The 500-Year Flood and the Sovereignty of God
Preached on July 06, 2008, by Eric Schumacher
Topics: Flood Of 2008 Systematic Theology
© Eric M Schumacher – Preached July 6, 2008 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Audio will be available here.
July 4 is the day that our nation has set aside to observe as “Independence Day,” commemorating July 4, 1776, the day on which the United States of America publicized their declaration of independence from Great Brittan.
While we may be able to declare independence from the sovereignty of England, we do well to remember that we at no time live independent of the sovereignty of God.
Can God be God and Good?
Unfortunately, some believe that there are events—like historic flooding in eastern Iowa—that happen independent of God’s sovereignty.
On the website of Yale Divinity School there is posted the manuscript of a sermon delivered by one of its alumni at a church in northeast Iowa on the Sunday following the flood. In this sermon, which contains two humorous stories but not a single verse of Scripture, this pastor notes that such disasters cause people to ask theological questions, such as, “Where is God in all this weather related devastation and heart ache? Did God cause this terrible weather? Why didn’t God stop the rains after just a little flooding?”
He mentions that a friend and parishioner of his commented, “And I’ve been praying to God that He will stop all this…that He will stop the suffering.” He notes that her comment “ASSUMES that God is all-powerful…that God is omnipotent. And her statement also assumes that God is focused primarily on the good for me and for you, and more generally, that God is focused on the good for humankind.”
He recalls taking a youth group to see the play J.B. by Archibald McLeish, a contemporary interpretation of the book of Job. In it, one of the narrators speaks this little poem:If God is God, He is not good,This poem presents a dilemma, a dichotomy of sorts. Either God is “all-powerful” and not good. Or, he is good but not all-power (not God). The author of the sermon concurs, stating, “with all the evidence from history and from recent storms in Iowa, it is logically inconsistent to believe that god is both all powerful and willing the good for you and me.”
If God is good, He is not God;
Take the even, take the odd…
Therefore, he told his congregation, “Personally, I have chosen to TAKE THE ODD. That is, after lots and lots of thinking about this matter, I have chosen to believe that God is good, AND that God has chosen NOT TO BE ALL POWERFUL…” (emphasis his).
He explains further:I believe that God the Creator created the natural order, which includes the earth’s weather system, with certain natural laws and principles in place… God put in place reasonable natural laws and understandable scientific principles that govern the world. And after putting this natural order into place, God has (mostly) chosen NOT to intervene in these natural systems.In other words, God is not sovereign over 500-year floods. He does not directly send them. They are merely the outworking of the natural laws and principles of the natural order that God put into place at creation.
…I believe that God chose to set aside His power after he created the natural order, with its various laws and principles, and in essence, decided to let the system “run” as He had planned and designed it.
In summary, in order to preserve the goodness of God, his sovereignty must be sacrificed. He cannot be all-powerful and all-good simultaneously.
He goes on to say that we find God, not in the storm, but in the response of people helping people.
Such sermons make me incredibly sad for two reasons. First of all, they sadden me because they assault the character of God presented in the Bible. The God we find in the Bible is not a self-neutered God. He is a sovereign, strong, providentially ruling God, who reigns over everything with all power. And, he is good. He is altogether righteous and just and none can question what he ordains or accuse him of evil. To say that God cannot be who God says he is is incredibly demeaning to God. To say that he can only be spoken of in ways that are easily comprehendible by our finite logic is incredibly arrogant.
Second, such sermons sadden me because they give congregations no reason to hope in God. He has essentially told his friend and parishioner that her prayers are useless. God cannot and will not intervene to stop the flooding. He has stripped his congregation of any source of comfort, other than what they can muster in the strength of their own response.
I would rather have this flood become a weekly event than such sermons become weekly events. Such sermons are the greater of the two tragedies. Such sermons will do far more damage to people than a flood ever could.
The consistent teaching of Scripture is both “the even and the odd”—God is good and God is God.
The Lord Reigns
Psalm 93 begins with the clear declaration: “the Lord reigns.” The Lord is robed in majesty; he has put on strength as his belt.
The kings of earth robe themselves with emblems of majesty and symbols of strength. But, as Spurgeon noted, the Lord is robed with the reality of sovereignty. He is robed with majesty itself.
We do not find in Scripture a picture of a God who sets aside his strength. Rather, the Lord puts on strength as a belt. He does not limit his strength, but dresses with it.
This vision of the Lord’s sovereignty is a vision consistently presented throughout Scripture. The Lord not only reigns, the Lord reigns with complete power. Psalm 115:3 declares, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”
Jeremiah (32:17) states, “Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who has made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” And the Lord himself states (Jeremiah 32:27), “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?”
