The Sovereignty of God
Big Idea: God is fully sovereign over all creation, from nature and random events to animals, nations, and human lives, guiding everything according to his perfect will and purpose.
You might remember that time, so long ago, that you thought your parents could do anything. It makes sense: from the time we are infants, these really big people provide us with everything: with food, warmth, shelter, and love. As a child, I was completely insulated from the pressures my parents faced. When my father was laid off from his job, I never worried about the money. My parents had always come through – why should I worry now? When my mother and father split up and my mother was left to raise us by herself, with no child support or job, I had no reason to worry. Mum had never let me down before!
You might have experienced the same thing as a child. But one day you realized that your parents couldn't walk on water. I still remember the day that I saw my mother cry. I realized she didn't have any special powers to know what I was doing when she wasn't around. Honest – she would leave her glasses pointed at us and say we had better behave because she was watching, and we believed her! We came to see her as just another remarkable human being, with strengths, weaknesses, and common flaws.
Some people have begun to wonder this about God. We're accustomed to thinking of an all-powerful and mighty God, but some questions trouble us. Why is there evil in the world? Why do babies die? If God is sovereign, why does he allow certain things to happen? Some have begun to question whether God is sovereign or not. In his book When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Harold Kushner explores whether God is all-powerful and can prevent evil. Maybe God is like the father watching his children play on the front lawn. He sees a car approaching and wants to protect his children, but feels powerless as one child narrowly avoids being hit. Is God like that? He means well but is not always able to help?
I'm here to tell you this morning that the Bible paints a very different picture. God is sovereign. He rules absolutely over all of his creation. He sits on the throne of this universe as Lord. Everything that happens is either directly caused by God or intentionally allowed by him. Nothing ever happens that does not come under the complete and total control of God.
This morning I'd like to look at God's sovereignty. Let me begin by challenging you: is your God too small? Does the God you worship seem weak and anemic to you? Many Christians mistakenly begin to think that God doesn't have the ability to make a difference, to turn things around. We often forget God's sovereignty and behave as if Satan rules the universe instead of him. But this morning I tell you: God is on his throne! He rules over heaven and earth! There is nothing that can thwart his rule.
Ephesians 1:11 tells us:
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. (Ephesians 1:11)
Notice this: God works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. Everything! There is no event in his creation that escapes his sovereignty.
I want to begin by tracing God's sovereignty over everything. I will start with inanimate creation, then discuss animals, and finally explore God's sovereignty in human lives.
God Rules Over the Non-living World
There are a lot of things that we think of as being natural occurrences. The weather reporter tells us when it's going to rain and when it's going to snow. Christina goes out in the evening and says, "Hey, where did the sun go?" She knows very well that the sun will be back in the morning, without fail. But the Bible tells us that God causes all these things to happen.
In Psalm 148:8, we read of "fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy wind fulfilling his command." We read in Job:
He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.' (Job 37:6)
The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen. (Job 37:10)
He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them. (Job 37:11)
At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them. (Job 37:12)
He brings the clouds to punish men, or to water his earth and show his love. (Job 37:13)
God even causes the grass to grow. He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate–bringing forth food from the earth. (Psalms 104:14) According to Job 38:12, God even continually directs the coming of the morning. All this takes place under the sovereignty of God.
At one point, God asks Job: "Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear with its cubs?" (Job 38:32). "The Bear" is what we call the Big Dipper. God's point is clear: remember who you are. You don't cause the sun to rise and the moon to shine. You don't bring out the stars and the constellations. I do! Just remember who sits on the throne of this universe! You can only suggest how God should manage the universe once you can create planets and life yourself. But until then, God has the prerogative. Let God be God!
Sometimes I've seen a large group of animals, and I've been amazed that all of them can live. Around Christmas, we took Christina to the zoo. I'm always amazed by the different types of animals from around the world and the fact that all these creatures have their own niche. They all manage to scrounge or find enough food to stay alive, procreate, and live, generation after generation.
God is in control of the non-living world. But that's not all.
God Is Sovereign Over Animals
He provides food for the creatures.
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? (Matthew 6:26)
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. (Matthew 10:29)
If you've ever seen a colony of ants or a hive of bees, just remember: God knows each of these insects. He knows when even the smallest insect, the smallest creature, is alive, and when it dies. God rules over creation.
Now here's a good reminder for some of us. This past Friday was Friday the 13th. I wouldn't want anything with the number 13, especially on Friday the 13th, since that’s considered bad luck. But listen: there's no such thing as luck. There's no such thing as a "random" or "chance" event.
God is in control of the non-living world and animals. But there's more.
