliction and judgment. In my quest to respond I sort of veered off into what I believe is the area necessary to answer the question. So if you find the article somewhat straying from the question, you will understand why.

Thanks for the question:

This passage came to mind:

Job 37:11-13 He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning. {12} They turn round and round by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. {13} Whether for correction, or for his land, or for love, he causes it to happen.

I do believe that God still judges today, inasmuch as He still gives life and blessings today. Granted, I don't necessarily think it is for us to be absolutely clear as to what or why a particular judgment is. For example, it is a common thought that AIDS is a judgment against homosexuals (which it may very well be), however, God sends pestilence and affliction sometimes just out of pure providence and not necessarily a response to the sin of people. Remember the blind man in John 9? The Pharisees asked, "Who sinned? This man or his parents that he should be born blind?" Jesus said, "Neither, but that God would be glorified." Obviously this is a radically different scenario. And I would go so far as to say that in general we can say that things so obviously a result of spiritual decline and neglectful parenting could very well be said to be the judgment of God. And that yes, God certainly has His hand in it. This is one of the reasons I wrote the article on Pharaoh. Sure, it was God who first hardened Pharaoh's heart. In fact, God said "Go tell him to let my people go....but I will harden his heart so that he won't....*so that* the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I bring these pestilences upon them." That was a paraphrase. But the point is that God is actively involved in the affairs of men. There are two theologies that stand diametrically opposed to each other. They are Deism and Determinism. Logically (and biblically) there is no in between ground. God certainly controls all things for His purposes. Deism says God just wound up the world and let it run like a top. Arminianism or what I refer to as "modified Deism" is simply the idea that God controls *most* things. But see, here is the question: If I ask an evangelical, "Does God control everything?" He will answer with a resounding yes. But then when you ask Him if God is directly involved with everything, he will say no. God says Proverbs 16:4 "The Lord has created all things for Himself, yes, even the wicked for the day of evil"; Isaiah 45:7 "I am the Lord, I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do *all* these things"; "Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created"; Deuteronomy 32:39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand." Consider the devious works of Clinton:

Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

Now, this is not to say that we approve of Clinton's actions. But it is to say that there is far more comfort in the heart of a Christian who understands that God really is in control and that this country is not actually at the hands of someone like Clinton. Remember this verse:

Psalms 75:6-7 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. {7} But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

Yet sadly so many people do not consider these things:

Isaiah 5:11-12 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! {12} And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

Job 12:6-10 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly. {7} But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: {8} Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. {9} Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? {10} In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

God even tells us to appeal to the beasts. Even they know these things. Consider verse 6 immediately followed by verse 9:

Job 12:6,9,10 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly. {9} Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? {10} In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

God is certainly dictating the affairs of this universe and of course the spiritual realm.

One of the reasons His sovereignty is so repulsive is that it takes away that last sense of control that we think we have, namely our will. I mean, after all I at least have one thing that I control exclusively. But God says no, I don't. You see, this is a doctrine that actually humbles man--or at least should humble him. But I find that this doctrine is the doctrine at which most theologians shake their fist. Why? Because it tears at that which we deem most precious, and that is our own power, or will. But God says:

Leviticus 26:19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:

In fact there is a fairly amusing yet strikingly clear passage dealing with a man who really thought that the victory over Israel was his doing. Read these words carefully:

Isaiah 10:5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

The Assyrians came against Israel. But God calls them His rod and his anger. They performed what He wanted. David intimated the same thing about wicked rulers:

Psalms 17:13-14 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is **thy sword:**{14} From men ***which are thy hand, O LORD,*** from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

The Isaiah example continues:

Isaiah 10:6-7 Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. {7} But this is not what he intends, nor does he have this in mind; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.

Isaiah 10:12-16 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. {13} For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man: {14} And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. {15} Shall the ax boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood. {16} Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.

This rebellious and prideful king stated that he was the one who made sure no one even peeped or even moved unless he had his say in it. Yet God says, "Shall you, O King of Assyria, you Ax, boast yourself against Me, the One who is using you to chop down my people? Shall you, Oh King of Assyria, you Saw, magnify yourself against Me, the One who is shaking you? Shall you, Oh King of Assyria, you Rod, shake yourself against Me, the One who who is lifting you up. Shall you, Oh King of Assyria, you piece of Wood, lift yourself up against Me?"

