Although God providentially rules over all things, this does not mean that He endorses every winner or that any sin is justifiable if God has obviously brought good from it. This is one of the many lessons to be gleaned from Isaiah 45. The chapter begins with God remarkably identifying King Cyrus of Persia, by name, centuries before he was born. But even more remarkably, after a long section condemning idolatry (44:9-20), God says that this pagan idolater will become useful for the accomplishment of divine purposes! God goes so far as to call this ungodly warlord, “My shepherd,” and Isaiah refers to him as the LORD’s “anointed,” whose right hand is in God’s (v 1). Cyrus the Great, who dominated the stage of history in the sixth century BC, would fulfill God’s purpose by allowing the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem after their exile in Babylon (44:28; 45:13). He was not a good man, and he did not acknowledge the LORD, but he was allowed to succeed so that an awareness of the LORD’s sovereignty would spread throughout the whole world. Without apology, God states that He rules over both light and darkness, good times and hard times. He does all this without being tarnished Himself by moral evil; and He calls us to rejoice in all that His plans will ultimately accomplish (v 1-8). If you find it difficult to embrace such an expansive view of divine sovereignty, join the club. Apparently, the Israelites also struggled to put all this together with their own experience. Imagine how the exiles would have been torn by doubt and troubled by fear. If God anointed Cyrus as His shepherd, then has He now rejected the house of David? If God is in control, then why did He allow our exile in the first place Anticipating such skepticism, the LORD only presses His point all the more forcefully. Who are we to demand explanations from Him, as if God has bungled our lives and He should have sought counsel from us? We have no more right to question God’s ways than the clay has to question the potter or a newborn has to question his or her parents (v 9-13). Right now it may be hard for us to see how God is at work for our good and His glory. But there is freedom in knowing that we do not have to make our lives turn out well. God Himself is committed to our eternal joy. The rich truth of God’s sovereignty leads to His glorious invitation as the chapter concludes. “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other.” The whole point of creation and history is for God to glorify Himself by saving us. Someday every person will bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us bow willingly today, rather than unwillingly on the last day (v 14-25). For further meditation: