Big Questions – God’s Control
Tough Questions
- How can God care for small little me?
- Does he really have a plan for my life?
- Can I Mess up God’s plan?
Does God really have control over everything?
Psalms 135:6-7 “The Lord does whatever pleases him,
in the heavens and on the earth,
in the seas and all their depths.
7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
he sends lightning with the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.”
Isaiah 14:24-27 “The Lord Almighty has sworn,
“Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,
and as I have purposed, so it will happen.
25 I will crush the Assyrian in my land;
on my mountains I will trample him down.
His yoke will be taken from my people,
and his burden removed from their shoulders.”
26 This is the plan determined for the whole world;
this is the hand stretched out over all nations.
27 For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”
Isaiah 45:7 “I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the Lord, do all these things.”
First Question – Is it right that God brings destruction to the righteous and the unrighteous?
Here is the thing – Who created it?
Psalma 95:3-5 “For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.“
So, God made it all:
- By the way God must be massive
Question #2 – If God made it all, then to what level of detail does he control it all?
Luke 12:6-7 “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
HOW CAN GOD BE AWARE OF EVERY LITTLE DETAIL?
Some of it has to do with our wrong perspective of God!
We often times see God as:
- Far off in heaven
- Sitting on a throne
- With angels all around him worshipping him
John 4:24 “God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship him in spirit and truth”
Genesis 1:1-2 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”
But the earth is round:
- God doesn’t hover over like a flat surface
- He hovers over/ around the whole thing
Theology calls this – Omnipresent – The ability to be everywhere at all times
Question #3 Did God create the world with a natural order?
I believe things follow a natural order and God will intervene when necessary
Ephesians 1: 11b “…according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,”
We will look at this verse more next week. (Don’t want to give it away)
Here is what I am trying to say:
- God can and will do whatever he wants
- He has set in place a mathematical natural order
- He knows all the timing on storms, natural disasters, famine, plagues
- He uses that timing in his plan
Colossian 1:15-17 “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
- All things were created by him and for him
- He holds all things together
