The document discusses the nature of God's sustaining power over the universe and individuals, contrasting various philosophies like deism and pantheism. It emphasizes that while evil exists and affects creation, God remains in control and continues to provide for both nature and humanity. The message conveys a comforting assurance of God's presence and care in the face of life's challenges and uncertainties.

1. Lesson 8

2. “The wisdom of this world is
foolishness in God’s sight.
As it is written: ‘He catches the wise
in their craftiness’ ”
1 Corinthians 3:19
Key Text
2

3. “[Jesus] who being the brightness of His glory and
the express image of His person, and UPHOLDING
ALL THINGS BY THE WORD OF HIS POWER, when
He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the
right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3)
How does that verse refute the next human philosophies?
1. Deism. God created the universe and its laws and then got out of it.
2. Pantheism. God and the universe are one only thing.
3. Panentheism. God inhabits the universe as if it was His own body.
Although God has created laws that
rule the universe, it cannot exist
without Jesus’ sustaining power.
God and the universe are different
things –God is the Creator and the
universe is His creation. God cares
about the universe and lovingly
sustains it.

4. “I lay down and
slept; I awoke, for
the Lord sustained
me” (Psalm 3:5)
“By You I have been upheld from birth; you are He
who took me out of my mother’s womb. My praise shall
be continually of You” (Psalm 71:6)
“Fear not, for I am with you; be not
dismayed, for I am your God. I will
strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will
uphold you with My righteous right hand”
(Isaiah 41:10)
Knowing that Jesus sustains this huge universe is comforting but… what about me?
Does God sustain every person individually?

5. “God furnishes the matter and the properties with
which to carry out His plans. He employs His agencies
that vegetation may flourish. He sends the dew and the
rain and the sunshine, that verdure may spring forth,
and spread its carpet over the earth; that the shrubs
and fruit trees may bud and blossom and bring forth. It
is not to be supposed that a law is set in motion for the
seed to work itself, that the leaf appears because it
must do so of itself. God has laws that He has
instituted, but they are only the servants through
which He effects results. It is through the immediate
agency of God that every tiny seed breaks through the
earth, and springs into life. Every leaf grows, every
flower blooms, by the power of God.
The physical organism of man is under the supervision of God; but it is not
like a clock, which is set in operation, and must go of itself. The heart beats,
pulse succeeds pulse, breath succeeds breath, but the entire being is under
the supervision of God. “Ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building (1
Corinthians 3:9). In God we live and move and have our being. Each
heartbeat, each breath, is the inspiration of Him who breathed into the
nostrils of Adam the breath of life—the inspiration of the ever-present God,
the great I AM” E.G.W. (Selected Messages, vol. 1, p. 294)

6. “Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread
for food, SUPPLY and multiply the seed you have sown
and increase the fruits of your righteousness”
(2 Corinthians 9:10)
“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and
there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of
the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is
pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life
was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:8-9)
When Jesus created everything, He also provided the food for His
creatures; seeds and fruits for man and green herbs for the
animals (Gn. 1:29-30)
Jesus still provides for the needs of each of His children,
He also provided a place where man could
live, work and rest (Gn. 2:8-15)

7. “Who has ascended into heaven, or descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has bound the waters in a garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if you know?”
(Proverbs 30:4)
If Jesus controls the wind and the waters, why are there
hurricanes that destroy properties and kill people and
animals? Are they out of His control?
As we studied in previous lessons, the answer to that question
is related to evil. Evil entered the world and it didn’t only
affected man; “the whole creation groans”
(Romans 8:22)
We must accept this answer by faith, “Every word of God is
pure” (Proverbs 30:5). God allows some consequences of evil
in His infinite wisdom until He will “make all things new”
(Revelation 21:5)
Just like Job, we cannot explain nor understand evil. We just
can accept the way God works and trust His care.

8. “While appearing to the children of men as a great
physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring
disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced
to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work.
In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great
conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific
hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves,
and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand
forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away
the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow.
He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence.
These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous.
Destruction will be upon both man and beast. “The earth mourneth and
fadeth away,” “the haughty people ... do languish. The earth also is defiled
under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws,
changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.” Isaiah 24:4, 5”

9. Evil affects nature, but God still keeps sustaining it and managing it as its Master
and Creator.
Let’s see how He used the wind –He “gathered the wind in His fists” (Pv. 30:4),
He brought a wind
to dry the waters
from the Flood (Gn.
8:1)
He brought a wind
that carried the
plague of locusts to
Egypt (Ex. 10:13)
He brought a wind
that carried quails
to feed the people
of Israel at the
desert (Nm. 11:31)
He appeared to
Elijah within a
gentle wind (1K.
19:12)
There are many examples in the Bible of how God can
still manage nature at His will,
He stopped the
sun so a day could
last for almost 48
hours (Jos. 10:13)
He stopped the
waters of the Red
Sea and the Jordan
River (Ex. 14:21;
Jos. 3:16; 2K. 2:8)
He filled the desert
with water so the
people of Israel
could drink (2K.
3:17)
He moved the sun
10 degrees back
(2K. 20:11)

10. “Uphold my steps in
Your paths, that my
footsteps may not
slip” (Psalm 17:5)
“Cast your burden
on the Lord, and
He shall sustain
you; He shall
never permit the
righteous to be
moved” (Psalm 55:22)
“If I say, “My foot
slips,” Your mercy, O
Lord, will hold me up”
(Psalm 94:18)
If God sustains nature despite the evil that affects it, can He sustain us
despite the sin that affects us?

11. Despite sin, God provided for the needs of Adam and Eve by using His own
hands, “Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and
clothed them” (Genesis 3:21)
“And do not seek what you
should eat or what you should
drink, nor have an anxious mind.
For all these things the nations
of the world seek after, and
your Father knows that you
need these things. But seek the
kingdom of God, and all these
things shall be added to you”
(Luke 12:29-31)
That is why He invites us to trust Him; He will
provide for the needs of each of us.