Passage Read: Isaiah 7-10
Meditation Verses: 10:5-7
Thought
God is absolutely sovereign over the nations and all men, yet He does not control them like robots. He uses them to accomplish His will through their individual choices and ambitions. He works all things together for good to those who love Him without violating the individual's will. He has called Assyria to bring punishment on certain nations, on Aram and on Israel, which has completely forsaken Him, and on Judah, which has also turned against Him, but not to Israel's extent. So God has His purpose in bringing Assyria and granting them a measure of success. It is their former successes, enabled by God, that inflame their pride. They want to overthrow every nation, including Judah. But God does not intend that, so the Assyrian ambition works to accomplish God's will up until they choose to go further than He intends. Then God will shut them down. They will fill Judah, flooding them up to the neck, but not beyond. He will send a wasting disease among all his warriors, killing 180,000 of them in one night. And that will be the end of Assyria. He will use them to carry out His discipline and destruction, but nothing beyond that. He will use their greed for His purposes, until they try to go beyond that, then He will break them and send them home.
Application
The sovereignty of God is not limited nor damaged by the independent will of man. In fact, God is greater for it. He can use them against their will--without violating their will!--to serve His purposes! All men are naturally inclined to evil, to arrogance, to asserting advantage over his fellow man, so all men need punishment, and using one man or nation to punish another is easy! God doesn't need to do much to get the ball rolling. More often it's limiting or ending the excessive violence of man against His chosen people where He needs to directly intercede. Or it is bringing good and blessing where He needs to step in. So I am responsible for my every choice, whether to do good or evil, and God will hold me and everyone else accountable for the choices we make. Even if our sin accomplishes His will, it is still sin and it isn't doing good to another, but more likely revealing the vileness of man and the holiness of God. God is the definition of good, and casts in sharp relief that which is evil. Man can do evil beyond what God intends--that's what all sin is!--but never beyond what He is willing to endure. I can rest in that, and I need to do what is right in His eyes, so that I don't invite His wrath against me!