It's been said before (I remember hearing it from R.C. Sproul), that God is either sovereign, or He is not. If there is anything in this universe over which God is not sovereign, then He fails to be truly sovereign.
Scripture is clear:
"The LORD works out everything for His own ends - even the wicked for a day of disaster." Proverbs 16:4
"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21
Scripture is clear:
"The LORD works out everything for His own ends - even the wicked for a day of disaster." Proverbs 16:4
"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21
"Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, "The older will serve the younger." Romans 9:11-12
"For by him (Jesus) all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy." Colossians 1:16-18
Now when humans try to imagine total sovereignty, we often default to images of a great Being furiously micromanaging the universe, meddling in human affairs and keeping the planets spinning like so many plates on sticks in a Chinese circus! That's not an Almighty God.
The one who "rides the ancient skies above" is unperturbed, nonplussed, and resolutely carrying out His merciful plans to perfection. This is the God to which Scripture clearly and logically leads us. A God like that I cannot completely comprehend, but I can trust Him absolutely.
5 comments:
Good word, my friend. God IS sovereign, in the most absolute sense possible, though for us to grasp all the implications of this fact is not possible. Even in heaven, we'll endlessly be like, "Whoa . . ." - because we will forever be growing in understanding, and never exhausting the depths of the riches of His Divine majesty. That will be the wonderful reality and blessing of being a redeemed, perfected creature who glories only in God's eternal glory.
Derek - haha I love thinking of all the "Whoa" moments in heaven :).
ahh... so you're really a 'palm-writer' ;]
As I was enjoying your penned testimony, I had two verses from this past weekend come right to mind. "...your Heavenly Father knows..." (mt6:32) and "O LORD GOD you know..."(Ez37:3). Our knowing wrapped up in His knowing...
I love the hope we have in our Sovereign God!
So when calamities happen, do you thank God for them? After all, tornados, tsunamis, birth defects ... it all comes from God's Holy decree?
Why not thank Him for these things?
- James
James -
I come from the perspective that the world we live in is messed up and broken.
Catastrophe and calamity are the effects of mankind's original rebellion against God, and for a while we still groan (as does creation itself) under the weight of it all.
If anything, these kinds of things remind me that God remains good, because He has seen fit to show His mercy to us through Christ - and that is something we definitely didn't deserve. Life is often hard, unpredictable and even disastrous, but for the Christian, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
God's mercy isn't at all diminished by natural catastrophic events. Indeed, if we believe in a truly Sovereign God, we trust "that for those who love God, all things work together for good."
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