"I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things." Isaiah 45:5-7

Such amazing verses on the sovereignty of God!

"....God, as He is our Creator, Preserver, and sovereign Lord--has an absolute power both over our persons, lives, estates, and habitations: and when we have transgressed His righteous laws, He may do with us, and all we have--as He pleases. He may turn us out of house and home, and burn up all our comforts round about us--and yet do us no wrong. "Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases Him." Psalm 115:3. "The Lord does whatever pleases Him--in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths." Psalm 135:6

Those things which seem accidental and chance to us--are ordered by the wise counsel, power, and providence of God. Instruments can no more stir until God gives them a commission--than the axe or the knife can cut by itself, without a hand. God makes use of whatever second causes He pleases, for the execution of His pleasure. And many times He makes the worst of men the rod of His indignation to chastise His people with! All inferior or subordinate causes--are but God's tools and instruments, which He rules and guides according to His own will, power, and providence.

Job eyed God in the fire which fell from heaven, and in all the fiery trials which befell him. And therefore,
he does not say, "The Lord gave--and the devil took away!" Nor, "The Lord gave--and the Chaldeans and
Sabeans took away!" But "The Lord gave--and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord
be praised!" Job 1:20-21

Certainly without the cognizance and concurrence of a wise, omniscient, and omnipotent God--no creatures can move. Without His foresight and permission--no event can befall any person, city or country. Whatever the means or instruments of our misery are--the hand is God's! It behooves us, in every judgment, to see the hand of the Lord, and to look through visible means to an invisible God! "The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me!" Ruth 1:21

"The Lord brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends
poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts!"1 Samuel 2:6-7"

Thomas Brooks, "London's Lamentations"