Tilling and Planting

Tag: God’s Sovereignty

  • Purim: The Queen’s Holiday

    Purim: The Queen’s Holiday

    Intro

    I hope you’re not getting tired of me talking about the Jewish Holidays. Honestly, it’s been kind of fun and fascinating to learn how the different holidays point to Jesus. And I really hope you’ve enjoyed it and learned from it as well. Today, though, I’m pivoting to one that God did not establish. A Jewish queen established it. This holiday is called Purim. And it was established by Queen Esther as described in the Biblical book of Esther. Despite the fact that God didn’t ordain it (and despite His name not being mentioned in the book), God’s sovereignty can be clearly seen throughout Esther and the terrifying circumstances that led to the creation of Purim.

    The Celebration

    When it comes to observing Purim, the Jewish people have four things they do. First, they attend a public reading of Megillah – the Book of Esther – twice. Once the night before Purim and once on the day of Purim. One fun tradition with this is that every time Haman’s name (the villain, I’ll get to the story later) is mentioned, the hearers stamp their feet, use noisemakers, etc. to drown out his name.

    The second thing observed is to give to the needy. More than one Jewish holiday includes this and God commands and encourages this practice all through the Old Testament, so this comes as no surprise. For this specific holiday, a core theme is Jewish unity, so giving to the needy recognizes that.

    A third practice is to give gifts of food to friends. In case you missed it, every Jewish holiday involves a lot of food. Sure, many also contain fasting (Purim is no exception), but they always end with an abundance of food. To me that’s a reminder that even though there’s a time and place for fasting, we should always come back to celebrate and thank God for the food He has provided us with.

    Fourth and finally, is the feast itself. Invite as many friends and family as you can and feast! Enjoying the company of others and having fun is the primary message and theme of Purim.

    A few additional things include masquerades, special prayers, and a fast that occurs before the official day of Purim.

    Now in case you aren’t so familiar with the story of Esther, I’ll jump into that now.

    The Story

    So where did Purim come from? What part of Jewish history does it remember? This one goes back in time to the time of the Persian Empire. Some quick history: during the reign of Solomon’s son, the nation of Israel divided into two, Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Many years later, Assyria destroyed Israel and carted them off into exile. Babylon came along and took over Assyria and then turned and destroyed Judah – taking them into captivity. Babylon in turn was conquered by the Persian empire.

    That first Persian king over the territory of Babylon was named Cyrus. And Cyrus allowed the Jewish people (really all exiled peoples under Babylon) to return to their homeland and rebuild. The book of Ezra records one of the earliest returns of exiles and the rebuilding of the temple (Nehemiah records another return and rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls, but this occurred after the events of Esther).

    Queen Swap

    Enter the Book of Esther. Here we find ourselves a couple of generations after Cyrus when King Xerxes (Ahasuerus is the Hebrew name for Xerxes and preserved as such in some English translations) is on the throne. The king throws a lavish party and displays his wealth and power to all sorts of Persian nobles. In his intoxicated state, he orders Queen Vashti to appear before them all to display her beauty (Esther 1:10-11). And she refused (verse 12). Why she did isn’t clear. Many believe the order was to appear naked and wearing only her crown…If that’s true, I don’t blame her for refusing.

    In any event, Xerxes became angry and asked his advisors what to do. They advised him to get rid of Vashti as an example of what happens when one disobeys the king’s command – and to supposedly prevent women everywhere from rebelling against their husbands, probably not a realistic fear, but they used it as a weapon to reinforce the low status of women, nonetheless. The king agrees and throws out Vashti, declaring her to no longer be his queen (verses 13-21).

    After calming down, Xerxes takes the advice of his nobles again to find a new queen (2:1-4). And through a beauty pageant/one night stand (really it was rape, this isn’t a PG book when you think about it), Esther was chosen over all the other young woman to be Xerxes’s new queen (verses 8-18).

    Esther Who?

    Now, who exactly was Esther?

    Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, 6 who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin king of Judah. 7 Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.

    Esther 2:5-7 (NIV)

    So, Esther was a cousin of a Benjaminite named Mordecai. In verse 15 it gives the name of Esther’s father as Abihail – identified also as Mordecai’s uncle. Also, her real name according to the text was Hadassah. Verse 7 also identifies her as being quite lovely. This is an important note since the king’s edict targeted the most beautiful young women in the empire.

    We don’t know a whole lot else about her, but when brought into the harem, she pleased the eunuch – Hegai – in charge and he gave her special treatment and moved her to the best place in the harem (see verses 8-9). However she pleased Hegai likely contributed to what we read later (verses 17-18) where it says the king was pleased with her more than any of the other women and chose to make her queen (and I’m sure the special treatment helped out as well).

    Haman’s Plot

    Now we get to the meat of the story. The events that directly lead to the establishment of Purim. Enter Haman. A noble of Xerxes with a position of honor greater than all the other nobles. He’s identified as an Agagite, which history + tradition tells us was a group of people descended from Agag, the king of the Amalekites. The Amalekites were a long time enemy of the Israelites whom God commanded King Saul to destroy – but he failed. So already Haman’s views on the Jewish people aren’t favorable. Add to that Haman’s massive ego and a small slight and suddenly there’s a decree to eradicate all Jewish people.

    Okay, back up, what slight? Mordecai – Esther’s cousin – refused to bow to Haman (chapter 3:2-4). This enraged Haman (verse 5). And he decided that he didn’t just want to destroy Mordecai, he wanted to destroy all of the Jews (verse 6). So he concocted this story about the Jews and presented it to the king to get his blessing to destroy them all.

    Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.”

    Esther 3:8-9 (NIV)

    The king agreed and an edict was sent out to all the empire that on a specific date, the Jews were to be eradicated.

    Mordecai’s Plea

    When Mordecai learned of this, he – along with all the Jews – mourned. This mourning reached the ears of Esther and she inquired of him why he mourned. Mordecai explained the situation and then pleaded with her to go to the king and beg for mercy for the Jews. Esther reported that, according to law, no one could go into the king’s presence without being summoned – herself included. The consequence was execution. Mordecai challenged her saying that she likely will not be spared either – despite her position. And even suggested that the reason she got into her position was to bring salvation to her people. Esther agreed and asked that all the Jews in Susa fast for her for three days and then she would go before the king (see chapter 4).

    Esther’s Bravery

    After the three days of fasting, Esther put on her royal attire and entered the king’s court. When the king saw her, he held out his royal scepter – which pardoned her disobedience to the law. He asked her what she wanted and Esther invited him and Haman to a banquet, and there make her real request (chapter 5:1-8).

    Fast forward to the banquet recorded in chapter 7 and Esther reveals her nationality to the king for the first time and Haman’s true nature.

    So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet, 2 and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be granted.”

    3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. 4 For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.”

    5 King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?”

    6 Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”

    Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. 7 The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.

    8 Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining.

    The king exclaimed, “Will he even molest the queen while she is with me in the house?”

    As soon as the word left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A pole reaching to a height of fifty cubits stands by Haman’s house. He had it set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.”

    The king said, “Impale him on it!” 10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.

    Esther 7 (NIV)

    Brutal way to die. A quick note, verse 9 indicates Mordecai spoke up to help the king. I didn’t cover that, but chapter 6 describes how the king honored Mordecai for foiling an assassination plot against him in chapter 2. Ironically, the king ordered Haman to perform the parade for Mordecai.

    Salvation for the Jews

    After Haman’s demise, the king gives Haman’s position to Mordecai. And at Esther’s pleading, orders a new edict written that allowed the Jews to defend themselves against all their enemies that took advantage of Haman’s edict. And when the fateful day came, the Jews overpowered their enemies – and all the nobles, governors, and other government officials helped the Jews for fear of Mordecai, now the most powerful noble in the empire. This carried on for two days rather than the original one, as requested by Esther.

    Purim Established

    After this victory, Mordecai issued an edict for the Jews to observe the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar (the days they fought and overcame their enemies) as holidays for generations to come. And the name Purim comes from the Persian word pur meaning “lot” and refers to the lots that Haman cast to determine which day to eradicate the Jews.

