Friday, September 30, 2016

Subject: Disaster and the Sovereignty of God - Jonah

Jonah 4:7-8 (ESV Strong's)
But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

Subject:  God's sovereign rule over creation

In the book of Jonah, God sent a storm, a fish, a plant, a heat wave, and a worm.   God uses creation to speak to the man and to turn man from his evil ways and bad intent toward God.  Roman 1 tells us something similar:

Romans 1:18-20 (ESV Strong's)
God's Wrath on Unrighteousness
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Man is not sensitive to the working of God in the lives of those in the world.  Yet, he sends a fish to swallow a man so that he will obey so other men can find God.   Man only sees disaster as something hard from God, but in each case it is God's grace to see His hand.   When bad things happen we are to realize that God is in great control.   He is using the affairs of the world to bring us or others, or both, to Him.

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