God Causes or Not?

The Lord has placed us in an environment with a certain supply of the gifts of His grace, and we didn't earn any of them. Everything we have, and everything we are able to obtain, comes as a result of the Grace of God; we have deserved nothing. Christians suffer for many reasons,sometimes through no fault of our own. Through the rejection, betrayal, enslavement, and wrongful imprisonment of a man named Joseph, we see someone who eventually was able to say to those who had hurt him, "You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good" ( Genesis 50:20). God has a purpose including illnesses. His purpose is to manifest the character of our spiritual life to everybody around us and to us as well. James 1:4 states that "Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Later in James 1:12 states "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to thoe who love him." God wants us to take joy over any of our circumstances (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). God allows and causes things to happen for for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 is not limited to "all suffering," "all trouble," "all good things," or "all righteousness." No matter what happens to me, it works out for God's purpose. Exodus 4:11 says: "The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD ?" Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3:14 "I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him." Throughout the Bible, the following have caused by God as Amos 3:6 says "When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?:" Sodom and Gomorrah The Flood The Ten Plagues: 1 Blood (Exodus 7:14-25) 2 Frogs (Exodus 8:1-15) 3 Lice (Exodus 8:16-19) 4 Flies (Exodus 8:20) 5 Cattle (Exodus 9:1-7) 6 Boils and open sores (Exodus 9:8-12) 7 Hail (Exodus 9:18-34) 8 Locusts (Exodus 10:1-20) 9 Darkness (Exodus 10:21-23) 10 Death of the firstborn (Exodus 11:4-7;12:17,29,30) As I said in another thread regarding Job: Quote Job's friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, & Zophar) reminds me of some movements who believes that when Christians get sick, they blame on a Christian who have committed sin. There are many of those who believes such doctrines. There are so many Elphazs, Bildads, and Zophars. God allowed Satan to inflict Job (i.e. boil which is a skin disease). The fact of Job's story is that there are no answers when disaster strikes. We can't explain everything. Faith is to keep trusting God no matter what happens. Christians suffered every day and even die every day. People who believes that God did not cause them. The Bible makes it very clear that He will ALLOW as well as CAUSE things to happen. If they do, they might as well take out MANY verses from the Bible that mentioned the causes. God's Sovereign: Job 37:15 Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash? Proverbs 20:24 A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way? Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. Jeremiah 10:23 [ Jeremiah's Prayer ] I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. Ezekiel 7:5 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Disaster! An unheard-of disaster is coming. Revelation 16:9 They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. Elphaz, Bildad, and Zophar have said similar to Job that God wanted to punish them. Job 42:7 After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. and in verse 8 "You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." We have to be careful how we "see" the causes and reasons. Elphaz, Bildad, and Zophar thought they were on the "right track" when they were lecturing Job about the "causes of sin". There are those who are "Elphazs, Bildads, and Zophars" in this world.