1/20/19

Pastor Rusty Milton

Isaiah 45:7-13

"The Invisible Hand of God"

God's purpose is to bring righteousness and redemption in everything He does. Providence means His Fatherly hand of God over His Creation. We shrink and belittle God when we attribute suffering to bad luck, karma, or mother nature. 

This passage from Isaiah reveals God's declaration of His Sovereignty and Providence. God brings light and well-being, as well as darkness and calamity. How is God sovereign over evil, yet never the source of evil or sin? Because of the principle of concurrence: God's providence works through humanity & nature, but never as the Author of sin or evil. So, God is sovereign, and we have freedom, but it is not absolute or unlimited freedom. The Power of God is the first cause of everything, and our freedom is the second cause. The cardinal point of Providence is that God is for His people, always on the side of righteousness, no matter the circumstances.

Thus, we must decide how to respond: God is the Potter, we are his clay. It is wrong for the clay to complain about the Potter, but it is right to come to Him with our troubles and questions. It is the difference between commanding Him (coming in judgment of Him) versus coming to Him as a child and asking with honesty and humility (coming with reverence).

God is a Master Potter, and in the midst of suffering, His intentions are for righteousness. The Potter has entered the suffering of his clay. One day, all the effects of sin will be destroyed.