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Carbon

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Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
Psalm 2:1.

Where is God during this?
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Psalm 2:4.

Is the devil responsible?
Is he responsible for natural disasters?
Are there times when God just sits back and does nothing?

Scripture teaches there will be calamity, consider the coronavirus, floods, fires, and on and on. But it also teaches God is Omniscient, all-powerful, He has the power to stop a calamity, in its tracks, but yet it goes on.
Scripture also teaches His absolute sovereignty over all things, ...how are we to reconcile these things? How are we to reconcile God's sovereignty, His goodness, and His power, with the reality of calamity?


Is God responsible for calamity? Or does scripture teach God is passive in calamity?

How does Eph 1 fit in with your answer?
Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

It teaches God works all things according to the counsel of His will. Works= works
Which is not passive


So,
How are we to reconcile God's sovereignty, His goodness, and His power, with the reality of calamity?
 
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
Psalm 2:1.

Where is God during this?
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Psalm 2:4.

Is the devil responsible?
Is he responsible for natural disasters?
Are there times when God just sits back and does nothing?

Scripture teaches there will be calamity, consider the coronavirus, floods, fires, and on and on. But it also teaches God is Omniscient, all-powerful, He has the power to stop a calamity, in its tracks, but yet it goes on.
Scripture also teaches His absolute sovereignty over all things, ...how are we to reconcile these things? How are we to reconcile God's sovereignty, His goodness, and His power, with the reality of calamity?


Is God responsible for calamity? Or does scripture teach God is passive in calamity?

How does Eph 1 fit in with your answer?
Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

It teaches God works all things according to the counsel of His will. Works= works
Which is not passive


So,
How are we to reconcile God's sovereignty, His goodness, and His power, with the reality of calamity?
In Job 1 we see satan coming before God and they have a discussion about upright Job and God's blessings upon him. And satan says that if God were to remove all blessings Job would curse Him. Verse 12 And the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand," So satan went out from the presence of the Lord."

As an aside, it is shocking to see those words that say satan in in the presence of the Lord. Too deep for me to ponder at the moment.

What I take from this is that satan has to get God's permission to do anything and God sets boundaries as to what he can do.

Wicked men serve satan., not under compulsion but because they want to do wicked things. But in all things God's purposes are being fulfilled and cannot be thwarted.

Sometimes calamity is judgement, sometimes it is judgement and we don't know it, sometimes it is not judgement but we down here, have no idea what it is or the purpose it is serving. Sometimes it is just the natural course of what we must deal with as fallen people in a fallen world.

But in all, God in His sovereignty is governing it. Doing whatever He wills with it and in spite of it.

Sometimes we have to say "I don't know." Because there is no way we can know. And trust God---also known as faith.
 
In Job 1 we see satan coming before God and they have a discussion about upright Job and God's blessings upon him. And satan says that if God were to remove all blessings Job would curse Him. Verse 12 And the Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand," So satan went out from the presence of the Lord."

As an aside, it is shocking to see those words that say satan in in the presence of the Lord. Too deep for me to ponder at the moment.

What I take from this is that satan has to get God's permission to do anything and God sets boundaries as to what he can do.

Wicked men serve satan., not under compulsion but because they want to do wicked things. But in all things God's purposes are being fulfilled and cannot be thwarted.

Sometimes calamity is judgement, sometimes it is judgement and we don't know it, sometimes it is not judgement but we down here, have no idea what it is or the purpose it is serving. Sometimes it is just the natural course of what we must deal with as fallen people in a fallen world.

But in all, God in His sovereignty is governing it. Doing whatever He wills with it and in spite of it.

Sometimes we have to say "I don't know." Because there is no way we can know. And trust God---also known as faith.
Excellent reply!
 
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
Psalm 2:1.

Where is God during this?
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Psalm 2:4.

Is the devil responsible?
Is he responsible for natural disasters?
Are there times when God just sits back and does nothing?

Scripture teaches there will be calamity, consider the coronavirus, floods, fires, and on and on. But it also teaches God is Omniscient, all-powerful, He has the power to stop a calamity, in its tracks, but yet it goes on.
Scripture also teaches His absolute sovereignty over all things, ...how are we to reconcile these things? How are we to reconcile God's sovereignty, His goodness, and His power, with the reality of calamity?


Is God responsible for calamity? Or does scripture teach God is passive in calamity?

How does Eph 1 fit in with your answer?
Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

It teaches God works all things according to the counsel of His will. Works= works
Which is not passive


So,
How are we to reconcile God's sovereignty, His goodness, and His power, with the reality of calamity?

Satan in a desperate attempt to prove that he was correct in claiming himself able to make himself be like the Most High, has been
scrambling for centuries to set up a one world government to show God and the angels that he can do an even better job at running the planet. Yet the planet is a mess due largely to Satan's own fault.

That is why we see passages like you cited.
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain? Psalm 2:1.​
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision. Psalm 2:4.​


Where is God during this? Laughing!

grace and peace ....................
 
Satan in a desperate attempt to prove that he was correct in claiming himself able to make himself be like the Most High, has been
scrambling for centuries to set up a one world government to show God and the angels that he can do an even better job at running the planet. Yet the planet is a mess due largely to Satan's own fault.
Interesting.
But how would you harmonize that with the truth @Arial said, backed with scripture?

@Arial wrote: What I take from this is that satan has to get God's permission to do anything and God sets boundaries as to what he can do.
 
No. I mean, what she said.

I see now... The way you left a quote of hers it faded into the background.

This is what you meant..

@Arial wrote: What I take from this is that Satan has to get God's permission to do anything and God sets boundaries as to what he can do.

Well, yes.

