God’s Sovereignty Over Nature

From worms in the ground to stars in the galaxy, God governs. Take the book of Jonah, all right? He got a very big fish, and the Bible says that he commanded this fish to swallow Jonah, and the fish obeyed. So fish do God's bidding. If he says them to do this, they do it. And he commanded a plant to grow up to give Jonah some shade. Plant, grow up. It obeyed. Plants do the bidding of God. Then he commanded a worm to kill the plant to make Jonah hot, and scold him for his bad attitude about Nineveh. So the worm obeyed. I take this totally seriously. Bacteria, tsetse flies, murderous viruses do God's bidding. They're not free. Any more than the worm, or the whale, or the plant just happened to grow up. God sees everything, and if anything is about to happen that he doesn't want to happen, he just says, stop! And it obeys. And if it didn't stop, he didn't tell it to stop, which means he's got a plan for it. Or the stars. Lift up your eyes and see who created these. He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one of them is missing. Why are stars where they are, doing what they do? He is mighty in power. That's why. I'm totally not a naturalist. I see fingers of God in the atom and in the galaxies, all the time, every millisecond of history, controlling everything. I don't know what kind of God that you have who may be folding his arms, sitting back, doing nothing, letting the world run rampant. That's just not the biblical God. And therefore not our God. If the stars, how much more the weather, disasters, disease, disability, death. Psalm 147, verse 15. He sends out his command to the earth. His word runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool. They had 40 inches last week in the Smoky Mountains. God did that. He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs. Who can stand before his cold? I love living in Minnesota. Is that cold? That's God. You haven't felt cold yet, all you Californians. Just arrived. He sends out his word and he melts them. He makes his wind blow and waters flow. That's Psalm 47. Here's Job 37. He loads the thick clouds with moisture. The clouds scatter his lightning. They turn round and round by his guidance to accomplish all his commands. He commands them. And on the face of the inhabitable world, he does his bidding. Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen. I love how clear the Bible is about the sovereignty of God over the natural world.