and as I have purposed, so shall it stand” (Isaiah 14:24).
Is God in control? To what extent does he determine what will happen? How much freedom does he give us? This topic is hotly debated among Christians. I will try to keep to a “mere Christianity”, but it’s hard to discuss this without picking a side.
God is in control. He reigns on his throne, directing events in the cosmos to the end he has already appointed. People have free will. They make real choices with real consequences. And things go exactly as God says they will. You don’t have to believe God has determined our every decision to accept what the Bible teaches — that God really and truly reigns.
Our God is in heaven;The scriptures do not give us the option of doubting the sovereignty of God.
he does whatever pleases him.a
He changes times and seasons;
he deposes kings and raises up others.b
... for dominion belongs to the LORD
and he rules over the nations.c
The plans of the LORD stand firm forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations.d
God is in control, and this is only possible and only good because of what we know about him. “The idea of God’s infinite rule is not only difficult to grasp, it is difficult to trust, unless we have first spent time considering other aspects of his nature”.1 God is the uncaused creator of all things. All things belong to him and were created for him, so he has the right to determine how things go. He has the power to accomplish whatever he pleases, and the things he pleases are good because they are based in his wisdom and holy, just love.
God is sovereign, and that is good. If God were not sovereign, he could not promise anything. He couldn’t guarantee any outcome. It would be terrifying if God were not in control.
But God is in control, so he can promise that justice will ultimately be done. He can promise that all things will work for good. He can promise that good will triumph over evil. God may be intimidating at times, but that’s what we want. "We don't need a warm cuddly God who gives us a shoulder to cry on. We don't need a God who leads us in the serenity prayer. We need a colossal, sovereign, ruling, reigning, good, tender, and merciful God."2
Closely related to the doctrine of God’s sovereignty is the doctrine of providence: God cares for his creation. And most emphatically, God cares for his people.
God takes care of his creatures “sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Heb 1:3). “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” (Matt 6:26), and “not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care” (Matt 10:29). God holds the universe together and cares for the smallest of his creatures.He makes springs pour water into the ravines;
it flows between the mountains.
They give water to all the beasts of the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst. ...
He makes grass grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to cultivate—
bringing forth food from the earth:
wine that gladdens human hearts,
oil to make their faces shine,
and bread that sustains their hearts. (Psalm 104:10-15)
And that includes us. God allows people to do bad things, but even then he is at work. Joseph told his brothers, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Gen 50:20). In the same way, God can turn the evil that people choose to do into good. When we suffer — whether by the actions of others or ourselves or by things that seem to be totally random — we can take comfort in the fact that God is in control. Nothing has come upon us that God has not allowed. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28). This oft-quoted (and oft-abused) verse doesn’t promise that everything will be shiny and happy for us, but it does promise that God will take whatever happens in our lives and use it to make us into what he means for us to be. And when we get to the other side of this process, we’ll look back and won’t want to change a thing.
Aside: If God is sovereign, why is there evil? That is the $64,000,000 question. It is also, in my humble opinion, the final exam of Christian theology and apologetics. We will return to this topic at the end of this project after we have all the tools in place to discuss it properly.
So how should we respond to God’s sovereignty? First of all, we should kneel. God’s in charge, and you’re not. Let go of the desire to control everything. You can’t control it anyway.
Second, be bold in Christ. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31). We should reflect on the “hall of faith” in Hebrews 11 and all the examples throughout scripture and church history of people trusting themselves to God’s sovereignty. Whether facing armies or lions, storms or crosses, our fathers and mothers in the faith have shown us what it looks like to trust God. Be bold, fearing God rather than men.
And don't worry; Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ... Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ... So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Matt 6:25-32). Instead of worrying, "in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" (Phil 4:6). Worrying is a waste of energy. Trust God.
Also, trust God when you don't understand what's going on. When your heart tells you that things are spinning out of control, you know they are not — God is in control. We may not understand what he's doing, why he's allowing certain things to happen, but we know the character of the God who rules the universe, and we can trust his heart.
And this should yield optimism, not fatalism. Some think this doctrine means nothing they do matters. No! Instead God can make something good out of everything you do. When you fail, God can turn it into something good. When you do good, God is glorified. For the Christian, it's win-win.
Next, be thankful. All that you have is from God. All that you don’t have is because God has a better plan. There is no “luck”, whether good or bad. “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD” (Prov 16:33). So be grateful for what you’ve received.
Finally, worship! Our God is in control! There is no foe that can stand against our God. He can give us everything we need. He is working everything out so that justice will be done, so that every wrong will be righted. Just as the apostles sang in prison, we should focus on the fact that our God reigns and trust him to take care of everything else.
“Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (Rev 19:6)!
For more on this topic, I recommend "The Sovereignty of God" in Theology You Can Count On by Tony Evans.
a Psalm 115:3
b Dan 2:20
c Psalm 22:28
d Psalm 33:11
1 Jen Wilkin, None Like Him: 10 Ways God Is Different from Us (and Why That's a Good Thing)
2 Stephen Altrogge, Untamable God: Encountering the One Who Is Bigger, Better, and More Dangerous Than You Could Possibly Imagine
Image credit: myri_bonnie
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