As God’s creation we will inevitably come realize that many of our struggles are often the result of a collision between our plans and God’s plans. Although you knew exactly what you wanted to accomplish and those things that you were determined to avoid, your life didn’t unfold as you planned. In some scenarios, it seems as if life is totally out of your control. But, you must rest in the fact that every situation, circumstance, location, experience, and relationship of your life has been under the wise and careful administration of the Lord God Almighty.

He has known from the beginning exactly what He was going to do and exactly why He would do it. From His vantage point there are no slip-ups, no oversights, no accidents, no misunderstandings, and above all no mistakes. Nothing has fallen through the cracks. Let’s go back to Psalm 139: “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”

Wow! It’s a view of human identity that takes your breath away. I DO NOT write my own story- it has been written for me. My job is to do my absolute best to live right and righteously inside of the plan that God has written for me in the way I have been called by Him to live.

There’s a direct connection between delusions of personal sovereignty and the crushing disappointments that grip us in life. When we forget who we are, and begin to believe that it is our hands on the remote or keyboard of life, we can quickly see how delusional the idea of our sovereignty and our control really are. We should be working with dedication and perseverance to be who God has called to be – and to what great purpose; but we work more like small-time dictators and brokers, rather than resting in the Sovereign Almighty God who Was, Who God Is, and Is to Come. I know that is difficult to hear and receive. However, if we can somehow see it through the lens of living a life of greater purpose and significance than simply what we see before us (temporal vs. eternal), it can help us process to the truth that is needed. Perhaps we need to just have it said, “Our families, our relationships, our finances, our careers, do not need our control or authority – but rather the control and authority of the Sovereign God.

God’s Sovereignty

God is sovereign. You and I are not. This isn’t just theology; IT IS OUR IDENTITY. God is in absolute control, and He is infinitely good.  What must be understood about God’s sovereignty is His absolute and unrivaled rule over all His creatures and their circumstances. To affirm that God is sovereign is to affirm that God reigns, universally and invincibly – over all, and in all. God’s sovereignty implies His absolute ownership, authority, and control over all things. Now to be sure, that is a mouthful… so let’s take a moment with it.

First let’s consider that God’s sovereignty since the Creation has been conveyed in what He has been called by name. Understand that God did not just get a title given to Him – described by the mighty acts of His Creation by who He actually is and what He is capable of doing.  King – Lord – Sovereign – Yahweh – Creator God – Supreme – Jehovah, are just a few of the names He earned based on who He is – His divine attributes. It truly is remarkable… listen to some more and see if you agree. 

Elohim – God the Creator and Covenant keeper

Jehovah – Holy Lord, the revealer of truth

El Shadai – Almighty God nothing is impossible with you

El Lemosha’ot – The God who delivers me

Adonai – Sovereign Lord, before all things and over all things

Jehovah Rophe – the God who heals me

Jehovah Nissi – the God whose Banner over me is victory

Jehovah Jireh – the God who provides for me

Jehovah Tsidkenu – the God who is my righteousness

Jehovah M’kaddesh – the God who sanctifies me

Secondly, we must factor that God’s sovereign dominion and authority includes nature as well as human history. His control extends even to what seem to us to be random or “just by chance” events: 

Proverbs 16:33;17:1 

“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.” 

“Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.” 

Jonah 1:7 

“And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.”

Sometimes the Sovereignty of God can include natural events or as in the past, judgments that bring harm to God’s people or even appear to defeat God’s purposes.

Matthew 5:44-45

“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Psalm 2:1–6 

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then He will speak to them in His wrath, and terrify them in His fury, saying, “As for Me, I have set my King on Zion, My holy hill.” 

Acts 2:22-23 

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

Scripture translates God’s sovereignty into practical expression. Listen to the sovereign language and intent of these various passages: He “rules over all” (Psalm 103:19); He “does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3); His purposes cannot be thwarted or challenged. His “counsel … stands forever” (Ps 33:11; and “He works all things according to the counsel of His own will” (Ephesians 1:11).

The Word of the Sovereign Lord both commands and exemplifies our appropriate response to God’s sovereignty and authority: humility and joyful, worshipful submission and then ultimately surrender. Quickly, the doctrine and biblical theology of God’s sovereignty intersects with several important issues of our personal faith and belief:

Divine Sovereignty and Causation—God rules over all things and either ordains or permits all things, but He does not cause, originate, or initiate sin. 

James 1:13

“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.” 

God’s Sovereignty and Human Freedom—God sovereignly directs or rules over free human decisions.

John 19:23–25

“When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took His garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also His tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided My garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things, 25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.” 

God’s Sovereignty and Salvation—The initiative (God Speaks) for conceiving, providing, and applying salvation rests exclusively with God and specifically with God the Father, yet humans are responsible for believing.

Ephesians 1:3-13

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, 6 to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, 8 which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. 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, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”