Even the demons coming out of Legion needed to get the Lord's permission to enter the swine. Mark 5:12

And, Jesus told Peter that Satan had requested of Him to give him permission to sift Peter like wheat. Luke 22:31


Why? There is an appeal trial going on. Satan (accusing attorney) wishes to vindicate the very actions that God condemned him for.
To do so, the Judge must grant permission when Satan wants to discover evidence in his favor... so he thinks. So, the Judge will grant
permission when he sees fit.

My pastor taught on this extensively.

He called the Doctrine.. "The Resolving of the Prehistoric Angelic Conflict."

In a nutshell:

Its not as if God thinks Satan can maybe find a way out of his sentence. Its a process God established, as to resolve the inner conflict of His own angels who are pure at heart, and could not understand why their once beloved "Lucifer" became such a target of God's wrath. Lucifer, knowing this, was creating lies as to impugn God's holiness and resulted in God having to put a stop to it lest all His angels harbor some doubt.


And, on the other side of the coin. To get Satan to the point where he can no longer live in his mega denial thinking process, by exposing Satan's destructiveness by his witnessing to what happens when men manifest overt expression of Satan's desires. For God would not allow them to be overtly expressed in His Kingdom. Remember, the fall of Satan all began in his 'thinking.' Not, overt action. When men manifest satanic actions it shows to all the angels that no good could have come from Satan's thinking...

More nutshells to follow if desired.

grace and peace .................
 
For the pleasure (Rev 4:11) of his glory through the Son (Php 2:11, Eph 3:10, 1:20-23, 1 Co 15:24-28, Col 1:16-20, 1 Co 1:18-20),
God has decreed a controversy with Satan in which
God's goodness, love, mercy, etc. will be glorified through the church (Eph 3:8-11),
and his justice, righteousness, holiness, etc. will be glorified by overcoming Satan in such a way
that he will no longer contest (Job 1:9-11, Zec 3:1-2, Rev 12:10),
but will be obliged to agree, that God is just and right (Ro 3:4, Php 2:10-11).

God is Judge and, therefore, he will not only execute justice,
but he will oblige all to agree with it (Php 2:10-11),
for he will be cleared and vindicated (of any charges of injustice) when he judges (Ro 3:4).
 
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
Psalm 2:1.

Where is God during this?
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Psalm 2:4.

Is the devil responsible?
Is he responsible for natural disasters?
Are there times when God just sits back and does nothing?

Scripture teaches there will be calamity, consider the coronavirus, floods, fires, and on and on. But it also teaches God is Omniscient, all-powerful, He has the power to stop a calamity, in its tracks, but yet it goes on.
Scripture also teaches His absolute sovereignty over all things, ...how are we to reconcile these things? How are we to reconcile God's sovereignty, His goodness, and His power, with the reality of calamity?


Is God responsible for calamity? Or does scripture teach God is passive in calamity?

How does Eph 1 fit in with your answer?
Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

It teaches God works all things according to the counsel of His will. Works= works
Which is not passive


So,
How are we to reconcile God's sovereignty, His goodness, and His power, with the reality of calamity?
James 1:13--When under trial, let no one say. I am being tried by God. For with evil things God cannot be tried nor does he himself try anyone.
The greed of men is what is causing all these natural disasters. To correct it, they know all economies would be crushed, thus cannot correct it. The bible teaches--they will become faint out of fear seeing no way out( Luke 21:25-26)---it is being proved truth.
 
Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
Psalm 2:1.

Where is God during this?
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Psalm 2:4.

Is the devil responsible?
Is he responsible for natural disasters?
Are there times when God just sits back and does nothing?

Scripture teaches there will be calamity, consider the coronavirus, floods, fires, and on and on. But it also teaches God is Omniscient, all-powerful, He has the power to stop a calamity, in its tracks, but yet it goes on.
Scripture also teaches His absolute sovereignty over all things, ...how are we to reconcile these things? How are we to reconcile God's sovereignty, His goodness, and His power, with the reality of calamity?


Is God responsible for calamity? Or does scripture teach God is passive in calamity?

How does Eph 1 fit in with your answer?
Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

It teaches God works all things according to the counsel of His will. Works= works
Which is not passive


So,
How are we to reconcile God's sovereignty, His goodness, and His power, with the reality of calamity?
Hi Carbon,

The world is cursed, (by God) and thus it `suffers` calamities, earthquakes, volcanoes, storms etc etc.

God`s goodness is shown in that He lets man experience all this for it helps him, (us) acknowledge his vulnerability and powerlessness against his own mortality. There is a saying that there are no atheists in `foxholes.` Meaning that in wars and calamities people are more prone to call out to God.

So, we ask, `What is the Father doing? ` We know that the Son is at the right hand of the Father building and maturing His Body. Meanwhile the Father is bringing the nations to His Son for judgment.

`The LORD (Father) said to My Lord, (Son) "Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool." (Ps. 110: 1)

And the enemies are the nations you quoted. (Ps. 2)

I wrote about this in the Bible Study Section. However, the short version is that the Father has sent out four great angelic spirits to gather the nations into four great Federations. (Dan. 7 & Zech. 6)

We see the first three today which arose one at a time after a war. Then the last Federation to arise will tread down the others till God `herds` them into the valley of Jehoshaphat outside Jerusalem. (Joel 3: 12 Knox)
 
So,
How are we to reconcile God's sovereignty, His goodness, and His power, with the reality of calamity?
Job 37:1-14~"At this also my heart trembleth, and is moved out of his place. Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth. He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth. After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard. God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength. He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work. Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places. Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north. By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened. Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud: And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth.

He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.

Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God."

If such things come, we need to ask... "WHY"~the answer is ....is it for our correction of our ways; or, maybe just for the land sake.....or maybe for mercy to us. For which we should offer up thanksgiving~Calamities, I would say~more for correction if folks would only consider.
 
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