Do you realize that anything you do or that comes to you comes from a Sovereign God? I love to learn about and keep in the forefront of my mind, that God is Sovereign over every detail of our lives; anything that touches us has been filtered through his loving hands.  I have written several blogs about the Sovereignty of God, I think if you can nail this point down, it makes everything else clearer, and it will grow your faith and hope, just as it has done for me.

 

Many scriptures teach us about God’s Sovereignty.  Take Psalm 135:6 “The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.” Did you catch that, “The Lord does whatever He pleases?”  Let’s go on, Psalm 7-14 “He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants. 10 He struck down many nations and killed mighty kings-11 Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan and all the kings of Canaan-12 and he gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to his people Israel. 13 Your name, O Lord, endures forever, your renown, O Lord, through all generations. 14 For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.”

 

Last night it stormed, the winds howled for hours. I could hear limbs being tossed onto my roof and wondered how things would look this morning. As I am typing I am listening to the wind, this verse speaks volumes to me. The wind I am hearing came from storehouses that God has. Have you ever thought of what would happen if God let everything he holds back and keeps stored up come at us? (One day His wrath will be poured out.)

God drove out other people groups, conquered nations so that his chosen ones would receive the inheritance he had promised them. Even today he is fighting the enemy and protecting and providing for his children. He is working on our behalf to bring about the inheritance he has promised to those who believe in him and have been saved. There is a future day out there when the last trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will rise first and we who belong to him will be caught away into the air to meet him. However, those who do not know him will experience that final wrath being poured out because of their unbelief.

 

In Daniel 4:35 we read: “All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” God created all we see, and he created man. Without God having breathed His very own breath into man, man would not be here. He made man a living thing. Genesis 1:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; man became a living being.”  We, His creation has become such an arrogant lot that we think we have a right to question those things God brings our way, whether illness, death, loss of money or properties, etc.

 

Without him, we are nothing and have nothing. We do not get to choose what God does or does not do. Romans 9:19-21 “One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?” “Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’

21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?” God is not saying that some are of more worth, but that he, “The Creator,” has control over all he has created.

 

So, knowing that God controls all we see and all we are, what should our response be? We can do nothing without Christ, nothing. None of our so-called plans could come to fruition unless this Sovereign God decided that they would. He is the one who puts inside of us the will and the drive to accomplish anything that comes our way. Our response should be one of a humble and contrite heart, one who fears God and understands that God’s ways are higher than ours. Our response should be to bow our knees and seek him in all we do. Our response should be one of repentance. Our response should be to read his word and pray, to seek him daily for all things, to seek his kingdom and his righteousness.  Matthew 4:4 “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

 

Do not deceive yourself into thinking that you are in control. Do not think that just because you “got away with it,” that you did. God sees and knows everything going on not only on this earth but inside of us. He can see even the thoughts and intentions of our hearts and minds. Nothing is hidden from this Holy God. Jeremiah 17:10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruits of his deeds.”  So, you did not “get away with it, God allowed it to be used in your life.

 

Do you want to receive blessings from God? I know I do. And because I do, I read his word and meditate on it, I seek his counsel in prayer.  I want to walk worthy of the calling he has set before me, in the big things of life and even those little things that no one else may see, God sees.  Even in the depths of my heart, where no one sees but God.  I used to think that I had some say in my life, and I do, but not as much as I thought. My free will is not so free. I was bought with a price, and that price the blood of Jesus.  God has allowed me to make stupid decisions; he has allowed me to fall hard and he has used those things to show me his faithfulness and goodness. To do a work in me that would otherwise not have happened. God hates sin, but he allows it.  Even sin is under God’s Sovereign authority.  Sin and the devil have to bow to God the maker of all things.

 

Right now as we are walking through these weeks-long restrictions many are getting angry at God. Questioning his reasons for allowing it and some do not even recognize that He has control over it. They still don’t get it. They are continuing to exist in fear and look to man to make it all better. If a man comes up with an answer to this virus, it will be because God put it in their mind and heart to find an answer.  Man still thinks he is in control, “he’s got this.”  God has allowed it, and His word tells me that he is in control. I can rest in that. I can trust my Creator to do what is best for me. Does that mean that no ill will can touch me? No illness can harm me? That death may not claim me?  No, it means simply that God has a plan for my life and he will work it out His way, and in His timing. We have been promised trials and tribulations in this life. John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” God allows them to strengthen us, to make us bow the knee and to lean in a little closer, to look up and see our need of God.

 

God can give you “a peace that passes understanding” even while you are going through trials and tribulations. We can have this confidence if God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

 

I will leave you with a little homework. Get in the word, dig it out for yourselves, realize that God is in control and He is with you and will give you the strength and peace you need when you need it. He never leaves us, and He hears us always.

 

James 4:7

Hebrews 10:35

Romans 12:12

Romans 8:35

James 1:2-4

Philippians 4:6

Isaiah 41:13

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Romans 5:3-4

Jeremiah 33:3

 

Be blessed, my friends. Remember who is in control, He is Sovereign over every detail and He is able.