Chapter 21 of Second Chronicles records God’s dealing with Jehoram, a wicked king of Judah. The Scriptures record that he did not walk in the ways of Jehoshaphat, his father, or Asa, both godly kings of Judah. Rather, he “walked in the way of the [evil] kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring [departing from the LORD after idols]…and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were better than thyself” (v. 13).
For these sins “the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians…and they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives” (vs. 16-17). Note that it was the LORD who stirred up the spirit of these nations against Judah. We are not told how he did it, but merely that he did.
God’s sovereign control over the affairs of men was emphasized to Isaiah, the prophet, when the LORD declared that he would use Cyrus to deliver the Jews from a future captivity. This prophetic utterance was two hundred years before Cyrus was born! He became king of the Medes and Persians and ultimately defeated the Babylonians. He then opened the door for the Jews to return from their Babylonian captivity and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. God sovereignly directed all of this from the moment he declared it.
Speaking prophetically to Cyrus, the LORD declared, “I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil [calamity]: I the LORD do all these things” (Isaiah 45:4-7).
He not only does all these things sovereignly, but he does them in perfect measure in accordance with his will. There is no such thing as unintended consequences in God’s oversight of men’s affairs. He knows when to bring judgment and when to restrain. He shapes the affairs of men’s lives through the hardships and calamities of life. Yet at the same time “he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).
Through such events and workings God shows that “the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men” (Daniel 4:17). Yet this God who rules the nations uses the same wisdom and might to care for all of his creation. Jesus taught “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7).
The Apostle Paul summarized our right response to these truths well. God “giveth to all life, and breath, and all things…and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord…for in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:26-27; emphasis added).
From the Chaplain 