    God’s Silent Hand

    Whew! I went through a lot there. Basically the entire Book of Esther summarized. Did you notice I never mentioned God? Did you notice that Esther never mentioned God? It’s true. God’s name is not in the entire book. But His hand of providence permeates the book.

    The king chooses Esther among all the young women to be his next queen. Mordecai happens to uncover an assassination plot against the king. Later Haman’s own ego causes Mordecai to become honored by the king.

    Mordecai suggests to Esther that Haman’s plot is the reason she’s in her royal position. Even though Mordecai doesn’t say explicitly, he’s clearly suggesting divine providence. And when Esther initially replies in fear, he suggests that salvation will come from somewhere else – again suggesting divine providence. Mordecai clearly believes in God’s faithfulness to the Jews. Esther agrees to Mordecai’s plan to go before the king and by some miracle remains alive.

    It’s worth noting here, that Esther pleases everyone who encounters her. First, Hegai (the eunuch in charge of the harem), then everyone she encountered leading up to her one night with the king, and finally the king himself. Something about her made everyone like her – which enabled her to go before the king and not die. This too suggests divine working in her life. This extends to when she makes her plea to save the Jews and Xerxes chooses her over Haman. Then he allows the Jews two days to defend themselves and elevates Mordecai to the highest noble position.

    It’s pretty clear to me that God worked all through the Book of Esther.

    Wrapping Up

    And there you go. One of the biggest Jewish holidays of the year. Not established by God, but blessed by Him no doubt. Still in the Old Testament though, in case you’re keeping track. God’s providence and sovereignty shines so clearly through this story that I might take some time each year to re-read Esther and remind myself of that. Having a Jewish co-worker helps since he makes known when each of the holidays comes around (and brings donuts for Purim!).

    I’ve got one more holiday to cover, Hanukkah. Another one not established by God, but divine providence surrounds the events – and makes an appearance in the New Testament. Of note, I might take a break for the fourth Saturday of this month (August). The week immediately following the publishing of this one I’m volunteering at a camp and the weekend after will be recovery. So I might not get around to writing anything. I’ll send out an email when the day gets closer.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Unanswered Questions

    Unanswered Questions

    Intro

    Have you ever asked God questions when life doesn’t make any sense? Or when things go off the rails? I know I have. Often the question is “Why God?” And how many of those questions has God answered? For me personally, it feels like many questions go unanswered. When it comes to questioning God, some say it’s not right while others say God is big enough to handle our questions. So before I dig into why God might leave questions unanswered, I want to address the question of should we question Him.

    Can I Question God?

    In a word, yes! You most certainly can. However, there is this small matter called intent that I need to address.

    Look throughout the Scriptures and you’ll find people who asked God questions all the time – and you’ll see a whole lot of them God left unanswered. For most people, God remained gentle and kind toward them in their questioning. In many of those cases (Abraham, Job, Moses, others), He reaffirmed who He was to them without directly answering their questions. And that was enough for them.

    However, there’s also those whom God rebuked (Israelites in the wilderness, Pharisees, Zechariah – New Testament). So what’s the difference? Why did God rebuke some and respond with love and compassion to others? It comes down to their heart. As God told Samuel, He “looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

    The Heart Question

    Those that God rebuked questioned God (or Jesus) as if they knew better. They actively resisted receiving Him with thanksgiving (Israelites), praise (all of them), and recognition even though they should have known better (Pharisees). And others questioned Him with doubt and bitterness (Zechariah). They had no faith in God and this became the genesis of their questions. Consequently their questions went largely unanswered. Instead the people got rebuked for their questioning. Honestly, getting the answers would not have changed their hearts. Thought at least in Zechariah’s case, the rebuke resulted in a heart change. Praise God that even those whom God Almighty rebukes can get a second chance.

    For those He didn’t rebuke, their questions came from places of honest doubt, confusion, and humility. They genuinely sought God and whether He answered their questions directly or not, they all chose to trust Him. And that’s the key. When we have questions, we need to be prepared to trust God no matter the answer – or lack thereof.

    Reasons

    Before I go on, I do want to address different types of reasons that could be the answer when we say “why”.

