God's Sovereignty

God's Sovereignty 10 25-20 Beginning Scripture: Daniel 1:8, 9, 11 & 17 Now, listen and see if you can see and hear where God is in these passages... But Daniel made up his mind not to eat the food and wine given to them by the king. He asked the superintendent for permission to eat other things instead. Now as it happened, God had given the superintendent a special appreciation for Daniel and sympathy for his predicament. ... Daniel talked it over with the steward who was appointed by the superintendent... ... God gave to Daniel special ability in understanding the meanings of dreams and visions. In this passage I see God all over the place. There are at least 16 names for God used in the Bible, but the deeper truth, in my view, is that God and his Spirit permeate everything at all times. God is present in the food, the wine, Daniel and his mind and abilities, in the dreams and visions seen and understood by Daniel, and yes, even in the king, the superintendent, and the steward that Daniel talked things over with. God permeates everything, the ocean and every drop in it, constantly in a dance of endless fertility and fruitfulness. God is not the "author" of creation, removed and hovering over it. The whole thing is God. There is not a single place in all creation where God is not, because God is creation itself, endlessly outpouring, endlessly receiving itself back. From top to bottom, we live and move and have our being in a reality in which we are participants. Based on language from: Center for Action and Formation meditation for 10-21-20 I think one of the challenges for us in interpreting the passage from Daniel and how God is present in it is to distinguish between what men do (Daniel, the king, etc.) because of their own wills and what God does in his perfect will. This distinction is often made in explanations of how God is in control of everything, that is, in discussions of God's sovereignty. The book of Daniel centers around the profound truth of the sovereignty of God. I have heard people question God's sovereignty. Their questions are frequently framed something like this: How could a good and loving God bring down death and destructions of tornadoes or the COVID virus? When in the past I myself have questioned the statement: "God is in control" people look at me as if I am a heathen. So I have spoken to people a whole lot smarter than me to try to get some insight into this question of how much control God has over everything. In my defense, I have never been one to blame God for suffering, death, and destruction or for any kind of evil. This view of God just didn't measure up to the God I personally encounter in prayer and meditation. But I have had difficulty answering those who asked those questions - questions that are really about God's sovereignty. Here is what I have discovered in my search for explanations that I might give to the questioners: 1. The Bible describes God as offering humanity choices (Deuteronomy 30:15-19), holding them personally responsible for their sins (Exodus 20:5), and being unhappy with some of their actions (Numbers 25:3). The fact that sin exists at all proves that not all things that occur are the direct actions of God, who is holy. 2. God gives us free will and holds us accountable for the way we exercise it. So our own wills set a boundary for God's control. That is, God chooses to allow things that he does not directly cause. 3. Yes, God has the power, wisdom, and authority to do anything He chooses within His creation. BUT whether or not He actually exerts that level of control in any given circumstance is actually a completely different question. It is a sort of cartoon version of God's sovereignty that depicts a God who must do anything that he can do, or else he is not truly sovereign. 4. God has the ability to do anything, to take action and intervene in any situation, but He often chooses to act indirectly or to allow certain things for reasons of His own. His will is furthered in any case. 5. God's "sovereignty" means that He is absolute in authority and unrestricted in His supremacy. Everything that happens is, at the very least, the result of God's permissive will. I would imagine that there a lots and lots of specific things that happen that are not what God would prefer, for example child abuse, murder, or anything, really, that people do to reject God. 6. The right of God to allow mankind's free choices is just as necessary for true sovereignty as His ability to enact His will, wherever and however He chooses. Most of the above information is taken from GotQuestions.org - https://www.gotquestions.org/God-is-sovereign.html These ideas make a lot of sense to me and I think are good explanations of how the sovereignty of God interacts with the free will of man. Of course, there is more to these questions than I can cover in ten or twelve minutes, for example, how does God's sovereignty act in the natural functioning of the universe? I suspect that many of you have already figured these things out, but I was in need of further information. I am still a learner and perhaps just a toddler or a teenager when it comes to these theological matters. So, thanks for letting me hold forth on this topic for a few minutes. Questions and Challenges * Find a poem or a passage in literature that illustrate the way God permeates everything. It does not have to mention or use the Words God, Lord, Yahweh, or Jesus. * Describe some times or situations in which you have had questions or concerns about God's sovereignty. * Describe an instance in which you have used your free will to the best of your ability to coincide with God's will. * Describe an instance in which your will went against what you believe God wants. How do these instances fit into my explanation of God's sovereignty? Prayer Father I love you so much! Thank you, Father for creating the Earth and all of the wonderful array of creatures in it. Thank you for staying with and inside your creation. We honor you as our sovereign God. We praise and adore you. Please forgive us for all the ways we use our wills against yours. Father, please be with me not only in my faith but in my doubts. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our precious savior. Amen