Wonderful theological truths revealed by God to his children in Holy Scripture are often subjected to ridicule and abuse by people who want only to advance their own agendas. Unfortunately, those who affirm Biblical truth find themselves embroiled in controversy as they often answer their opponent's "proof text" with one of their own. In this way dissension and argumentation ensue as the combatants merely swap texts.

When it comes to the highly sensitive subject of just how sovereign God really is or how he uses his sovereignty, Scripture is replete with texts and contexts that affirm the absolute sovereignty of God and his utilization of that sovereignty to his own glory. However, we must not overlook a simpler route to resolution of the discussion.

Recall that Job actually questioned the wisdom of how God exercised his sovereignty when God put him through extreme trials and sufferings which he had to endure at the hands of the devil. To deal with Job's whining, ignorance, and questioning of God, he confronted Job with two simple questions: "Who is this….?" And "Where were you….?

The first question is a matter of God asking Job, "Who are you to question me?" ("Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge" Job 38:2). It reminds us of Paul's rhetorical question in Romans 9:20, "But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?" Since when can the pot talk back to the potter who made it. And that is exactly what God had in mind in the second question addressed to Job, which opens into about forty questions in the same category: "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand" (Job 38:4).

Is God the creator of heaven and earth? Did God know what he was doing? Of course. Then whatever he created would exist according to God's wise plan for creation. And whatever exists in creation exists because God planned for it to exist and because God created it. Whatever happens in that creation, as a part of that creation, happens because God knew that it would happen. In a very real sense, events, like things, belong to the realm of created reality. They don't happen unless God planned for them to happen.

Just start with anything or any event, and ask the question "Why?" You won't go more than six levels of "Why" until you reach God. That is the point God wanted Job to see: "Whatever has happened to you, Job, happened because of me, and your whining and complaining is a matter of questioning my integrity and wisdom!" And surely that is God's answer to us, reflected in Paul's comments in Romans 9. Once we accept God as creator, once we accept the doctrine of creation, all theological questions rest in complete resolution!