The Lord reigns without frustration. Job confesses (Job 42:2), “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”
Not only is he capable of doing his purposes, but he actually does them. In Daniel 4:35, we read that “he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand.” As Proverbs 21:30 affirms, “No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the LORD.”
Sovereign over all creation
Psalm 93 continues, “Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved.” The permanency of the world is based upon the sovereign strength of the Lord.
The Bible also clearly affirms that, unlike what was stated in that aforementioned sermon, the Lord did not choose “to set aside His power after He created the natural order.” God has not chosen “not to be all powerful.” Rather, the Lord is sovereign over the world and all that is in it.
The Lord reigns over everything that comes to pass. God’s will is the final and most ultimate reason for everything that happens. Jeremiah asks rhetorically (Lamentations 3:37), “Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?” And Paul speaks of God in Ephesians 1:11 as “him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” Everything—not just some things, “good things”—are worked according to the counsel of his will.
The Lord reigns over the physical, created universe. He not only created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1; Rev 4:11) and all that is in them, but he preserves all of them (Neh 9:6). Hebrews 1:3 states that the Lord Jesus Christ “upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Indeed, in Christ “all things hold together” (Col 1:17).
The Lord reigns over the heavenly bodies (Job 38:12-13,31-33; Psalm 104:19-20) and over the foundations of the earth. He says in Isaiah 48:13, “My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together.”
Psalm 104:32 says that it is the Lord “who looks on the earth and it trembles, who touches the mountains and they smoke!” In Psalm 104:5, the Psalmist declares, “He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved.” And in Psalm 75:3, the Lord says, “When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars.” Therefore, when earthquakes shake the earth, the Lord is sovereign over them. He set the earth on its foundations. He steadies its pillars. Therefore, an earthquake may last not one second longer nor end one second shorter than he decrees it will.
Sovereign over life in creation.
The Lord does not reign merely over inanimate creation, such as planets and stars. He reigns over ever living thing upon the earth.
The Lord reigns over plant life. Psalm 147:8 says that “he makes grass grow on the hills.” And Psalm 104:14-15 states, “You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man's heart.”
If the Lord causes the grass and plants to grow—and if none can stay his hand when he purposes to do something—then he is sovereign over famine. If he wanted plants to grow, they would.
The Lord reigns over the creatures of the earth. (cf Ezek 14:21; Ps 104:25-29; 147:9; Mt 6:25, 10:29). Job 38-39 and Psalm 104:25-29 affirm God’s sovereignty over the ways of animals. It is the Lord who has “let the wild donkey go free.” The Lord makes the ostrich “forget wisdom” and has “given her no share in understanding.” The Lord gives the horse his might and clothes his neck with a mane. He makes him leap like the locust. It is by the Lord’s understanding that “the hawk soars and spreads his wings.” It is at the Lord’s command that “the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high.”
Sovereign over man.
It is not just animal life that the Lord reigns over. He sovereignly reigns over the people who inhabit the earth.
The Lord reigns over the affairs of nations. The Lord created all nations. Paul states in Acts 17:26 that the Lord “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.”
Psalm 22:28 states, “kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.” We read in Job 12:23-24 that the Lord “makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away. He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste.”
The Lord reigns over nations and their sovereigns. Scripture tells us that the Lord appoints all authorities. Daniel 4:32 says that “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” And Paul affirms in Romans 13:1 that “there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”
Not only does the Lord give authorities their positions, the Lord rules their hearts. Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.” This means that from Pharaoh to Cyrus, from Ceasar to Constantine, from Hitler to Churchill, from Gorbachev to Reagan, the Lord holds the heart of each of these in his hand and turns it wherever he wills.
We see the Lord reign over Pharaoh (Exodus 4:21) who oppresses Israel and over Cyrus who blesses Israel (Ezra 1:1; cf 6:22).
The Lord reigns over all people. Paul states in Acts 17:28 that “'in him we live and move and have our being.” No life exists outside the hand of God. It is the Lord, Psalm 33:13-15 says, who “fashions the hearts of them all.” Rather, as Job 34:14-15 states, “If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.”
The Lord reigns over all aspects of our lives. He reigns over our…
…food and sustenance. Therefore we are taught to pray (Matthew 6:11), “Give us this day our daily bread”
…our days. Job (14:5) says to the Lord of man, “his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass.” Therefore, as James (4:15) reminds us that we “ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’” (cf 1 Cor 4:19). The Lord, says Psalm 139:16, writes in his book all our days before there are any of them. It is before birth that the Lord sets apart his servants (Gal 1:15; Jer 1:5).
