God's sovereignty over disasters!

By Spurgeon and others

(You will find it helpful to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)

The absolute sovereignty of God extends to all things, including wars, disasters and plagues. Scripture testifies that these events are neither random nor outside of His control. God ordains all things, including calamities. Nothing happens outside His sovereign decree. Yet, while God decrees and governs all things, He remains perfectly holy and unstained by sin.

"Come and see the works of the Lord; the desolations He has brought on the earth!" (Psalm 46:8)

From the decimating earthquake, to the devouring fire;
  from the devastating tsunami, to the deadly plague;
    from the volcanic eruption, to the destructive hurricane
--the Bible clearly teaches that all what we call "natural disasters" fall under the sovereign decree of Almighty God. He governs all of His creation according to His decreed will--yet He remains unstained by sin, executing His sovereign purposes in justice, wisdom and righteousness.

"Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah." (Genesis 19:24)

"He moves mountains without their knowing it and overturns them in His anger.
 He shakes the earth from its place and makes its pillars tremble." (Job 9:5–6)

"I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land, or send a plague among My people." (2 Chronicles 7:13)

"Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants." (2 Chronicles 34:24)

"Then the earth shook and quaked, the foundations of the mountains trembled; they shook because He burned with anger." (Psalm 18:7)

"The Lord rules over the flood-waters.
 The Lord reigns as king forever!" (Psalm 29:10)

"He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they pour out smoke." (Psalm 104:32)

"Fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather obey Him." (Psalm 148:8)

"I will bring disaster on the world . . . Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of His burning anger." (Isaiah 13:11, 13)

"The Lord Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire!" (Isaiah 29:6)

"I am the Lord, and there is no other.
 I form the light, and create darkness,
 I bring prosperity, and create disaster;
 I, the Lord, do all these things!" (Isaiah 45:7–8)

"Look. The Lord's anger bursts out like a storm, a whirlwind that swirls down on the heads of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not diminish, until it has finished all He has planned." (Jeremiah 23:19–20)

"When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar;
 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
 He sends lightning with the rain and
 brings out the wind from His storehouses." (Jeremiah 51:16)

"Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?" (Lamentations 3:37–38)

"Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: In My wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in My anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury." (Ezekiel 13:13)

"Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?" (Amos 3:6)

"I sent plagues on you like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago.
 I killed your young men in war and led all your horses away." (Amos 4:10)

When the earth quakes beneath us, let us not attribute it to chance, or accident, or laws of nature--but to Him who alone shakes the pillars thereof. Storms at sea, earthquakes on land, and tempests in the sky--are but the outstretched rod of Jehovah, calling men to repentance and reminding them that He alone is God!

Though God ordains all these events, He remains holy and without sin. "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:5). He does not do evil, nor can He be accused of injustice. God's purposes are always just and righteous. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" (Genesis 18:25).

Let us, therefore . . .
  acknowledge God's sovereign hand in all things,
  bow in reverent fear,
  and trust in His perfect wisdom.

"All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases with the powers of Heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him: What have you done?" (Daniel 4:35)

"Hallelujah. For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory." Revelation 19:6–7