    The first type is because of a choice we make. Sometimes I think some Christians assume that they can make careless choices and not suffer the consequences. And then ask God “why” when they do. But God never once promises that we will not suffer the consequences of our choices. In fact, just the opposite. The Bible speaks about people dealing with the consequences of their choices all the time. Paul warns about it quite a bit in his letters. Going 20 over the speed limit? God is not obligated to blind all the police to your dangerous speeding. In fact, God might urge a cop to pull you over so you learn your lesson before you hurt someone or yourself.

    Secondly, if it wasn’t by your choice, maybe it was the choice of someone else. We live in a fallen world where people have free will. Why did that person die in a car crash? Because the other person made a choice to drive drunk. People resist God all the time and make choices that unfortunately hurt His followers.

    The third type would be the ones that are truly not from any choice anyone made. Such as cancer or other diseases and sickness. Why do these happen to godly people? The short version goes back to we live in a fallen world where that just happens to people. We can’t control it. Now to move on to answering the “Why do these things happen to godly people” question.

    Why do These Things Happen?

    Of the three types of reasons that I went over, the second two are the ones that are most relevant here I think. I don’t want to spend any more time on the first one since that one can be summed up as “I made a bad choice and suffered the consequences.” And hopefully I learned a lesson to never do something like that again.

    I didn’t do it

    The second two are a bit more complicated since I (or you) didn’t make any choices and something bad still happened to us. In those cases the question oftentimes comes from why didn’t God protect His children from either the choices of others or the fallen nature of the world. I think one answer can be found in how God’s sovereignty actually works – and is the topic that is often on trial for these things, along with God’s love, goodness, and justice. I address a lot of these in my posts on God’s Goodness and God’s Sovereignty.

    To summarize this position, God is good all the time and only does good things. He never uses evil to “get around to something good”. God chooses to limit Himself in a way by operating primarily through finite beings (us, angels). He wants us to exercise our free will and make the choices that will advance His Kingdom.

    Another possible answer to why some of these things happen can be found in the Bible in Romans and James.

    Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

    Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)

    Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

    James 1:2-4 (NIV)

    I wish to reiterate that God will not bring the trials and sufferings upon us (though He will ask us to get outside our comfort zone at times, however that is very different from the trials and sufferings described here). However, when these things happen, God promises to be with us and to fashion in us a more Christ-like character and to work things out for the good. Jesus promised that we will have troubles in this world (John 16:33). After all, the world hated Him first (John 15:18-19).

    War

    And on top of that, Satan hates us Christians so much that he’s going to do what he can to derail us and make us ineffective and turn away from God. We are in a real war with a real enemy. So we can expect all kinds of attacks. Physical, financial, mental, etc.

    I Still Didn’t Answer the Question

    You might be thinking, Cory, you still didn’t answer the question of why God leaves some questions unanswered. And you’re right. Because truthfully, I don’t know why God doesn’t answer all our questions. I can only try to throw out ideas that might help you better understand why things happen. Unfortunately the Bible doesn’t give a clear answer in this area of God’s decision to not answer questions. All I can say is two things: He is God and He does what He will and second, He calls us to trust in Him when we don’t understand. And I believe that sometimes it’s because we don’t have the answers that we have to learn to trust God more and ultimately be drawn closer to Him. That’s the best answer I have.

    Wrapping Up

    I hope I introduced some insight into why bad things happen to good people. Whether by our own choices, the choices of others, this fallen natural world, or straight up attacks from the enemy, the bad things fall into one of these categories. I recognize I cannot give a concrete reason for God leaving questions unanswered, but He never promised to answer all our questions. He only promised to be with us and that we can trust Him always. And that’s something we need to ask God to help us become okay with. That’s one question He’ll gladly answer.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • God’s Sovereignty

    God’s Sovereignty

    Intro

    God’s sovereignty is undisputed amongst Christians. However, what they do dispute about is how that sovereignty translates to the world we live in. In other words, how much of what we see in the world (the good and the bad) is a part of God’s will to happen? And how much is because we have free will? I only briefly mentioned God’s sovereignty in my post about God the Father and I aim to expand upon that today. In addition, I actually can’t fully talk about sovereignty without comparing it to God’s goodness, which I’ve already established in both the Trinity Trilogy post and my last one, Good Good Father.

    Good Vs Sovereign

    Admit it, you weren’t expecting that as a heading. It’s Good vs Evil right? In this case, when people ask the question “If there is truly a good and loving God, why is there evil in the world?”, they are questioning God’s sovereignty. Therefore, when talking about His sovereignty, I need to balance it out with His goodness. And believe it or not, the truth is simpler than people make it out to be. And it’s easier to figure out than people realize as well. When I first heard what I’m about to tell you, I was blown away by its simplicity. And it brought a greater measure of peace and confidence in my life. Enough teasing let’s get started.

    Simple Vs Complicated

    As I mentioned, I need to balance out God’s sovereignty with His goodness. Putting these two together is the only way to make sense of how God’s sovereignty works in the world and can explain why evil exists. And when performing this balancing act, I also need to introduce two other factors: simple vs complicated. You see, when people try to explain evil in the world in light of God’s goodness and sovereignty, they also (often unknowingly) describe one or both of these attributes as simple or complicated.

    After defining these, I am going to mix and match them to get four types of worlds that we could be living in based on God’s goodness vs sovereignty. I’ll describe these four worlds and then use what the Bible says about God and the world as well as real-life experience to determine which of the four worlds we live in. Let’s get started.

    Simple Goodness

    When I say God’s goodness is simple, I’m saying that God wants only good all the time. He will never want nor use evil to get good. He will not use an “Ends justifies the means” approach to how He operates in the world.

    Complicated Goodness

    To put this simply, a complicated goodness means God ultimately wants good things and will always circle back to good but might trudge through some evil to get there. In this world, God might reach inside my body and mess with it to ensure I end up with some disease just so He could do something in my life that is good.

    Simple Sovereignty

    This is also pretty simple to define, it means God’s will occurs all the time. Everything that happens is from God and is His will. Literally nothing happens in the world that God did not plan out and say, “I want this to happen.”

    Complicated Sovereignty

    With a complicated sovereignty, God is supreme, but His will won’t always occur. Instead, He is working to establish His will in our world. I teased this concept in a previous post with an analogy, I’ll repost it here to refresh your memory (or introduce for the first time if you haven’t read that post).

    The monarchs of old Europe were sovereign over their kingdoms. But not all their subjects obeyed the laws or did what the monarch would’ve like them to. Criminals ran around doing as they pleased disregarding what the king desired. It’s the same with God and our world. God is sovereign over all, but not everyone chooses to live their lives by His standards or do what He desires them to.

    Four Worlds

    Now that I’ve defined each of these terms, I’m going to mix and match to get the four worlds I mentioned earlier. Each world will have a basic list of attributes that would be true of that world.

    Simple G.Complicated G.
    Simple S.Cosmic Utopia
    -Perfection.
    -No sickness, death, crimes, etc.
    -No free will.    		Cosmic Blueprint
    -Two nations fighting, God is playing both sides. That means only one will, one rule, and one kingdom.
    -Satan and demons are puppets of God.
    -No free will.
    Complicated S.Cosmic Battle
    -God is good all the time.
    -Two kingdoms, two wills fighting.
    -Free will plays a role.    		Cosmic Mystery
    -No clue what is and is not of God.
    -God is unknowable.
    -There is no anchor point to know God.
    -Free will plays a role.

    Let’s go through each of these and see what works and what doesn’t based on the Bible and reality.

    Cosmic Utopia

    I’m going to say little to nothing about this one because it’s so obviously not what we see in the world and the Bible is all about how broken man and the world are and how God is working to restore everything. So, it’s pretty safe to say that God’s goodness and His sovereignty can’t both be simple.

    Cosmic Mystery

    I know, I’m not going in order, but I want to show both ends of the extreme since there are rare times when an extreme is the truth in life. With Cosmic Mystery, we can’t just look at the world and say if it is reality like we could with Cosmic Utopia. However, when we read the Bible, we can. The Bible is very clear that we can know God. Jesus is the anchor point for knowing God. John 14:9 (NIV), “Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?””

    The Bible also repeatedly calls us to grow in our knowledge of God. How can we if He is unknowable? Given that, I can confidently say that God’s goodness and sovereignty also cannot both be complicated.

    Cosmic Blueprint

    Ever hear the phrase “God works in mysterious ways”? Or “Everything happens for a reason”? Both of these are great descriptions of this world, the Cosmic Blueprint. In this world, God’s goodness is complicated, while His sovereignty is simple. So, everything that happens is in God’s will and He is willing to use evil to ultimately accomplish good in the lives of people. As humans, we have no free will, no choice. God determines all our choices for us. Satan and his horde are mere puppets. Unable to do anything without God’s permission.

    I see multiple problems here. First, the Bible puts blame on Satan for various things such as deceiving Eve (2 Corinthians 11:3), being a murderer and a liar (John 8:44) and snatching the truth from people’s hearts (Matthew 13:19). Expanding on that, Revelation 20 describes the punishment Satan will receive for his deeds. But if Satan can’t do anything without God’s permission, then everything Satan has ever done and will do are basically his marching orders. And that means that the Bible is unjustly blaming Satan and using Him as a scapegoat.

    Secondly, the Bible is also clear that as humans we make pretty rotten choices. The entire book of Judges is all about Israel rejecting God, getting punished, crying out to Him for help, and God sending someone to rescue them. Again, Israel would be unjustly punished if they didn’t have free will. Without free will, we are a bunch of fleshy robots only able to do what we are programmed to do. In this world, God is playing a one-player game. And He controls everything in it.

    So based on this, there’s no way that the correct combo is Simple Sovereignty with Complicated Goodness. This leaves one more.

    Cosmic Battle

    The final one is the combination of Simple Goodness and Complicated Sovereignty. I already gave an example of old Europe for how sovereignty doesn’t immediately equate to everything happening in accordance with the will of the sovereign. In addition, the New Testament uses multi-kingdom analogies all over. We see phrases such as “Kingdom of God”, “Kingdom of Light”, “Kingdom of Darkness”, etc. Revelation talks about a war between Satan and his angels against Micheal and his angels. And Ephesians chapter 6 is all about preparing to go to war against Satan.

    And to demonstrate from the Bible the simple goodness of God, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 and “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5 (NIV). Furthermore, Jesus says that He came that “they may have life” while it is the thief that “comes to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). And since Jesus is the anchor point for knowing God, we can be confident that this applies to God as well.

    In this world, even though God doesn’t cause evil in order to bring good, He most certainly takes the evil and turns it around to bring something good from it.

    What’s Left

    It’s pretty clear to me that the Bible points to Simple Goodness and Complicated Sovereignty. Now, this actually doesn’t answer all the questions. For example, what about the Old Testament with all of the punishments attributed to God? Wouldn’t that point to a complicated goodness? Not necessarily. In short, God established a covenant with Israel that said “If you obey me and follow me, I will give you blessings. If you turn your back on me, I will punish you.” So, God promised to punish the people should they turn their back on God. And God always keeps His promises (an attribute closely related to His goodness). Granted, it is still a little confusing and deserves its own future post.

    One final thing I’d like to say about how God’s kingdom operates. God chooses to limit Himself and work through people and angels to accomplish His will. Could God just snap His fingers and get it all done? Yep. But He doesn’t. He chooses to use finite beings who screw up to get things done. Why? Because He wants us to choose Him of our own volition. Free choice is one way we are made in the image of God. God desires us to follow and obey Him, but He wants us to choose Him, not just be a bunch of robots programmed to do that.

    Wrapping Up

    By now I hope I’ve done justice to God’s sovereignty and His goodness. They are two key aspects of God, and it wouldn’t be good to treat them flippantly. And it’s important to remember that God is on the throne, He is sovereign, and all things will be made new and put right. And we all need to remember that we are in a war. We live in a world of two kingdoms duking it out. But we have nothing to fear. For God will work it all out in the end. That is our hope as Christians that we can hold onto.

    Outro

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