He IS Sovereign

" The sovereignty of God is often questioned because man does not understand what God is doing. Because He does not act as we think He should, we conclude He cannot act as we think He would. This is the essence of God’s sovereignty; His absolute independence to do as He pleases and His absolute control over the actions of all His creatures. No creature, person, or empire can either thwart His will or act outside the bounds of His will. Confidence in the sovereignty of God in all that affects us is crucial to our trusting Him. If there is a single event in all of the universe that can occur outside of God’s sovereign control then we cannot trust Him. His love may be infinite, but if His power is limited and His purpose can be thwarted, we cannot trust Him." -Jerry Bridges

The sovereignty of God is something not easy to get our minds around, in fact it is entirely impossible, yet faith in it is absolutely demanded by the Word. What I have come to realize is that no matter how much I grow in the knowledge of who He is, I will never "arrive" so to speak in my understanding and/or full comprehension of who He is, in His character and His being. I often have wondered how much I would have to read in the Word, how "mature" I would have to be in Him, how long I would have to ask for Him to reveal Himself to me in order that I might truly KNOW Him, as he really is; what I have found is a sweet and humbling reality that although I will always grow in my knowledge of Him, the depths of who He is are far beyond my grasp. I must do as I read in Psalm 46:10, "Be still and KNOW that I am God".

I have been reading through the book of 1 John daily and have come across this phrase in 3:2 "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." What an incredible statement to take hold of, to know that one day we will be made like Him yes, but more importantly that we will SEE Him as He truly is!! I don't think I can even get my mind around that, even try to get my mind around that.

In a world that is constantly changing, when my own life is constantly changing, I am faced like I mentioned above with a longing, a deep yearning to KNOW God, personally, deeply, passionately, intimately. He truly is, as Spurgeon said, the fuel my soul burns. As I seek to understand, to deepen my knowledge of Him, to in essence deepen my fellowship with Him, I find myself more in awe of who He is, and realizing more than ever that I have only scratched the surface of God. The sovereignty of God is one attribute, one character trait, one Truth that baffles my mind. Looking around at the world, the good and the evil, I often times find myself wrestling with the reality and the promise that He is sovereign over ALL things and working everything together as part of His plan for redemption, ultimately to bring glory to Himself. I wonder, to my own fault, sometimes how God could be working in certain situations in my life, and why certain things happen the way they do and as my emotions begin to deceive my heart and lead it astray from the Truth of the Word, I find myself kneeling at the foot of the cross begging God to increase my faith, to enable me to SEE, to trust and to hope in His precious promises.

I guess I relate to the apostle Paul in Romans 7 when he describes the tension going on in His own flesh. In the same way, I find my emotions trying to persuade me to believe that somehow I have control over a situation or that something just isn't right, that God couldn't be ordaining what is happening; and all the while my spirit is attempting to reign in my heart and my thoughts, taking each one captive to the obedience of Christ and saying BE STILL MY SOUL AND HOPE IN GOD; reminding me that HE is the everlasting Creator of the universe! So what do I do, what should we as believers do when we are tempted to question the sovereignty of God? I have found three things helpful in my own walk and pray they might encourage you as well as you seek to KNOW your Father more deeply.

TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE: In 2 Corinthians 10:5 we read "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."- This reality is crucial in our fight against our flesh and the spiritual battle going on daily. We must seek to reign in our thoughts, our emotions, and our feelings and check it to the Word of God; if it is unedifying, unfruitful, and a lie we must cast it aside. The moment we let our thoughts wander, entertain our hearts lusts or desires that are not of God, and allow ourselves to question the character of the Holy God is the moment we have opened ourselves up to temptation and sin.

THINK TRUTH: Philippians 4:8 says "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. "- If anyone knows me, they have heard this phrase come out of my mouth many times, it is what I like to say my "life motto" the Lord has given me. Psalm 42 is another great example of how we are to do this, how we are to preach to ourselves rather than to listen to ourselves. We must think on only things that are TRUE, and where do we find that Truth? In the Word of God, we must measure every thought, desire and deed to the Word and seek to only entertain those of excellence, that bring HIM glory!

CAST YOUR CARES AT THE CROSS: 1 Peter 5:7 says "casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." - In other words, get on your knees and pray! Replacing worry with prayer, doubt with prayer, fear with prayer, anything with prayer is what we are commanded to do. We need to remember the cross and fall humbly to our knees and cry out to our Father, the one who is sovereign and ruling and reigning over everything. He cares deeply and intimately about each one of His kids and the precious fellowship we can share with Him so often gets taken for granted. It is here at the foot of the cross that we find peace we don't understand, joy unexplainable, and hope neverending.

So as life changes, whether blessing or trial, may we always keep our eyes fixed ever on Jesus face, humbly seeking to KNOW him more and always being still and knowing He is God, the sovereign, ruling and reigning Creator of all!