Sovereignty of God

Why does bad things happen to good people?

As we look at the world around us we see horrible things that happen. We see a world where those who are evil get ahead and we see good people suffer. Why?

As i walked around Uganda it was hard to see people who were disfigured crawling on the ground begging and those so hunger begging just to a meal that day. It is hard to drive around edmonton and see those in great need going without shelter or even warm clothes. Do any of them deserve this? Is God not in control? How could an all powerful God allow such things to happen? How could a sovereign God allow his creation to continue in this way?

Some people would say they are sinners they get what they deserve. But haven’t we seen all through history their great sinners that seem to live high on the hog? Look at our own lives do we really have or get what we deserve? Are our sins less offensive than the drug dealer, or the criminal, or the addict? TO God sin is sin. So don’t fool yourself, or think to highly of yourself. Many of us live with the wolf at the door and our lives could be turned upside down. natural disasters, terminal illness, all hell can break loose and everything happens, at any time. When God created man this was not his intent at all, but man choose to go a different way.

all hell can break loose and everything can happen at any time. When God created man this was not his intent at all, but man choose to go a different way.

SO Why does bad things happen to good people when God is all powerful .

To understand we must go back for a moment to Eden and the fall of man.

Genesis 3:8–15 NASB95

8 They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

genesis

So God is still in control but man continues to make the choice follow his own ways, never owning their sin and the result is Bad continues to happen to Good people. SO the Sovereign God and Good God allows us to have the freedom to choose and our sin is why men continue to go to war, why good people go without medical care, child go to bed hungry, the environment is turn upside down. Do see what I mean? Would you want it any other way? Would you want God to take that away from you?

To see this clearer let’s look at moment in the history of the People of Israel.

Jeremiah 27:1–8 NASB95

1 In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying— 2 thus says the Lord to me—“Make for yourself bonds and yokes and put them on your neck, 3 and send word to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the sons of Ammon, to the king of Tyre and to the king of Sidon by the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. 4 “Command them to go to their masters, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, thus you shall say to your masters, 5 “I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight. 6 “Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I have given him also the wild animals of the field to serve him. 7 “All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will make him their servant. 8 “It will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine and with pestilence,” declares the Lord, “until I have destroyed it by his hand.

Israel made its choice and now God would help them understand that God is sovereign. God is still sovereign and he is allow us to make a mess of our world and we see the result. The result on Israel’s disobedience would be hard on them.

But let’s pay close attention to what God reminds them of in verse 5

et’s pay close attention to what God reminds them of in verse 5

Jeremiah 27:5 NASB95

5 “I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight.

Jeremiah 27:5

The Source of Creation

I have made the earth and it belongs to him

The Strength For Creation

By his power and they had nothing to do with it

The Sovereign of Creation

And for his purpose He will allow things to happen.

God has allowed us free range of creation and we certainly have messed it up. (The chickens of Uganda) Our lives, our situation worldwide is the result of us trusting the serpent rather than the Sovereign God. Creator, All powerful God. We think we are in charge yet God in reminds us he is.

Sovereignty—of God, his absolute right to do all things according to his own good pleasure

Easton, M. G. (1893). In Easton’s Bible dictionary. New York: Harper & Brothers.

You see it has nothing really to do with us. We act like spoiled children who think we are in control.

1 John 3:1-8

1 John 3:1–9 NASB95

1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. 5 You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 6 No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. 7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; 8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

God’s sovereign will is that we would know Him through his Son. But man refuses to accept it. Are acting like He is sovereign in your life?

2 Peter 3:3–4 NASB95

3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”

2 Peter 3:3-

2 Peter 3:3 NASB95

3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts,

Why are we where we are right now? Because of the sin of man. But take heart .

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2 Peter 3:9–10 NASB95

9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

2 Peter 3:9-

2 Peter 3:9 NASB95

9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

God is still sovereign, but he desires all to know the truth of the gospel.

2 Peter 3:

How is God’s Sovereignty really displayed in his patience for all mankind to hear the gospel. In reality the Word of God reminds over and over that he could have whipped us all off of HIs creation. But a sovereign God continues to tarry for us to come to Him.

James 4:

his absolute right to do all things according to his own good pleasure. His good pleasure is for us to know him.

James 4:13–17 NASB95

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.