“For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth … and in him all things hold together”(Colossians 1:16-17)
We say God is Sovereign. Most Christians will affirm that. But what does that mean?
Obviously a bit of a big subject, so let’s just look at the coronavirus pandemic. Where did it come from? And where is God in this?
Well there are a limited set of possibilities.

It could be a random event – just one of those things. So God’s role would be to react to it.
It could be the work of Satan – who’s done this on his own initiative. Again, God’s role would be to react to it.
Maybe we could say that God knew it was gong to happen. But if he didn’t initiate it, he’s still left reacting to it.
In either case though, God does not seem to be reacting – the virus is still spreading.

And we’re in danger here of getting caught in the false dilemma of “God is either all-loving or all-powerful but he can’t be both”.

Others may say that God (if he exists?) is too distant. Not involved. “The earth is reminding us that we’re guests”. Some form of natural ‘cleansing’ is going on. Just more survival of the fittest.

But the Bible does not allow any of this. It is emphatic that God not only created the world, but continues to uphold it.
he upholds the universe by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3)
in him all things hold together(Colossians 1:17)

And nothing happens apart from his say so. For instance:
Psalm 135:5-6 
For I know that the LORD is great,
and that our Lord is above all gods.Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
Deuteronomy 32:39
See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me;        I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal;        and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
Isaiah 45:7
I form light and create darkness;I make well-being and create calamity;I am the LORD, who does all these things.
Look at Job’s reaction to his sufferings.
They came in two ‘waves’. In a single day he lost possessions and family.
His reaction to the first wave was not to be angry with the Sabeans or Chladeans who had raided his property.
Nor to try to ‘speak against Satan’.
Rather he said (Job 1:21):
And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD ⁱgave, and the LORD has taken away; ^jblessed be the name of the LORD.”
He recognised that it was from God – and that God had the right to do whatever he wants.
After the second wave, where he was stricken with sores, his wife told him to curse God and die.
But his reaction was (Job 2:10):
“Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”
And the Bible’s summary of Job’s response?
In all this Job did not sin with his lips
So bringing it back to the coronavirus outbreak.

It is my view* that the Bible indicates that God has brought this about. Because he is sovereign.
He reigns over everything – that’s every thing. His rule over his creation extends to the smallest detail.
That may make us feel uneasy – surely God is a God of love? Why would he do such a thing?
Well for one thing, he’s done it before:

God sent a three-day plague to wipe out 70,000 men after King David sinned by numbering the people of Israel (2 Samuel 24:10–17).

Amos prophesied that God would send several judgments against the nation of Israel, including plagues similar to what Egypt endured (Amos 4:10).

God sent several judgments against the nation of Judah, including a plague, when he sent King Nebuchadnezzar to sack Jerusalem (Jeremiah 21:7, 24:10, 29:17).

The plagues described in the Book of Revelation including those sent by the two witnesses (Revelation 11:6) and the seven final plagues sent by God (Revelation 15:1)

But mostly this has to do with the character of God. To be sure he is good and loving. Unfathomably so. He is also infinitely wise and infinitely powerful. And he is holy and he is righteous. And that righteousness demands a wrath against sin – which can be terrifying.

There is however, maybe surprisingly, great comfort in this.

Because in Christ, he took on that wrath on our behalf. See Romans 5
⁹Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
I read a quote a few days ago (which annoyingly I can’t find now!) which said something like ‘until we recognise who sent these events, we won’t cry out to him for deliverance’.

It means that ultimately we have no choice but to throw ourselves on God’s mercy. But that’s a secure place. Jesus promises that
whoever comes to me I will never cast out.  
(John 6:37)

Look at how Paul views this – Romans 8
³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
and

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,  “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
That’s the confidence we need. Despite the list of tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword – to which we could add pandemic – and even ‘being killed all the day long’, we are secure. We have to go through trials, but they can never defeat us.

Because God is sovereign. He is in control. Of the world and of our lives.

And he knows what he is doing – and despite the fact that we don’t, we can nevertheless trust him.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.(Romans 8:28)

*What I am writing in these blogs is my own personal view. There are others who share my view but  there are others who may not. I’m in no way attempting to win arguments or score points. Rather to share things that I have thought deeply about and have found to be a source of strength and comfort.