Things God Causes

When dealing with Arminians, it is helpful to demonstrate the passages of Scripture detailing God's sovereignty. It is not enough to simply say, "God is sovereign" for Arminians will agree with that statement; one must also show what it means for God to be sovereign, for it is plain that Arminians do not agree that God is sovereign in the same scope that Calvinists believe God is sovereign.

So allow me to just post some of the myriad number of verses detailing just what things God causes. As a result, these are just passages that use the English word "cause." (As these passages are all (save one) from the Old Testament, you should bear in mind that one cannot do a search for the Hebrew word for "cause" since Hebrew verbs indicate causality by inflection, and such verbs are known as hiphil verbs, which means there will be many more hiphil verbs than are represented by the verses below since translators can use a different word than "cause" if the context warrants.) Many of these verses actually fit more than one of the categories that I've got them listed in. Furthermore, some of the selections may be disputed, and I will draw special attention to those (and to why I believe the dispute is moot) after the list.

Weather/natural processes:
Genesis 2:5-7
When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground—then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Exodus 9:18
Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

Job 37:10-15
By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen fast. He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning. They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen. Hear this, O Job; stop and consider the wondrous works of God. Do you know how God lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?

Job 38:12
Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place;

Psalm 78:16
He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

Psalm 78:26
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;

Psalm 104:14
You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth

Psalm 105:29
He turned their waters into blood and caused their fish to die.

Birth:
Isaiah 66:9
"Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?” says the Lord; “shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?” says your God.

Sleep:
Genesis 2:21
So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

Wandering:
Genesis 20:13
And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, "This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother."

2 Kings 21:8
And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.

Success:
Genesis 39:3
His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.

Isaiah 63:11-13
Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit, who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name, who led them through the depths?

Victory in War:
Deuteronomy 28:7
The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.


Defeat in War:
Deuteronomy 28:25
The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Jeremiah 19:7
And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth.

Jeremiah 49:2
Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will cause the battle cry to be heard against Rabbah of the Ammonites; it shall become a desolate mound, and its villages shall be burned with fire; then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him, says the Lord.

Lamentations 2:8
The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched out the measuring line; he did not restrain his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament; they languished together.

Ezekiel 32:12
I will cause your multitude to fall by the swords of mighty ones, all of them most ruthless of nations. “They shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt, and all its multitude shall perish."

Zechariah 11:6
For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.


Prosperity:
2 Samuel 23:5
For does not my house stand so with God? For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire?

Psalm 106:46
He caused them to be pitied by all those who held them captive.

Ezekiel 32:14
Then I will make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to run like oil, declares the Lord God.

Ezekiel 36:11
And I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 36:33
Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt.

Zechariah 8:12
For there shall be a sowing of peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their dew. And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.

Calamity:
Psalm 88:8
You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them. I am shut in so that I cannot escape;

Psalm 88:18
You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness

Isaiah 30:30
And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones.

Lamentations 1:14
My transgressions were bound into a yoke; by his hand they were fastened together; they were set upon my neck; he caused my strength to fail; the Lord gave me into the hands of those whom I cannot withstand.

Lamentations 3:32
but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;

Ezekiel 31:15
Thus says the Lord God: On the day the cedar went down to Sheol I caused mourning; I closed the deep over it, and restrained its rivers, and many waters were stopped. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it.

Ezekiel 32:4
And I will cast you on the ground; on the open field I will fling you, and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you, and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.

His name to be remembered:
Exodus 20:24
In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

Ezra 6:12
May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem.

Psalm 111:4
He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and merciful.

Righteousness:
Isaiah 61:11
For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.

Jeremiah 33:15
In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

Ezekiel 29:21
On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Regeneration:
Ezekiel 36:27
And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

Ezekiel 37:5-6
Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,


The first possible objection to the above list that I can foresee is the inclusion of Job 37:10-15. This passage was not spoken by Job, and therefore one could think it was spoken by one of his detractors, whom we all know were just a bunch of scumbags who wouldn't have gotten anything right if their lives depended on it, etc. etc. etc. In reality, however, this was said by Elihu, the one who gave good advice to Job. Furthermore, the sentiment is confirmed by other passages showing God's control over the weather, and indeed by God Himself in the very next chapter. That verse, too, may be "challenged" because God is asking Job if Job causes the dawn; but the nature of the question includes the obvious "like me" assumed by God.

The next thing that might be disputable is the inclusion of Deuteronomy 28. Here, God promises that He will cause both victory in battle and defeat in battle. But Deuteronomy 28 is actually showing the difference between what will happen to Israel if they keep His commands or if they disobey His commands. Therefore, one could say that obviously God cannot cause both victory and defeat because Israel will only be either righteous or unrighteous at any one point in time. However, should this sentiment be given, it is enough to affirm that God claims the ability to instantiate either of the two options, which means that He can indeed cause either victory or defeat in battle.

Finally, some may object to my putting Ezekiel 37:5-6 in, since it is the vision of dry bones that Ezekiel had. Of course, when one realizes that I have this put under "regeneration" instead of, say, a category like "resurrection" then you'll see that I've already taken the "vision" aspect into account. Ezekiel 37 identifies the bones: "Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off’" (verse 11); and it also identifies what God has done: "And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord" (verse 14). Thus, this putting in of the Spirit seems to be equivalent to regeneration and new life.

Regardless, even with the removal of these "questionable" passages, it is clear that God causes, or at least can cause if He so desires, the weather and other natural events (including sleep and birth), success, prosperity, calamity, the outcome of warfare, His continual worship, righteousness, and regeneration. Furthermore, some of what God causes is done in such a manner that Libertarian Free Willers would insist is nothing short of coercion. For example, why did God cause the largest hail storm ever to appear in Egypt? It was part of His continual plan to destroy Egypt so that they would release the Israelites and know that He was God. Note that God did not simply allow Pharaoh to exercise his free will; He forced Pharaoh to conform to His will.

Furthermore, it is difficult to see how God could cause the outcome of battles to be determined without violating Libertarian concepts. Battles are determined mainly by who lives and who dies, and thus when God determines the outcome, He must ensure who lives and who dies, and death would be a fairly radical violation of free will!

More important, however, this means that the commander God didn't pick could not possibly make a choice that would enable his victory; nor could the chosen commander make a choice that would cause his own defeat. To picture why this would be difficult to allow in Libertarian terms, think of what would happen if God said, "I am going to cause black to win this chess game." If this is true, then it is impossible for white to play a winning game, and it is impossible for black to play a losing game. But assuming both are competent players, such an outcome cannot be guaranteed unless God "disables" white from picking a winning strategy and "disables" black from picking a losing strategy. This means not just that all options are no longer available, but in fact that the only options that are left inevitably lead to the same end result! Besides this, even if we say that black is just a superior player, then that doesn't get us off the hook—for if black wins simply because he is the superior player, God cannot in any way claim He caused the outcome.