Absolute Authority

1 Samuel 2:6-96 "The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. 7 The
LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts 8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the
needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor.” For the
foundations of the earth are the LORD's; upon them he has set the world. 9 He will guard the feet of his
saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness.” It is not by strength that one prevails;

The last phrase of this verse, “It is not by strength that one prevails,” is the main point of this
passage. And it is the main point because God has absolute authority over every part of His creation.
There is nothing outside of God’s control, even though things may seem as if they are at times. But
when we here things like this questions begin to come to our mind, questions like, “Well if God’s in
control of everything, why is there so much evil, and pain, and suffering in the world?”

Although we may not have all the answers to these questions, one place we can go to at least get a
glimpse of why things are the way they are is the Word if God. But keep in mind, even as we look
into the Word of God to find the answers to some of our questions there are things that we will
never know outside of eternity. However, God does give us enough information in His Word to let
us know that He is in control. He has absolute authority.

I. God has absolute authority over His universe.

Jeremiah 31:35a 35 This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the
moon and stars to shine by night,

Isaiah 40:26 26 Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry
host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of
them is missing.

Matthew 5:45 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the
good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Psalm 148:3-6 3 Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you shining stars. 4 Praise Him, you highest
heavens and you waters above the skies. 5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for He commanded and
they were created. 6 He set them in place for ever and ever; He gave a decree that will never pass away.

II. God has absolute authority over the earth.

Psalm 24:1 1 The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;

A. Storms and natural disasters:

Jonah 1:4 4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship
threatened to break up.

Psa 135:7 He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain and
brings forth the wind from his storehouses.

Job 38:22-23 22 "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, 23 which I
reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?

B. Animals:

Jonah 1:17 17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three
days and three nights.

Job 38:39-41 39 "Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions40 when they crouch
in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? 41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and
wander about for lack of food?

Matthew 10:29 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny[a]? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart
from the will of your Father.

C. Nations:

1. God appoints and removes rulers.

Daniel 2:21 21 He changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the
wise and knowledge to the discerning.

1 Kings 19:15 15 The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus.
When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram.

2. God determines a nation’s destiny.

Deuteronomy 2:30 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the LORD your God had
made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as He has now done.

Job 12:23 23 He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and disperses them.

Isaiah 40:15 15 Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;they are regarded as dust on the scales; He
weighs the islands as though they were fine dust.

3. God uses nations to bring judgment.

Isaiah 10:5-7 5 "Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath! 6 I send
him against a godless nation, I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch
plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. 7 But this is not what he intends, this is not what
he has in mind; his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations.

D. Calamity:

Lamentations 3:37-3937 Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? 38 Is it not from the
mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? 39 Why should any living man complain
when punished for his sins?

Job 2:10 10 He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not
trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

III. God has absolute authority over human beings.

A. Human decisions:

Pro 16:1 The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.

Pro 19:21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.

Pro 20:24 A man's steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?

Pro 21:1 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.
Deu 2:30 But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the LORD your God hardened his
spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as he is this day.

Ezr 1:1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might
be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation
throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

2Ch 30:12 The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes
commanded by the word of the LORD.

1. Sinful decisions:

Genesis 45:5-7 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here,
because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in
the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of
you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Genesis 50:19-20 19 But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to
harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Psalm 105:16-17 16 He called down famine on the land and destroyed all their supplies of food; 17 and he
sent a man before them— Joseph, sold as a slave.

2. Salvation decisions: Romans 9:1-24

Romans 8:29-30 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he
called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
 B. Human suffering:

1 Peter 1:5-7 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready
to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to
suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which
perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when
Jesus Christ is revealed.

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though
something strange were happening to you.

Job 2:10 10 He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not
trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

What kind of God do you want? Do you want a small God who cannot control what comes about in the
world, a God who has no control over the suffering, evil, and calamities that happen? Or do you want a God
who has absolute authority over these things. Some will use these questions as excuses to continue in
rebellion and sin. This will be to their own destruction. But for believers, we can be confident all things that
our Sovereign God sends us are designed for His glory and our good. It doesn’t feel like it at times. Pain and
suffering are real. But we have a God who measures out only what we can handle. He never gives us more
than we can bear. But it is He who sends our troubles, but all of them are designed, and will work for our
good.

Romans 8:28 28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose.