The Big Picture Isaiah 46:10
God's Will • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction: Follow up with God Willing - what does that mean?
The Weaver - Creation in world religions.
Cultures all over the globe have deities associated with creation. The most famous is Athena the Greek goddess of weaving and crafts or the Roman version is Minerva. But there are others, the native Americans have the Spider Woman, Egypt has Neith, Mayan’s have Ix Chel, the Norse have the Norns and the Hindus have Maya. They are all associated with the cosmic tapestry or destiny, representing how life’s threads are woven together. These gods and goddesses embody human ingenuity, destiny and the creation of reality itself, seen in the myths like Athena’s contest with Arachne or the weaving of the universe.
The symbolism represented by these deities is that of the weaver god. Weaving represents the creation of the universe, life, and individual destinies. The tapestries they weave symbolize the interconnectedness of all things with gods or goddesses as the weavers of reality while the weaving signifies the transformative power of creation, illusion and fate.
When you look at all of these myths they all have one thing in common. Man trying to explain how everything got started and how it is kept under control. That’s where our God fits into the picture. We know that He is the one who created all things and He is the one who is weaving it all together into a beautiful tapestry. We know that our God was there at the beginning and knows exactly how the end will come about. We know that He has sovereignty over all things and is in control of all things.
In this idea we can find great comfort. In recognizing that God is in complete control of everything that happens in our lives and the world around us. His sovereignty means that nothing takes Him by surprise, and He has a divine purpose for all events, even those we don’t fully understand. When we trust in His sovereign will, we can find peace amid chaos and uncertainty. We can rest assured that He is weaving all things together into a glorious grand tapestry for His glory.
Our primary verse for this morning points to God’s sovereignty over all things.
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
He knows the beginning and the end. His will be done for His glory, honor and pleasure.
Transitional Sentence: God is the Master Weaver and He is weaving together a great tapestry according to His will.
God’s Sovereign Will is His Master Plan.
So, God’s Sovereign Will refers to God’s ultimate authority and control over all creation, encompassing His predetermined plan and purpose that is accomplished regardless of human actions. This concept emphasizes that God's will is the ultimate cause of all that happens, asserting that nothing occurs outside of His divine purpose and plan. It is often described as God's overarching plan for creation, executed according to His wisdom and power, ultimately for His glory. He can and will use what ever is available in creation to weave His big picture together.
This is the big picture plan. In the Army it went kind of like this.…
So, God has a master plan, but
b. How do we follow it? well Proverbs 16:9 says:
9 The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.
Have you ever heard the phrase “Buy the ticket, take the ride.”? It comes from a bigger quote: “No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride… and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well… maybe chalk it up to forced consciousness expansion; Tune in, freak out, get beaten”.
This is all about accepting responsibility for your choices and seeing them through, especially in extreme situations. This is man planning his way. We make choices. We walk in the free will that God gave us as best we can with the information we have on hand at the time we are needing to make the decision. So make your plans, make your decisions; but the Lord will work things out according to His will. Just remember that the final planned outcome of your plan may not be the way it works out in the end.
This is where God willing comes into play. This is where we need to hold onto our plans lightly just in case the outcome doesn’t match what we wanted.
c. Because the outcome is up to God’s will. Daniel 4:35 says:
35 “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’
This one verse points to our plans and puts them to shame. Because in the big scheme of things we are nothing. God will do what God will do. In the heavens and among all of us on the earth. We can’t do what we want to do unless God allows it and we can’t question Him about His reasons or His right to do what He does. This is God’s sovereign will.
But
2. How does God’s Sovereign Will work?
a. Sometimes God might provide someone insight about what He is about to do. Think about Noah. God was going to destroy all life on earth so He told Noah to build an ark. The insight or forewarning might come as a spoken word, a vision or as in the case of Joseph, some dreams.
So speaking of Joseph let’s look at how God’s sovereign will played out in his life.
b. The story of Joseph begins with the desire of a man named Jacob to have children with his wife Rachel. After years of trying with Rachel, and fathering 10 other boys with 3 other wives Rachel finally conceived and bore Jacob a son and they called him Joseph. This begins a whole new dynamic for the family which gets pretty bad when Joseph starts having the Dreams. Genesis 37:5-11
5 Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
6 He said to them, “Please listen to this dream which I have had;
7 for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”
8 Then his brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
9 Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?”
11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
Yeah - I can see why they all hated him more. But then the plot gets really thick.
Genesis 37:18-36 Tells us how the brothers throw him in a pit, Sell him to Ishmaelite traders, they sell him to Potiphar in Egypt. Do you think Joseph had this in mind when he was planning his future?
Genesis 39:1-18 Tells us of Joseph’s success as a slave and how he is elevated to direct the affairs of everything that Potiphar own’s except his wife. That’s the trouble. The wife wanted Joseph but he didn’t give in. Finish it.… Imprisoned. Rises to run the prison.
Interprets dreams for the butler and the baker.
Interprets Pharaoh’s dream. Genesis 41:14-37
Joseph is made ruler over all of Egypt, second only to Pharoah. Genesis 41:38-49
As the story continues Joseph is reunited with his family and welcomes them into Egypt, which of course leads to another story.
That is God’s sovereign will at work and the fulfillment of two dreams that were provided many years before.
Which leads us to the:
c. The outcome of this story. Genesis 50:20
20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
To preserve many people alive. Joseph went through a whole lot of mess to eventually become the number 2 guy in the land of Egypt. A lot of people in Egypt survived the drought and famine because Joseph was there to lead the way. It wasn’t just Egyptians that survived, his whole family survived along with them. They survived because God used Joseph and had him in the right place at the right time.
Joseph wouldn’t have known what would become of him when his brothers threw him in that well and then sold him into slavery. But Joseph continued living righteously in accordance with what he knew of God’s revealed will. With those guidelines Joseph endured his struggles and rose up out of the circumstances around him to bring glory and honor to God. He didn’t know God’s master plan but he lived in God’s will. What about you? Do you think you are living in His will?
3. So, I guess the next question would be, Can we know God’s Sovereign Will?
a. Knowing God’s sovereign will involves aligning your heart with His revealed will, in scripture, and His commands; seeking wisdom through prayer and Godly counsel, and trusting Him to work out His plans in your life while you make choices within the framework of His revealed will. It’s not about knowing God’s master plan but forming a relationship with Him and desiring His will to be done over your own.
To know God’s sovereign will you may have to look to the past and see how God has been at work in your life to know how He has used you in His master plan. Joseph had no idea what the end result of his troubles would be. But when he reached a point in the plan he was able to look back and see how God had used him for His master plan. He could see how God had used him to save the lives of many people, including his own family.
b. So, have you ever heard of random circumstances? Philippians 2:13
13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
When you read Joseph’s story it looks like he is being swept along by random circumstances. Being thrown in a pit by his brothers is rather random. But then each new event moves him closer to the Pharaoh and being put in charge of everything. Joseph can’t see the master plan but he can make choices each day that keep him in alignment with God’s heart by doing the things he knows will honor and glorify God.
He worked for Potiphar as if he was working for the Lord. He remained honest and above reproach in all that he did and he avoided immorality. which is what got him in trouble. Then he started all over in the prison. Whenever he did something, especially with interpreting the dreams he gave the glory to God, he didn’t take credit for it.
Ultimately God was working His will in Joseph’s life to fulfill His master plan and keep His promise to Abraham to make him a great nation by preserving their lives through the drought and famine.
c. But, Ultimately God works all things for good. Romans 8:28
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Do you ever make a bad decision or something you do just doesn’t work out the way you think it should. I have. I’ve made to many choices along the way that weren’t the best or brightest. But God… He worked it all out. He worked it all out for good because I love Him. What about you? Do you love Him? Those who don’t love Him won’t necessarily have all their things work out for good.
And that’s where the second part of this verse comes into play. To those who are called according to His purpose. Joseph was called according to His purpose. Joseph had a big part in the master plan. Lot’s of other people have been a big part of His master plan. What about you? What about the guy next door. Is he called according to God’s purpose? What about the mess he is going through? Will everything work out for him? Maybe… If God has a purpose in the mess. But if God doesn’t have a purpose for it then he will probably just have to deal with it. That sounds rough but not everyone loves God, and not everyone is called according to His purpose in the master plan. So not everyone’s mess will work out for good. Sometimes the mess is the plan for the Grand Tapestry.
Just remember this, there’s nothing that anyone can do, either good or bad, that God can’t work out for good. There’s nothing that anyone can do that will mess up God’s master plan. For me knowing that His will, will be done, no matter how hard I try to make my will be done, provides comfort and peace of mind. When I think about how much of a train wreck my life was before Jesus I have no problem believing that God can work all things for good.
Exit: So remember there is a Master Weaver. He is Jehovah, the Great I Am, the creator God. He has sovereignty over all that He created. In His sovereignty He is weaving a great tapestry. He is weaving a tapestry that includes everyone and everything. He will bring about all things according to His will and for His good pleasure.
In the weaving of this tapestry He can take all of our plans, all of our good deeds and all of our failures and turn them into good. He will also take all of Satan’s lies and all of his schemes and turn them into good; as He weaves together a wonderful and Grand Tapestry.
We have nothing to fear, nothing to be anxious about and no reason to doubt that God can’t do exactly what He means to do. God’s sovereign will, will be done. Not my will, not your will and definitely not Satan's will. God’s will be done.
Pray:
