I've been pondering God's power this week. There is so much of satan's influence in our world, no surprise. However, it certainly is a surprise when that influence directly touches our own individual lives in ways we never thought possible. Sometimes when that evil touches our lives we are completely blindsided and it brings up that old age debated question, "why do bad things happen to good people?". Well bad things happen to ALL people, that's for sure, yet, understanding God's omnipotence is not always easy. One thing I am understanding more and more however is evil is never God's will. He doesn't 'allow' evil to happen so something good can happen later. I don't believe it's as easy and causal as that. Sin is in this world, so sin and evil happen. They happen because at the beginning of time humanity, through adam and eve, opened that door and invited it in. Ignorant of course to what we were really doing, yet it is our doing. And since then, evil has just happened, raining upon the just and the unjust. God does not make it happen to our lives, and I don't really believe He makes evil happen so we can become stronger. No, I believe sin happens and evil touches our lives because we are in a sinful and fallen world. Despite the evil, God can work and build and draw us closer to Him. That's power. This chapter in Isaiah pretty much speaks for itself, and if you find yourself doubting God's power, or overestimating the power of Satan, this is a great chapter to keep our understanding of God and His omnipotence in line with what is true.
Isaiah 14
".... 3 On the day the LORD gives you relief from your suffering and turmoil and from the harsh labor forced on you, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
How the oppressor has come to an end!
How his fury has ended!
5 The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers,
6 which in anger struck down peoples
with unceasing blows,
and in fury subdued nations
with relentless aggression.
7 All the lands are at rest and at peace;
they break into singing.
8 Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon
gloat over you and say,
“Now that you have been laid low,
no one comes to cut us down.”
9 The realm of the dead below is all astir
to meet you at your coming;
it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you—
all those who were leaders in the world;
it makes them rise from their thrones—
all those who were kings over the nations.
10 They will all respond,
they will say to you,
“You also have become weak, as we are;
you have become like us.”
11 All your pomp has been brought down to the grave,
along with the noise of your harps;
maggots are spread out beneath you
and worms cover you.
12 How you have fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.[b]
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
to the depths of the pit.
16 Those who see you stare at you,
they ponder your fate:
“Is this the man who shook the earth
and made kingdoms tremble,
17 the man who made the world a wilderness,
who overthrew its cities
and would not let his captives go home?”
18 All the kings of the nations lie in state,
each in his own tomb.
19 But you are cast out of your tomb
like a rejected branch;
you are covered with the slain,
with those pierced by the sword,
those who descend to the stones of the pit.
Like a corpse trampled underfoot,
20 you will not join them in burial,
for you have destroyed your land
and killed your people.
Let the offspring of the wicked
never be mentioned again.
21 Prepare a place to slaughter his children
for the sins of their ancestors;
they are not to rise to inherit the land
and cover the earth with their cities.
22 “I will rise up against them,”
declares the LORD Almighty.
“I will wipe out Babylon’s name and survivors,
her offspring and descendants,”
declares the LORD.
23 “I will turn her into a place for owls
and into swampland;
I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,”
declares the LORD Almighty.
24 The LORD Almighty has sworn,
“Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,
and as I have purposed, so it will happen.
25 I will crush the Assyrian in my land;
on my mountains I will trample him down.
His yoke will be taken from my people,
and his burden removed from their shoulders.”
26 This is the plan determined for the whole world;
this is the hand stretched out over all nations.
27 For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?"
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