The Sovereignty of God

Opening - The Coronation of Edward VII

Coronation

In the announcement of when the coronation would take place, they left out, God willing.

At the end of Queen Victoria’s reign, England was at the apex of it’s strength as a world power.

With all the might of the kingdom, they had to postpone the coronation due to an attack of appendicitis for the prince who was to be named King.

Regardless of whether it was the omission of the words or not, it reminds us that nothing we plan, no matter how powerful we are, God is in control of it all.

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 14 You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.

15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.

The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.

3. God’s Absolute Control

God is Sovereign.

He has control of all he created and He has the power to do whatever He wants to with it.

No creature can act outside the will of God.

We can do nothing to stand in the will of God.

The first chapter Jason presented three things we need to do when we trust God in times of adversity: God’s sovereignty, His love and His wisdom.

His sovereignty is the one we question the most.

When we do this, we take Him off His throne.

Writers will do this by saying God limited his control by giving man free will to act as he wants.

Other writers will say that bad things happen because they were beyond His control.

“If there is a single event in all the universe that can occur outside of God’s sovereign control, then we cannot trust Him.

If you want me to watch something that is very special to you, but I don’t really have the ability to protect it and keep it from harm, then you can’t truly trust me with it. There will always be a question.

Paul talks about being able to trust God with what was most valuable to him.

12 and that is why I suffer these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know the One I have believed in and am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me c until that day.

The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.

Paul isn’t only talking about his eternal home, but all things

It should be evident to us that God’s soveriegn will for our lives doesn’t begin at death.

God, for reasons only known to Him, will allow people to act against His revealed will for their lives, but they can’t act contrary to His sovereign will.

Look a the following verses and how they back up this statement.

Revelations 3:7

We make plans, but if our plans are not part of His sovereign plan for our lives, they will fail.

we cannot make straight what God has made crooked.

No one can say what they are going to do if it isn’t part of His sovereign will.

Is God truly in control of the bad things that happen to us at the hands of other people? Is God in control of the actions of others who harm us?

Margaret Clarkson

“The sovereignty of God is the one impregnable rock to which the suffering human heart must cling. The circumstances surrounding our lives are no accident; they may be the work of evil, but that evil is held firmly within the mighty hand of our sovereign God. ....All evil is subject to Him, and evil cannot touch His children unless He permits it. God is the Lord of human history and of the personal history of every member of His redeemed family.

This statement ought to give us comfort. There is nothing that happens to us that isn’t in His sovereign plan for our lives. He can use it all and bring about good. This is very hard to comprehend when the things we are facing hurt us to our core, but there is assurance in this.

Paul being kept in prison by Felix simply because he was hoping by doing so the Jews would see it as him doing them a favor.

The cupbearer forgetting his promise to Joseph.

Speak of recent things which have happened.

Are we at the mercy of happenstance? No! God is control of the smallest of details. “We are in the hands of a sovereign God who controls every circumstance of our lives and who rejoices in doing us good.

God’s Sovereignty Is Not Always Apparent

When we go through the tough times that are the results of others actions, or even our own and have to deal with the consequences, it is hard to see how God is working through those circumstances.

We will recognize the miracles we see God working behind, but many times we fail to see God working when He is behind the scenes orchestrating. It is very important that we give Him credit even in these times.

We will never know the times that God has changed the timing of an event or slowed us down with a slower car in front of us, to keep us from something happening to us.

The Book of Esther is in the Bible so we can see the hand of God working behind the scenes to protect His people.

God’s name isn’t mentioned one time in this book, but yet it is evident of His presence throughout

Looking at the book more in depth.

up to chapter 6, we can see how the Jewish people were in danger in the realm of Xerxes due to Haman who was in a position higher than any other noble in this kingdom.

Xerxes couldn’t sleep and asked for the chronicles of his reign to be read

while it was being read, Mordecia was found to have saved the king from bing assassinated.

nothing had been done to recognize him for this.

Mordecia, who was to be hanged according to the ruling of Haman was now goign to be recognized by the same man.

How on earth did all of the circumstances happen that the king would find out that Mordecia had never been honored?

The answer behind all of this is God orchestrating all these events to help fulfill His sovereign plan for His people.

God Does As He Pleases

No plan of God’s can be thwarted.

God does as He pleases and no one can stop this.

The following verses will help back this statement:

If we just stopped at the fact that God only does as He pleases and no one could stop Him from doing this, should terrify us. But it doesn’t stop there. Because not only is God sovereign, but He is also perfect in love and infinite in wisdom.

How does this aspect of God’s sovereignty relate to us trusting Him?

This lets us know that God has a plan for us, and all that takes place in our lives helps in His svereign will for our lives.

God’s ultimate plan for us is to make us more into the likeness of Jesus.

He also has a tailor-made plan for our individual lives.

At the time of a thing happening to us, good or bad, we may not see God’s hand in the action, but ultimately, He is there. It is that hand that moves us towards His plan for our lives.

Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery.

We may not be able to see the outcome of God’s hand moving in our lives the way Joseph did, but we need to trust that He is behind it all. The stories in the Bible are filled with people who were going through difficult times who we are able to see how God worked through the circumstances of their lives to bring about good in them.

God has a plan for each one of us. We need to have hope and encouragement in this principle found in the Bible.

We often have to change the plans that we have made. We are constantly needing to reevaluate what our plan is. God never does. He knows the plan He has for us. We need to constantly evaluate where we are according to His will and what we need to do to stay in it.

Ruth is another book in the Bible where we can see where God is bringing events together for her and make her in incredible part of our faith.

The book actually gives us more insight into the way God used ordinary events to bring about His will.

Synopsis of the book of Ruth

As a result of Boaz marrying Ruth, she becomes the great-grandmother of David, and is in the family tree of Jesus.

There are four key events that lead to Ruth being where she is.

One - she just happened to go to Boaz’s field.

Two - Boaz just happened to arrive in Bethlehem and be there when she was picking up the left over grain.

Three - Boaz happened to notice Ruth among the many others who were probably there gathering the left over grain as well as this was a common practice for the poor to do.

Four - Boaz shows favor towards Ruth.

Happenstance or God’s hand.

What happens when the circumstance doesn’t turn out with a happy ending like the two previous stories? Is God any less Sovereign in those times?

Peter and James

Both are condemned to die.

James is executed

Peter is miraculously saved.

Was God less sovereign in James’ life than he was Peter’s? How do their wives and families respond to the events?

Is God only sovereign in the good parts of our lives?

these three verses show that God is not only in control of the good, but He is in the bad as well.

In the midst of the grief that James’ wife was feeling, she should have been able to say even in the midst of my suffering, God you are in control of not only my life, but my husband’s as well.

In the midst of all we face, we must believe that God us sovereign and in control of it all. We must trust that He is working for our good even in the midst of the storm.

We must trust Him even when we don’t understand the circumstances we are going through.

Word of caution. When someone in in the midst of a storm, we need to be cautious of we speak. People may not be ready to hear how God is in control of the death of a loved one. Feelings and emotions are raw at times like these, and while the person ultimately may even realize the sovereign will of God, during these times, they may not want to recognize it. They may even try and reject it. It is during those times we need to listen and help the person work through the storm they are in. We must be sensitive to where they are in their walk at the time.