God Rules Over Seemingly Random Events
A cowboy decided to apply for health insurance. The agent routinely asked him, "Have you ever had any accidents?" The cowboy replied, "Well no, I've not had any accidents. I was bitten by a rattlesnake once, and a horse did kick me in the ribs. That laid me up for a while, but I haven't had any accidents."
The agent said, "Wait a minute. I'm confused. A rattlesnake bit you, and a horse kicked you. Weren't those incidents considered accidents?"
"No," the cowboy replied, "they did that on purpose."
The cowboy was correct. Things don't just happen. Everything that occurs, occurs under the sovereign hand of God. There are no chance happenings, no luck, and no mistakes. Good and bad fall under his sovereign control.
Nothing could be more random than the roll of a die or the flipping of a coin. But the Bible says: "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD" (Proverbs 16:33).
God is in control of the non-living world, animals, and seemingly random events. We also see that:
God Is Sovereign Over Nations
"He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them" (Job 12:23). "For dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations" (Psalms 22:28).
Nebuchadnezzar got a little too big for his britches, and God decided to teach him a lesson. He was walking on the roof of his royal palace in Babylon, thinking: "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?" (Daniel 4:30). He was saying, "I'm the man!"
While the words were still on his lips, the next verse says, God decreed that he would become insane, live with the animals, and eat grass like the animals. Only when he recognized God as sovereign would he return to sanity.
At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, "What have you done?"
(Daniel 4:34-35)
Nebuchadnezzar came to his senses when he realized that God is sovereign. It doesn't matter how high you climb, how mighty a nation you are – God is in control.
God is in control of the non-living world, animals, seemingly random events, and nations. But do you know something else this morning?
God Is Sovereign Over Every Aspect Of Our Lives
It is amazing to discover in Scripture how God brings about various events in our lives. Every time we eat, we're reminded of our dependence on God to give us our daily food when we say grace, or pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." Even though we work for the food and obtain it by going to the grocery store, ultimately it is God who provides all that we eat.
Paul says in Philippians 4:19: "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." How does God provide our needs? Sometimes through very ordinary means – but make no mistake, it is God who provides everything for us!
God planned our lives before we were born. "Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed" (Job 14:5).
Success and failure come from God, for we read:
For not from the east or from the west
and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
but it is God who executes judgment,
putting down one and lifting up another.
(Psalm 75:6-7)
Our talents and abilities come from God, for Paul could ask the Corinthians:
What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Corinthians 4:7)
Even our plans are under God's control:
In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)
I could go on and on, but it's enough to realize that God is in control of every area of our lives.
Right now some of you are wondering, "If God is in control, where do I come in? Don't I have free will?" Scripture does not state that we are "free" to make decisions beyond God's control. God allows us to make choices with real consequences, and we don't perceive any limitations on our will while deciding, even though God remains sovereign.
I remember as a child thinking, "If God is sovereign, then how can I choose what facecloth to take out of the closet? God has already chosen it for me." The Bible teaches that God is completely sovereign, but we still make real choices. Our choices have significant and eternal consequences, and we will be held accountable for them.
What about the problem of evil? We don't understand it, but the Bible affirms that God never does evil directly, and never takes pleasure in evil. This is a very complicated issue that I can't fully answer here.
We can't fully understand this, but it's a little like light. In physics, evidence supports both the wave and particle nature of light. Light behaves as both waves and particles, and while the reason is unclear, both theories are supported by evidence and cannot disprove each other. These two seemingly incompatible positions must be held together, and both treated, in some sense, as true. It will drive our tidy minds crazy, but there it is. Theologians refer to this as an antinomy: two parallel truths that coexist without intersecting.
On one hand, we have a sovereign God. On the other hand, we have evil and the ability to choose. Which is it? Somehow, it's both, but we affirm: God is sovereign, and he is in control.
This morning, we can have confidence and comfort that God is in control. There is nothing outside his reign. We need never be afraid. With God on our side, as Paul says, we can "do all things through him who strengthens me." Even in tough times, we can trust that God is in control and remains in authority. There is nothing that can challenge him.
We see the part; God sees the whole picture. Somebody has compared what God is doing in our lives to baking a cake. Some ingredients of a cake taste good by themselves. Other ingredients taste terrible by themselves: nutmeg, baking soda, and so on. But when you mix those things together, and get the mixer churning, the good and the bad blend and turn out for the better. When the cake finally comes out of the oven, the mix of ingredients creates something worth the wait.
God is baking a cake in your life. He's blending the good and the bad through the Holy Spirit, and when he’s done, all the trials will emerge transformed. And all the good and the bad will be mixed together into something even better, that tastes good, and gives him the glory. Whatever difficulty you are now facing, remember – God is in control.
Adapted in part from Our God is Awesome by Tony Evans
