| THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD A DIFFERENT VIEW Mike Clegg |
| With God All Things Are Possible |
T or F: For God to be sovereign He must cause every event.
Many who hold to the meticulous control of a sovereign God have to excuse Him of
all the atrocities, calamities, and evil that exit in the world by saying if it happened it
has to be within the boundaries of God's will no matter how gross or perverse the
happenings are. Here is a common phrase stating: “The Bible tells us that nothing
in the universe takes place that the Most High does not know about, has not
foreseen, and does not allow to happen.” It seems that most of these people who
make such a claim have not tried to explain to a couple who lost their firstborn that
its God's will and He know best. Or to the 14 year old girl who was raped by her
drugged out father that if it happened it must be God's will for your life. Where is
the real Good News for her or this couple? It is not there and there is no unction to
worship a God like this.
God knows everything perfectly including the future. He even knows the choices
that His creation may make and is prepared for any and all possibilities. The
accounts where the Bible states that “with God all things are possible” or “with
God nothing is impossible” has been quoted as God moving in the power of prayer,
but it also implies that God is able to handle the unexpected, the extraordinary, and
the abnormal. There are certain aspects of the future that God has affected to be
brought to pass with concrete certainty; but there are other aspects of the future
that God allows room for His creatures to exercise their freedom of choice.
Has God settled every act and action of every human created and yet to be born?
As God placed the animals before Adam to see what he would name them; God
has allowed His creation room to act utilizing their freedom but maintaining His
purposes fully intact because He is able to negotiate the actions of His created.
Why pray, if God has established the answer in His will before the prayer is uttered
to God? Or, is it possible God is responding to our will that moves inside His? Is it
possible that our prayer affects His heart, stirs compassion in Him, and then He
moves in His love sending the answer just like a perfect Father?
There are many instances that indicate God allows us to influence His heart, to let
us in on His desire for us and for others as He uses us to establish His Kingdom.
There are many scriptures that seem to indicate that He changes his will in the
light of changing circumstances or as a result of prayer. (Ex. 32:14; Num. 14:12–
20; Deut. 9:13–14, 18–20, 25; 1 Sam. 2:27–36; 2 Kgs 20:1–7; 1 Chr. 21:15; Jer. 26:
19; Ezek. 20:5–22; Amos 7:1–6; Jonah 1:2; 3:2, 4–10). In some instances He
states that he will change his mind if circumstances change (Jer. 18:7–11; 26:2–3;
Ezek. 33:13–15). God sometimes expresses regret and disappointment over how
things turned out—even occasionally over things that resulted from his own will.
(Gen. 6:5–6; 1 Sam. 15:10, 35; Ez. 22:29–31). Can God be surprised at a
particular outcome? (Isa. 5:3–7; Jer. 3:6-7; 19–20). The lament over Jerusalem in
Matthew 23:37 lays bear the heart of God in a sense of sorrow that is thought
impossible with God. This is a picture of the longing of God that happened
because of choices made by His created. Yes, God working in His plan of absolute
reconciliation made their salvation secure but they went around the mountain so to
speak.
The Bible seems to indicate a God who is willing to interact with His creation. In
this interaction He is never caught off guard, and He is never unprepared and
unable to bring about His plan. In the myriad of ways man can make choices, God's
unsurpassed intelligence is able to anticipate each possibility as thought it were a
certainty. Whatever comes to pass, God has a plan in place to respond to it and
bringing good out of evil when this is necessary. God is more than able to rule His
creation effectively without having every minute detail of life arranged in time
before hand. Is He able to have everything predefined? Absolutely, but what if He
chooses not to? Father God remains fluid to respond and react to prayer, worship,
and intimacy with us. His sovereignty is distinctively seen in His willingness to
allow us to have input on creation by a freedom He permitted us.
What about sin and evil? We all know God takes care of it in Christ—but what
about now. The world, created by God, is at any given moment under the influence
of a multitude of created beings exerting their freedom of choice in various
parameters all within the boundaries of a sovereign God who brings about the
counsel or advice of His will fulfilling His ultimate plan. The acceptable explanation
for the “way things are” in this world does not rest in one controlling dictator God
but is the result of a variety of wills all interacting in a creation of beings made in
the image of God. This possibility allows us to affirm that evil is not part of God's
will for us even though in His wisdom He has anticipated it and its effects and has
promised to redeem us out of it. It also means that our choices make a difference,
whether we pray, worship, listen, and as we interact with others and with God.
God's ultimate plan for creation will see fulfillment even as He allows input from His
children in the world He created.
We tend to see God as the potter over the clay who forcefully fashions a vessel as
He sees fit. The account in Romans chapter 9 and referencing Jeremiah 18 portray
a different take on the potter and the clay. The potter reshaped the clay after the
first vessel did not turn out right. The potter did not discard the clay but reshaped it
into a usable vessel. The clay vessels (us) that He works with and mold have a
mind and will that the potter gave them, to which the wise potter makes use of the
attributes He gave never throwing the clay away but making a useful vessel
according to His plan—never giving up.
