Compelled To Worship: Sovereignty

Here's an attribute that you rarely hear about with any careful study. It's the single-most misunderstood quality, the one that angers and divides believers, and splits up denominations.

Rather than tackle the arguments or play the debating game, I simply want to let the magnitude of what God says about Himself to shape our understanding. It is also likely to be the single most important attribute for the comfort and hope of God's own people.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “There is no attribute more comforting to his children than that of God’s sovereignty. In the most adverse circumstances, through the most severe trials, they believe that sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that sovereignty overrules them, and that sovereignty will sanctify them all.”

We talk about trusting God all the time but if He is not sovereign over everything, then we are left with God who is limited and finite.  There can be nothing that operates independent of God's almighty control. As the late RC Sproul said, "There are no maverick molecules in the universe."

So let's look at several verses without my commentary. DO NOT skim them as though you already have them committed to memory. God's Word deserves your rapt attention brothers and sisters.  I have italicized words referring to God's purpose. As you read them, emphasize those words in your head.

Our Summary Verse:

Isaiah 46:9-10
Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

Over Physics & Creation

Proverbs 16:33
The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. My rephrase: [The result of tossed dice is decided by God]

Matthew 10:29–30
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

Isaiah 40:26
Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.

Psalm 147:15–18
15 He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly. 16 He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. 17 He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold? 18 He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.

Job 37:11–13
11 He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning. 12 They turn around and around by his guidance, to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world. 13 Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen.

Sovereign Over Weather and Disaster

Mark 4:39
And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Amos 3:6
Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?

Exodus 4:11
Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

1 Peter 4:19
Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

1 Peter 3:17
For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

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.

James 4:13–15
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Job 1:21
And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”

God's Sovereignty in Human Actions

Daniel 2:21
He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;

Daniel 4:17
The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’

Acts 2:23
this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

Proverbs 21:1
The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.

Psalm 33:10–11
10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.

Acts 4:27–28
27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

Boasting Eliminated

2 Timothy 2:24–25
24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

John 6:44
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

Matthew 11:27
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Ephesians 2:8–9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Titus 3:5
He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Genesis 50:20
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Ephesians 1:11
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

Psalm 103:19
The LORD has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.

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Now after reading all that is this your conclusion?!?!?!

Why This Matters:
I frequently separate my posts into doctrines and ethics. In other words I try to follow the pattern of scripture. First the truth is taught and then practical instructions are to follow.

We run into a lot of problems when we teach others how to live, act, behave, or respond, before the truth is reflected upon and established.

While you were reading you responded one of two ways. You either rejoiced in the comfort of Your Father's mighty hand -or- you had a few "But whatabout..." questions arise.

In my experience, before you let truth renew your mind, you don't even know what questions to ask. And if you preempt truth with questions, they will likely waver on the brink of accusing God of unrighteousness.

We have comfort in knowing that regardless of our circumstances, we have a Father in  heaven Who loves us deeply; knows every single thing that happens in His universe; and has the absolute SOVEREIGN power to affect it in any way He pleases.

If you are one of God's people, He holds you firmly in His grip and He will hold you fast.


Prayer:
Father in heaven, You are the Creator of all things. Your power and control are not limited by any boundaries. There is no God before You. I confess that I am a rebellious creature that desires my own will as though I had something to add to your perfect plan. Help me to humble myself in Your sight and to surrender my will each day to Yours. Amen.