…all our actions. Though we think and decide and make plans and take steps, the Scripture speaks of God’s sovereignty over all that we do:Jeremiah 10:23 I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.…success and failure. Psalm 75:6-7 reminds us that it is “not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up, but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.” One is put down and the other lifted up, not because of their strength, but it is the Lord who Mary says in Luke 1:51-53 “has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.”
Proverbs 20:24 A man's steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?
Proverbs 16:9 The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.
Proverbs 16:1 The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.
And should we think success is due to our abilities, we are reminded that the Lord reigns over talents and abilities. Skill may play a role in winning a battle, but as Psalm 18:34 affirms, the Lord “trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.” Therefore Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”
…seemingly ‘random’ or ‘chance’ events. As Proverbs 16:33 teaches, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”
...the regeneration of the hearts of his believing people and the hardening of the hearts of those who reject him. Isaiah (63:17) asks, “O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart, so that we fear you not?”
Jesus praises the Father in Matthew 11:25-26 for hiding the Gospel from some and revealing it to others:At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”The Apostle Paul teaches that:Romans 9:16-18 …it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.Eternal Reign
Psalm 93 continues,, “Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting.” That is, the Lord’s sovereign reign is nothing new. He has always reigned. The Lord reigns eternally. No matter how long or powerfully a ruler has reigned on earth, it is nothing compared to the sovereignty of God. His people should take comfort to dwell under such a throne.
Chaos?
Nevertheless, there are times when the inhabitants of the earth might wonder whether the Lord is reigning. There are forces and persons that appear to defy his reign.
The Psalmist raises one such example in verse 3: “The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring.”
Some have interpreted this verse to be the psalmist’s way of referring to the enemies of God and his people. We will consider, in a moment, the sovereignty of God over the actions of our enemies who seek to do us harm. For the moment, however, let us take these words at face value.
When floods rage, when the powerful waters of the earth wreak havoc and destruction, is God sovereign over this? Or, has God “chosen not to be all powerful,” as some would have us believe.
The Psalmist gives his answer in verse 4—and his answer is not, “the Lord on high has chosen not to be all powerful!” Rather, he declares the sovereignty of God over the flood waters: “Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty!”
The Lord reigns over the waters of the earth. The Lord reigns over the rain. Job 37:6 states, “For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.” When there is a record-setting snowfall or a mighty downpour resulting in record-setting floodwaters, it is because the Lord has said to the precipitation, “Fall on the earth” and it obeys.
In Job 38:34-38 the Lord asks Job, “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that a flood of waters may cover you? … Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast together?” The implication is “the Lord can!” The Lord makes floods cover us. The Lord can tilt the waterskins of the heavens. (And, he can keep them from tilting and cause a draught.) (cf. Ps 135:6-7; 104:10-11; 147:18)
We see God’s sovereignty over water throughout the Bible. In Genesis 6-7, it is the Lord who sent rain for forty days and forty nights, bringing a flood to destroy all flesh under heaven.
It is the Lord in Exodus 14 who causes a strong east wind to blow, driving back the sea so that the people of Israel could pass through on dry ground.
It is the Lord in Joshua 3 who causes the waters of the Jordan River to stand in a heap, so that his people could walk across on dry ground.
It is the Lord in Matthew 14:25-29 who walks on the sea.
It is the Lord in Mark 4:37-41 who “rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”
The Lord tipped the waterskins of the heavens on eastern Iowa so that the rain he wanted to fall fell, no more and no less. He speaks to the clouds so that floods cover us.
All it would have taken was one word from the Lord and the Cedar River would have stood in a heap at the border of Cedar Rapids. All it would have taken was one word from the Lord and the waters would have dried up.
The Lord reigns over the clouds and the wind. Job 37:9-13 states that:by the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning. They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen.The clouds—such as we see in hurricanes and tornadoes—“turn around and around by his guidance.” He guides them—in New Orleans and Parkersburg—“to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world.”
Whether God sends these clouds to correct us or because of his love for us, “he causes it to happen.” There is no arguing with such a text. It is clear that God has not chosen “not to be all powerful.”
Later, in Job 38:22-38 we read that God is sovereign over snow, hail, lightning, wind, torrents of rain, thunder, ice, and frost. Psalm 148:8 says that the “fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind [are] fulfilling his word!”
Sovereign over suffering and evil.
Of course, the difficulty is not in thinking of God reigning sovereignly over the weather. The difficulty is in the suffering, destruction, and even death that results from these things.
Nevertheless, the Bible tells us that the Lord reigns over suffering and evil. Listen to a few verses that affirm this:Amos 3:6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?
Isaiah 45:7 I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things.
Lamentations 3:37-38 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come?
Job 2:10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
Job 42:11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him.
And, of course, we should remember that the Scripture states that the most evil sin that was ever committed happened according to “the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” That sin, of course, is the crucifixion of the perfect, sinless, anointed King, our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Acts 2:23, we read that Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” And then, “crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” The men who did it were “lawless.” That is, they were sinning. Nevertheless, as we read in Acts 4:27-28 were only doing “whatever [God’s] hand and [God’s] plan had predestined to take place.”
The Lord reigns over the suffering of his people. 1 Peter 3:17 and 4:19 both speak of our suffering as being according to “God’s will.”
Likewise, the Lord reigns over those who afflict us. In the Old Testament, we see that the Assyrians (Isa 10:5) and Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 25:9) were the Lord’s instruments to discipline his people. The Lord intended the suffering of Joseph at the hands of his brothers for good (Gen 50:20). Even though they sold him into slavery (Gen 37:11-28), Joseph may still say that it was God who sent him to Egypt (Gen 45:5).
The Lord said—before Pharaoh ever hardened his own heart—that he would “harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go” (Ex 4:21). Psalm 105:25 says that the Lord turned the hearts of the Egyptians “to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.”
Joshua 11:20 says that the Lord hardened the hearts of the Canaanites so that they should come against Israel in battle.
1 Kings 11:14 says that the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon.
Sovereign over Satan and demons.
The Scripture goes even further to affirm that the Lord reigns over Satan and evil spirits. 1 Samuel 16:14 says that “an evil spirit from the Lord tormented [Saul].” Judges 9:23 says that “God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem.”
1 Chronicles 21:1 says that “Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.” Yet, 2 Samuel 24:1 says that “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and [the Lord] incited David” to number Israel. (And later, David confesses this as his sin and is disciplined by God for it.)
The Story of Job
The story of Job is a perfect example for discussing all these things, for in it, Satan seeks to afflict Job. Therefore, we are left to assume that whatever happens, happens through the hand of Satan. Job is afflicted by evil men who come murder his servants, by destructive weather that kills all his children and by a severe physical disease that threatens to take his life. So here we have Satan orchestrating these events. We have men sinning in their murdering and plundering. We have destructive forces of nature and disease.
And yet, after all this, Job says first (Job 1:20-22), “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” After which we read, “In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.” (In other words, Job was right to attribute this to the Lord!) And then later Job says (2:10), “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” After which we read, “In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” In other words, it was not sinful for Job to say that he was receiving “evil” from the Lord!
Therefore, whether it is Satan, sinful men, the forces of nature or disease, the Lord is sovereign reigning.
Comfort
So where do we find comfort when suffering comes, when the “floods have lifted up their voice”? The Psalmist continues, “Your decrees are very trustworthy.” His “decrees” could also be translated, his “testimonies.”
That is, what the Lord has stated in his word can be trusted in. What he has promised us will come to pass. We find our comfort not in our ability to interpret acts of divine providence, but in the trustworthy promises of God’s word.
The Lord has told us that he is good. (cf Lk 18:19; Ps 100:5; 106:1; 34:8) Therefore, we can trust that God is doing what is “worthy of approval” (which is what it means to be good).
The Lord promises good to his people. Paul draws great comfort from God’s sovereignty:Romans 8:28-32 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?The sovereignty that reigns over our afflictions also reigns over our salvation. If you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and was raised from the dead, then you believe that God has done the greatest thing possible for you. He has paid for your sins, forgiven you, and reconciled you to himself. If he has done this, then you can trust that he must work everything else for your good as well.
How should we respond?
How should we respond to such sovereignty? How should we respond when the floods lift up their voices? I think that the Psalmist answers this question as well at the end of verse 5: “holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore.”
What is fitting for the dwelling place of such a sovereign is “holiness.” We should respond with holiness.
First of all, this includes repentance of sin.Lamentations 3:37-40 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!All disaster—whether directly related to our personal sins or not—should remind us that we deserve the wrath of God. It should motivate us to consider our ways and return to the Lord!
And fleeing sin is only possible through faith in God. We leave sin because we trust that what God has said is right. We trust that God—and not sin—with satisfy us with what is good and give us life.
Peter wrote to the suffering church in 1 Peter 4:19, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” The way that you do good while suffering is you entrust your soul to a faithful Creator. You believe that God has promised to forgive, redeem, resurrect and give eternal life to the one who trusts in Jesus Christ his Son. You believe that Jesus Christ removed your sin in his death and secures for your eternal life through his resurrection.
Therefore, you say with Habakkuk in suffering,Habakkuk 3:17-18 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
If God is sovereign, and only if God is sovereign, then I may sing, “It is well with my soul.”