Many who hold to the meticulous control of a sovereign God have to excuse Him of
all the atrocities, calamities, and evil that exit in the world by saying if it happened it
has to be within the boundaries of God's will no matter how gross or perverse the
happenings are. Here is a common phrase stating: “The Bible tells us that nothing
in the universe takes place that the Most High does not know about, has not
foreseen, and does not allow to happen.” It seems that most of these people who
make such a claim have not tried to explain to a couple who lost their firstborn that
its God's will and He know best. Or to the 14 year old girl who was raped by her
drugged out father that if it happened it must be God's will for your life. Where is
the real Good News for her or this couple? It is not there and there is no unction to
worship a God like this.
God knows everything perfectly including the future. He even knows the choices
that His creation may make and is prepared for any and all possibilities. The
accounts where the Bible states that “with God all things are possible” or “with
God nothing is impossible” has been quoted as God moving in the power of prayer,
but it also implies that God is able to handle the unexpected, the extraordinary, and
the abnormal. There are certain aspects of the future that God has affected to be
brought to pass with concrete certainty; but there are other aspects of the future
that God allows room for His creatures to exercise their freedom of choice.
Has God settled every act and action of every human created and yet to be born?
As God placed the animals before Adam to see what he would name them; God
has allowed His creation room to act utilizing their freedom but maintaining His
purposes fully intact because He is able to negotiate the actions of His created.
Why pray, if God has established the answer in His will before the prayer is uttered
to God? Or, is it possible God is responding to our will that moves inside His? Is it
possible that our prayer affects His heart, stirs compassion in Him, and then He
moves in His love sending the answer just like a perfect Father?
There are many instances that indicate God allows us to influence His heart, to let
us in on His desire for us and for others as He uses us to establish His Kingdom.
There are many scriptures that seem to indicate that He changes his will in the
light of changing circumstances or as a result of prayer. (Ex. 32:14; Num. 14:12–
20; Deut. 9:13–14, 18–20, 25; 1 Sam. 2:27–36; 2 Kgs 20:1–7; 1 Chr. 21:15; Jer. 26:
19; Ezek. 20:5–22; Amos 7:1–6; Jonah 1:2; 3:2, 4–10). In some instances He
states that he will change his mind if circumstances change (Jer. 18:7–11; 26:2–3;
Ezek. 33:13–15). God sometimes expresses regret and disappointment over how
things turned out—even occasionally over things that resulted from his own will.
(Gen. 6:5–6; 1 Sam. 15:10, 35; Ez. 22:29–31). Can God be surprised at a
particular outcome? (Isa. 5:3–7; Jer. 3:6-7; 19–20). The lament over Jerusalem in
Matthew 23:37 lays bear the heart of God in a sense of sorrow that is thought
impossible with God. This is a picture of the longing of God that happened
because of choices made by His created. Yes, God working in His plan of absolute
reconciliation made their salvation secure but they went around the mountain so to
speak.
The Bible seems to indicate a God who is willing to interact with His creation. In
this interaction He is never caught off guard, and He is never unprepared and
unable to bring about His plan. In the myriad of ways man can make choices, God's
unsurpassed intelligence is able to anticipate each possibility as thought it were a
certainty. Whatever comes to pass, God has a plan in place to respond to it and
bringing good out of evil when this is necessary. God is more than able to rule His
creation effectively without having every minute detail of life arranged in time
before hand. Is He able to have everything predefined? Absolutely, but what if He
chooses not to? Father God remains fluid to respond and react to prayer, worship,
and intimacy with us. His sovereignty is distinctively seen in His willingness to
allow us to have input on creation by a freedom He permitted us.
What about sin and evil? We all know God takes care of it in Christ—but what
about now. The world, created by God, is at any given moment under the influence
of a multitude of created beings exerting their freedom of choice in various
parameters all within the boundaries of a sovereign God who brings about the
counsel or advice of His will fulfilling His ultimate plan. The acceptable explanation
for the “way things are” in this world does not rest in one controlling dictator God
but is the result of a variety of wills all interacting in a creation of beings made in
the image of God. This possibility allows us to affirm that evil is not part of God's
will for us even though in His wisdom He has anticipated it and its effects and has
promised to redeem us out of it. It also means that our choices make a difference,
whether we pray, worship, listen, and as we interact with others and with God.
God's ultimate plan for creation will see fulfillment even as He allows input from His
children in the world He created.
We tend to see God as the potter over the clay who forcefully fashions a vessel as
He sees fit. The account in Romans chapter 9 and referencing Jeremiah 18 portray
a different take on the potter and the clay. The potter reshaped the clay after the
first vessel did not turn out right. The potter did not discard the clay but reshaped it
into a usable vessel. The clay vessels (us) that He works with and mold have a
mind and will that the potter gave them, to which the wise potter makes use of the
attributes He gave never throwing the clay away but making a useful vessel
according to His plan—never giving up.
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