Sovereignty of God over nature

[cih1355]

I'm teaching a series of lessons about the sovereignty of God in a 5th and 6th grade Sunday School class. On Sunday, I'm teaching about the sovereignty of God over nature. Why is it important to know that God is sovereign over nature?

 

[Christopher88]

The answer is quite simple. God is the creator of Heaven and Earth. If any child gets lead to believe that man or some other force controls nature then they will fall into deep confusion over God.

 

[cih1355]

Thank you for your comments, everyone.

 

[Wayne]

Using Matthew Henry's Exposition to unpack the idea a bit further, God's sovereignty over nature can be seen in the following ways:

In the visible world it is easy to observe,
[1.] Great variety, several sorts of beings vastly differing in their nature and constitution from each other. Lord, how manifold are thy works, and all good!
[2.] Great beauty. The azure sky and verdant earth are charming to the eye of the curious spectator, much more the ornaments of both. How transcendent then must the beauty of the Creator be!
[3.] Great exactness and accuracy. To those that, with the help of microscopes, narrowly look into the works of nature, they appear far more fine than any of the works of art.
[4.] Great power. It is not a lump of dead and inactive matter, but there is virtue, more or less, in every creature: the earth itself has a magnetic power.
[5.] Great order, a mutual dependence of beings, an exact harmony of motions, and an admirable chain and connection of causes.
[6.] Great mystery. There are phenomena in nature which cannot be solved, secrets which cannot be fathomed nor accounted for. But from what we see of heaven and earth we may easily enough infer the eternal power and Godhead of the great Creator, and may furnish ourselves with abundant matter for his praises.
And let our make and place, as men, remind us of our duty as Christians, which is always to keep heaven in our eye and the earth under our feet.

In each of those divisions, God's sovereignty can be seen displayed. Some examples from the study of astronomy: the exact placement of the earth in relation to the sun, which allows for our very existence; the placement of the extraordinarily large planet of Jupiter, which serves as a systemic vacuum cleaner and thus prevents many disastrous collisions of debris with the earth.

 

[A.J.]

The Heidelberg Catechism explains,

Lord’s Day 10

27. What do you understand by the Providence of God?
It is the almighty everywhere present power of God,1 whereby, as with His hand, He still upholds heaven and earth, and all creatures;2 and so governs them, that leaf and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, indeed, all things come not by chance, but by His fatherly hand.
1 Jer 23:23-24; Acts 17:24-28; 2 Heb 1:3; 3 Jer 5:24; Acts 14:15-17; Jn 9:3; Prov 22:2; 4 Prov 16:33; 5 Mt 10:29

28. How does it benefit us to know that God has created all things and still upholds them by His providence?
That we may be patient in adversity;1 thankful in prosperity;2 and for the future we can have a firm confidence in our faithful God and Father, that no creature shall separate us from His love;3 since all creatures are so in His hand, that without His will they cannot so much as move.4
1 Job 1:21-22; Ps 39:10; Jas 1:3; 2 Deut 8:10; 1 Thes 5:18; 3 Ps 55:22; Rom 5:3-5, 8:38-39; 4 Job 1:12, 2:6; Prov 21:1; Acts 17:24-28