Saturday, July 28, 2007

"..The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord".

I have been reading through the book of Isaiah, and the sovereignty of the Lord is so evident throughout this most incredible Holy Book of THE Holy Book.

He will have His way. He knows the future. He keeps His decrees. A sparrow can not fall to the earth apart from His sovereign will. How much more one of His children. Yes, the Lord gives life, and He takes it away. He is the author, and keeper, of all life. Especially those who are His beloved; those who are in Christ.

This truth of God's being absolutely sovereign has always been challenged in the Church. Some teach that God, though He knows the future, doesn't always have His way. Some teach God doesn't know the future, and so though He may have His way come true, however, that would be a surprise for even God.

But the Bible teaches that God will have His way. Each and every purpose that He purposes will come to pass.
"...according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, ... according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will". Eph. 1:9,11

Here's a quote from Bruce Ware, and his book, "God's Lesser Glory: The Diminished God of Open Theism":
"The simple truth is this: The God of the Bible is not the limited, passive, hand-wringing God open theism portrays. He is king, lord, sovereign, wise, good, and perfect in all His ways. The message of the Bible is that suffering has meaning, God is in control over it and over all else, and so life can be lived by faith in the infinitely wise and powerful God."

Amen.

"Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips." Job 2:10

2 comments:

jazzycat said...

Good points. I do not see much grey area here. If there is anything God can't control, then there is nothing he can control and the Bible is wrong.

I believe the Bible is right and everything is under his direction.

donsands said...

I agree Wayne.

Yet Open Theism is popular. Teachers like Greg Boyd are very passionate about this image of God; a god who doesn't know the future.