And Satan knows it all too well. God is still in control. Even when we are surrounded by God's hedge of protection. Satan talking to God:Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. Satan speaking and demanding that God move against Job. Job 1:11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And what or who does God use to execute His will for destruction? Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. God thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than ours and anything God allows upon His servants (think Job, think Jesus, think Wurmbrand and many other Saints) is always towards a view to some kind of redemptive outcome. I am sure something redemptive and eternal will come out of the Joplin "disaster", but we will never know what it is till we get to heaven. God even redeemed someone out of Sodom.Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. A777
Hi OldJoe,
We kind of figured that, but where did the air masses come from? Who arranged them? Why did they collide exactly where they did?
No, what we are telling you is that your laws of nature being passively observed by God are a load of bunk. God didn't just create the world and set everything in motion and then sit back in His proverbial easy chair to watch what would happen.
_________________Christopher
Do people believe that God caused the tornado in Joplin, Missouri by purposely deciding to bring it about an act of judgment (as it seems that some have tried to insinuate)? In other words, did God supersede the order of nature and suddenly create a tornado apart from "natural" weather to destroy a town and kill 124+ people? Or are people just saying that God oversees the entire world -- including every storm -- even by the order that He set (including laws of weather) at Creation?
InTheLight said,
I believe that all the world was under the dominion of man when he was created, including the elements.
Do people believe that God caused the tornado in Joplin, Missouri by purposely deciding to bring it about an act of judgment (as it seems that some have tried to insinuate)?
ChrisQuestion for you:If you lived in the tornado zone and it MISSED your house, would you be thankful to God? Why or why not?OJ
I don't think there's any scriptural evidence to support 'including the elements'. I believe God has kept them in His own hand, although there are great stories of answered prayer for rain, or protection, or miraculous escapes in fog, in which He has heard and responded to His people's requests.
_________________Ron Halverson
But it is really all speculation isn't it? There are no examples of Adam controlling the elements before he fell. Some people think he was able to fly too, but there is no evidence.This is what God said.Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Nothing about the elements. Read Job 38 and you will see that God controls all the elements. A777
But it is really all speculation isn't it?
Read Job 38 and you will see that God controls all the elements
We have to trust God on the things in this life that we don't know about. The tendency, like Job's Comforters, is to judge WHY EXACTLY SOMETHING HAPPENED. Job's comforters were way off the mark and most of the time we are too. Like I said, this is what we know. 1. God did not intervene to stop these storms.2. We are not hapless victims of circumstances or "nature".3. Man does not view these storms as blessings. We don't know how God views them or what His many purposes are in allowing them.4. There is a reason for everything that God allows.5. Job did not view the natural elements that wreaked havoc on his family as blessings. 6. As Job says, "are we to take good from the Lord and not bad also?"7. Job viewed all of the "natural" tragedies as coming from God's hand.The greatest power in this world is God. He can stop it but He chose not to. And, as Job says, "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord."A777