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I would contend that God did not desire that Leigh should be murdered, neither was it his purpose that the kidnappers should murder Leigh.

So God's will can be thwarted? Is God really in charge, if God's purposes can be thwarted? How would you respond to the following Scriptures?:

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Romans 8
26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

If God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him, to those called according to His purpose, then doesn't it follow that God is in control of all things? According to this passage, if Leigh had a Christian sibling or was a Christian herself, Leigh's death was for the good. In fact, it was for the good of all Christians! As my pastor put it once, "every atom bouncing off the walls is for our good." And, if God's will and purpose can be thwarted, how can we trust that this will happen?

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Ephesians 1
9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him
10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him
11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

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Psalm 115
3
But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases.
4
Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of man's hands.

I found this interesting in that the Psalmist attests God's sovereignty, and then he attests to the fact that man is responbsible for his own sin.

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Psalm 135
6
Whatever the LORD pleases, He does,
In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.
7
He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth;
Who makes lightnings for the rain,
Who brings forth the wind from His treasuries.


True godliness is a sincere feeling which loves God as Father as much as it fears and reverences Him as Lord, embraces His righteousness, and dreads offending Him worse than death~ Calvin