You can't avoid hearing about it: the recession. Radio, TV, news web sites ... it's everywhere. Banks going under. Major companies folding. Massive unemployment. Record foreclosures. On and on the list goes.As a Christ follower, how do we respond? What does God's Word have to say?
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: without question, God has made the one as well as the other, so that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.
Eccl 7:14 (HCSB)
Eccl 7:14 (HCSB)
So, God is sovereign over our days of prosperity. And He is also sovereign over days of adversity? So He is in control. What could He possibly be trying to teach us? We will looking into this March 1 at ClearView. Learn more here.
2 comments:
God is ultimately sovereign, but is God necessarily the affector of all earthly events? Did God really make THIS adversity (economic recession) as your post seems to imply?
Not that God is totally quiescent, but is this economic recession the actual hand of God at work?... the Dow Jones responding to whatever God decides for each day? It seems the Holy Spirit would work more on our hearts than he would the stocks.
Is there a difference between God retaining sovereignty and God actually controlling the world in an active and dynamic manner like checkers on a checker board?
Is it even possible to fully understand the Sovereignty of God and how our limited free will interweaves with His Sovereignty?
Is Ecclesiastes really saying that God is pushing the buttons in times of adversity or is he just allowing adversity? Reading through the Bible it seems that the Holy Spirit is very selective as to when it intervenes among men. We also know the Holy Spirit doesn't work equally through every man. Are some men who have influence on the economy and politics left to their own will -- a will that is in bondage to sin, a will that apart from God can do no good?
Reading Ecclesiastes in the wrong way can lead to people automatically blaming God for hurricanes, earthquakes, stubbing their toe, and all other "adversities" rather than accepting it as a natural occurrence of the world that God sent spinning long ago.
Genesis 1:26 says that God gave man "dominion" over earth. So by this it seems that man is free to be the affector to some degree. Later on in the Bible, we learn that Satan is the "prince of the world". Satan even tried tempting Jesus in the wilderness by offering him a portion of his worldly kingdom. So, can we not just as easily say that Satan is ultimately behind the economic recession while still acknowledging that God is ultimately "in control" of Satan. Satan is unable to do anything unless God allows it. Allowance is not causation, though.
I wonder if it's hermeneutically accurate to imply that God made the recession due to what Ecclesiastes alone is saying.
These are some good questions that I hope will be answered. Looking forward to the sermon!
The sovereignty of God is a subject bigger than a single post or a single sermon. Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 is clear that God is the one doing the acting. "Consider the work of God" and "God has made". Both phrases clearly indicated God is the initiator.
Does God bring all adversity? No. but whether God causes or God allows the result is the same. Everything passes through God's hands before it is allowed. To say that God retains His sovereignty but imply that God is not "actually controlling the world" is a theistic view that to follow to its logical conclusion would teach there is a God and He set things in motion but is not involved in our day to day lives. This of course is not a biblical view of God. God not only retains His sovereignty, He excerscises it in our lives. He does so without violating our free will.
Unfortunately, our excersising of our free will is what has brought sin into the world and thus we live in a fallen world. My opinion (and it is only my opinion) is that God did not have to create or cause the recession. He did not have to. We created this situation by our own greed and poor financial decisions individually and corporately.
The key is this: Whether God caused it or allowed it, how will we respond to it? That will be our focus tomorrow morning.
Thanks for the post.
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