Notice, God's anger was because the king of Assyria said, "By the strength of *my* hand I have done it, and by *my* wisdom, for *I* am prudent." God hates this mentality that ignores His sovereignty. Yet so many in professing christendom simply disregard the hand of God.

God brings up another example in Isaiah:

Isaiah 37:23-29 Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. {24} By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, "By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel. {25} I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. " {26} Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps. {27} Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up. {28} But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. {29} Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

Here the king of Assyria (Sennacherib) says the same thing essentially: "By the multitude of **my** chariots **I** come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and **I** will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and **I** will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel. {25} **I** have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of **my** feet have **I** dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.

I place asterisks around the I’s and the Me’s to emphasize the problem mankind has. We are very much a human-centered race. We are particularly enamoured with ourselves and our power and our accomplishments. Yet James says:

James 4:13-17 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: {14} Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. {15} For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. {16} But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. {17} Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

He says that boasting like that is evil. Declaring that we will do something apart from the Lord’s will is boasting and evil. In fact, it appears from the context that "knowing to do good" is in reference to the acknowledgment of the Lord’s will. And when we know to do good (i.e. acknowledge the Lord’s will in what we do or plan to do) yet we do not do it, then it is sin. Hence, the king of Assyria was sinning in that he would not acknowledge the hand of the Lord in his work. Instead, the king acknowledged himself and his chariots and his power and accomplishments. So God responds accordingly:

"Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps."

God said something similar when He planned to send Cyrus from the Medo-Persian empire to help Israel:

Isaiah 46:8-11 Remember this, and show yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. {9} Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, {10} Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, **My** counsel shall stand, and **I** will do all **my** pleasure: {11} Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth **my** counsel from a far country: yea, **I** have spoken it, **I** will also bring it to pass; **I** have purposed it, **I** will also do it.

God is in essence telling us to make no mistake about it. He has a plan and will accomplish it. Notice the My’s and the I’s. And lest we think that somehow the king of Assyria could reverse things:

Isaiah 14:24-27 The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as **I** have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as **I** have purposed, so shall it stand: {25} That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders. {26} This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. {27} For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

These obviously rhetorical questions are directed at the king. "Oh king, will you annul my purpose? Will you turn back my outstretched hand?" In other words, "Do you really think that you could do these things?" God gives a similar message through the Psalmist:

Psalms 33:8-11 Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. {9} For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. {10} The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. {11} The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

The problem with the king of Assyria was that he blatantly denied the sovereignty of God. The king’s constant affirmation of his own power and progress earned this response from God:

"Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest."

Who is really in control? Whose will is done on earth as it is in heaven? What is interesting is that God first declared that it was His own power that brought the king to come against the people of Israel; but then God says, "I am going to put a hook in your nose and bring you back by the way which you came." Again, as Proverbs says:

Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

This world is the river and flows where God turns it. This universe is the horse and God controls the bit.

It is understandable that at this profound doctrine we are in awe and sometimes confounded, which is precisely why God spoke:

Proverbs 20:24 All our steps are ordered by the LORD; how then can we understand our own ways?

Jeremiah 10:23 I know, O LORD, that the way of human beings is not in their control, that mortals as they walk cannot direct their steps.

I do not profess to understand this doctrine in its completeness. Quite honestly I am not sure that I want to. Yet this I can say: it is a doctrine that continues to humble me. It is not that I struggle with the truth of the doctrine. Philosophically and biblically it is all there. But experientially I struggle with it. But honestly I would struggle experientially far more if I had Arminian or Deistic convictions.

You mentioned that these truths are hard to swallow. It is true that getting them down the throat is very difficult. But I do believe that in the long run when all the nutrients are assimilated into the body the results are very healthy. It is not so much about finding a balance between an imagined freewill and the sovereignty of God. Rather the task is finding a balance between the sovereignty of God and our own personal assessment of that sovereignty. Let me put it this way: Our assessment of the sovereignty of God does not change His sovereignty, regardless of how deviant our assessment may be. However, once our assessment of His sovereignty is biblical, then what remains to be seen is the fruit of appreciating and healthily applying that biblical assessment.

Thanks for your encouragement.

In Christ,

Ward Fenley