The Sovereignty of God

The word sovereignty has been used a lot in these recent months, maybe more than you are used to hearing it. So, why don't we take a little time out to look at what it is and some examples of what it looks like in the Bible, God's holy, inspired and inerrant word. And one conclusion we will come to and that is only One is sovereign in what happens around and to us. It is one of the incommunicable attributes of God, simply meaning we do not have the capability of possessing such an attribute.

A.W. Pink, great theologian in the early 20th century says, "We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the godhood of God. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that God is God." Shortly we will see how God declares in the scriptures and in the lives He has created in His image what this sovereignty looks like. It is God's ultimate Lordship and rule over the universe so that the divine is supreme over all else.

Also it includes both His power to do all that He wills and His rightful exercise of authority over His creation and His creatures. In His grace toward us, we might always refer to it as "unmerited favor." But it is so much more than that. A.W. Pink uses an example," To feed a starving tramp who calls on me is unmerited favor, but it is scarcely grace. But suppose that after robbing me that I should feed this starving tramp--that would be grace. Grace then, is favor shown where there is positive de-merit in the one receiving it."

Paul says, "but by the grace of God, I am what I am,"(1Cor.15:10). and, "And who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive?"(1Cor.4:7) And maybe we can look at a verse that will sum up all we will now see from the Scriptures in (Psalm 119:165) "Those who love Your law have great peace. And nothing causes them to stumble." His word is very pure, most wise, and infinitely valuable for us to listen to and adhere to, for our good and for our survival. Isaiah 26:3 says, "The steadfast in mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You.

In my 28 years in the GCC treasury ministry, one verse that helped me that I had written on my folder, to keep me in touch and aware of God's sovereignty in the church’s finances was (Ecclesiastes 7:13,14),"Consider the work of God, for who is able to straighten what He has bent. In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity remember, God has made the one as well as the other."

God declares He is sovereign to a prideful King Nebuchadnezzar, in (Dan.4:35) where he says "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." And verse 37 declares, "All His works are true and His ways are just."

(Psalm 115:3)"But our God is in the heavens, He does whatever He pleases." (Psalm75:6,7)"For not from the east nor from the west, nor from the desert comes exaltation, but God is the judge, He puts down one and exalts another." And in Ephesians 1:11, Paul says, "He works all things after the counsel of His will." He is sovereign in all things, and the believer can take rest, hope and peace in His promise in Romans 8:28, that He works all things together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

A.W. Pink says, "to deny the sovereignty of God is to enter upon a path which if followed to its logical terminus, is to arrive at blank atheism." We see our Lord Jesus calming waves, stilling winds, healing the sick, knowing all the days that are written for you before there was one of them.

One of the greatest theologians of all time, John Calvin, says this, "When we read, that at the prayer of Joshua the sun was stayed in its course,(Joshua 10:13); that as a favor to Hezekiah, its shadow receded 10 degrees(2Kings20:11), by these miracles God declared that the sun does not daily rise and set by a blind instinct of nature, but is governed by Him in its course, that He may renew the remembrance of His paternal favor toward us." So, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding," Solomon reminds us in Proverbs 3, and remember "He is always for you and never against you."(Rom.8:31