Is that it’s all sovereignty.

I wrote a letter to a friend of mine about the sovereignty of God a few years ago. It ended up on the old site, and I was found it yesterday whilst poking around. Here’s the segment on comfort.

How is my belief in God’s sovereignty a comfort to me? Because I know that “God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases” (Psalm 115:3). When the crap hits the fan, who did that? Satan? Random, the god of Post-modernity? Me? None of the above- it was the One with holes in his hands and oceans in his eyes, the One through whom, by whom, and for whom all things were created (Colossians 1:15-20). He spoke, and I was created; he commanded, and I stood fast (Psalm 33:9).  All my days were written in his book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16), and now he reads my story, and I stand forth, created and upheld by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3).

He works for his people (Isaiah 64:4); he carries them (Isaiah 46:4); he rides through the heavens to their help, and in his majesty across the skies (Deuteronomy 33:26)- in other words, all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). Seeking God’s glory is for our good (John 5:44). So God, who seeks his own glory, calls the shots, which means he will work for my good, even when that good looks like getting slaughtered, because in and through the haze of blood my Redeemer loves me and makes me a conqueror- no, more than a conqueror (Romans 8:35-37).

Otherwise, when the tsunami hits Asia, what do you say to those believers? “I’m sorry you got screwed; God must have been away,” or “He could’ve stopped it, but he wanted to respect the free will of the tectonic plates,” or “God is the first one to cry, believe me.” NO! We mourn with those who mourn, and we tell them that not even now, not even when they despair of life itself (2 Corinthians 1:8) are they outside the good, wise, loving providence of God. He who hangs the earth on nothing is hanging onto them, and no one can snatch them out of his hand. In fact, what is happening to them is happening to promote their eternal happiness and salvation (2 Corinthians 1:8-11). When it seems like the plug has been pulled in the bathtub of my life, I know that my Redeemer lives, and after I have been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God (Job 19:24-25).