Lesson Five
GOD’S POWER OVER NATURE
(Chapter 6)
CENTRAL IDEA
God has established certain physical laws for the operation of His universe. Moment by moment those laws operate according to His direct will.
Examining Trust
God has not walked away from the day-to-day control of His creation. Certainly He has established physical laws by which He governs the forces of nature, but those laws continuously operate according to His sovereign will. The Bible teaches that God controls all the forces of nature, both destructive and productive, on a continuous, moment-by-moment basis. All expressions of nature, all occurrences of weather, whether it be a devastating tornado or a gentle rain on a spring day, are acts of God.
Many sensitive Christians struggle over the multitude of large-scale natural disasters around the world—an earthquake in one place, famine in another, typhoons and floods somewhere else. Thousands of people are killed immediately, others slowly starve to death. “Why does God allow all this?,” we may ask.
It is not wrong to wrestle with these issues, as long as we do it in a reverent and submissive attitude toward God. Indeed, to fail to wrestle with the issue of large-scale tragedy may indicate a lack of compassion toward others on our part. However, we must be careful not to, in our minds, take God off His throne of absolute sovereignty or put Him in the dock and bring Him to the bar of our judgment.
God brings Himself into these events. He said in Isaiah 45:7,
I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the LORD, do all these things.
God Himself accepts the responsibility, so to speak, for disasters. He actually does more than accept the responsibility; He actually claims it. In effect, God says, “I, and I alone, have the power and authority to bring about both prosperity and disaster, both weal and woe, both good and bad.”
We obviously do not understand why God creates disaster, or why He brings it to one town and not to another. We recognize, too, that just as God sends His sun and rain on both the righteous and the unrighteous, so He also sends the tornado, or the hurricane, or the earthquake on both. God’s sovereignty over nature does not mean that Christians never encounter the tragedies of natural disaster.
Illness and physical affliction is another area in which we struggle to trust God. When God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses protested his inadequacy, including the fact that he was slow of speech. God’s reply to Moses is very instructive to us in this area of physical affliction, for God said, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?” (Exodus 4:11). Here God specifically ascribes to His own work the physical afflictions of deafness, muteness, and blindness.
Afflictions don’t “just happen.” They are all within the sovereign will of God. Such a statement immediately brings us into the problem of pain and suffering. Why does a sovereign God who loves us allow such pain and heartache?
Briefly, we know that all creation has been subjected to frustration because of the sin of Adam (see Romans 8:20). So we can say that the ultimate cause of all pain and suffering must be traced back to the Fall. God’s weal and woe are not arbitrary or capricious, but His determined response to man’s sin. The sovereign God who subjected creation to frustration still rules over it, pain and all.
God never wastes pain. He always uses it to accomplish His purpose. And His purpose is for His glory and our good. Therefore, we can trust Him when our hearts are aching or our bodies are racked with pain.
Developing Trust
1. Summarize in your own words what each of these verses says about God’s role in natural phenomena.
Job 37:3, 6, 10-13
Psalm 147:8, 16-18
Amos 4:7-9
2. a. What is your usual attitude toward the weather? Do you tend to complain about it? Thank God for it? Feel that God isn’t responsible?
b. Is your attitude generally pleasing to God? Why or why not?
3. a. What is God taking responsibility for in Exodus 4:11 and Isaiah 45:7?
b. What are some possible responses to these passages?
c. Which response do you choose? Why?
4. Read John 9:1-3. Explain in your own words the reason Jesus gives for the man’s blindness.
5. a. What does God teach us about the conception of children in these verses?
Genesis 16:2
Genesis 29:31
Judges 13:3
Psalm 139:13
b. If a couple is unable to have children, how can these verses help them maintain a trusting attitude toward God?
6. The idea that God claims responsibility for deadly earthquakes, droughts, blindness, and childlessness prompts sensitive people to ask questions. Certainly we can’t learn much without asking questions.
a. Are there limits to the kinds of questions we should ask of God? If so, what limits? If not, why not?
b. Can we expect God to answer our questions? Why or why not?
c. What kinds of attitudes are acceptable when questioning God?
d. What kinds of attitudes are unacceptable?
e. Give some possible reasons why God leaves many of our questions unanswered.
7. a. Describe an experience in your life that caused you to doubt God’s control and to ask why.
b. What answers did you get to your questioning?
c. Did anything good come from that experience? If so, what was it?
8. How can coming to grips with the fact that God is in control of nature affect your daily life, especially your current circumstances?
Trust in Action