Sovereign
God is sovereign. That is clear from even a cursory reading of the Bible. The question is...what does that mean for you, for me, for our lives?
For some Christians, "sovereign" means God is in control of absolutely everything. God decides every single detail of your life and mine, and he even decided from before creation who would be saved and who would be damned. That means that, from before you were born or you were even a "twinkle in your Daddy's eye," you were destined for either Heaven or Hell. And you have no choice in the matter, because God is sovereign.
For others, "sovereign" doesn't go quite that far, but God's sovereignty means that "everything happens for a reason." If we were just wise enough, we could discern a reason behind every thing (and usually we apply this only to "bad" things) that happens to us. That child who died of cancer, that drunk driver who ran the stoplight, that man who came into your bedroom every night to abuse you, the plane that flew into a building—all of those things have a reason. And that means, when you get down to the ground level, that God caused those things. God did those things to teach us something. To teach us a lesson. Logically, then, it's hard to believe that God is good when God is doing all these cruel things. (This, by the way, is the struggle many atheists have with belief in God.) God is sovereign.
But is that what the original Biblical writers meant when they used this word to describe God's sovereignty? The word "sovereign" refers to a king. A "sovereign" is a "supreme ruler," but does that mean that the king (or queen, but more likely a king in Biblical days) decides every little thing for every little person? Or does it mean that the king, rather, owns it all, stewards it all, shepherds it all, cares for it all? Does that mean, rather, that the king is responsible to bring goodness to the kingdom no matter what outside circumstances might occur? A sovereign isn't responsible for deciding what you wear today. A sovereign hears requests from the folks in the kingdom and responds. A good sovereign cares for his kingdom.
Now, could God take control? Absolutely! God is all-powerful in a way that a human sovereign is not. So why doesn't God? Why doesn't God stop the earthquakes and the murders and the suicide bombers? Well, far be it for me to speak for God, but I think it's because he loves us. He gave us freedom to choose, even to make bad choices, and those choices break his heart like they do ours (even moreso). But he loves us too much to take away our freedom. It's a bit like how good parents are with their children. We watch them struggle to make decisions and yes, the easy thing would be to "swoop in" and make the decision for them, clean up the mess that's made by bad decisions, smooth it all over as if it never happened (or make sure that it doesn't happen). And some parents, granted, do that. But is that, really, love? Does it help the child ever stand on their own two feet? Or is love allowing our child to make mistakes, to make messes, and then loving them through it? Doesn't love want the best for the child? And doesn't that require that we allow them freedom, even the freedom to choose poorly?
There is much more to go into here than a brief (?) blog post can cover. My Calvinist friends will argue that such a view of sovereignty in some way diminishes God. I disagree. Rather, this view (an orthodox view, despite some Calvinist's arguments to the contrary) enlarges God. God is much more dynamic and able to interact with humanity rather than needing to have everything decided beforehand. If God has made every decision for us, then life is basically a movie he is watching. Why would we bother praying if everything has already been decided? Why should we bother sharing our faith if everyone who will be saved has already been chosen? Why do we bother doing anything?
But if God calls us to cooperate with him, to co-create with him, then what a privilege we have! We really are just a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8:5).
And we stand side-by-side with a God who will, one day, come as sovereign to reclaim that which is his. He will renew it, remake it, and live forever with those who are his in peace and joy. After all, it's really already his. As Abraham Kuyper once said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, 'Mine'!” Creation is his. You are his. I am his. And he is sovereign. He is king. He is ruler over all, caring for his creation. And one day he will redeem every square inch of it. That's our king!
For some Christians, "sovereign" means God is in control of absolutely everything. God decides every single detail of your life and mine, and he even decided from before creation who would be saved and who would be damned. That means that, from before you were born or you were even a "twinkle in your Daddy's eye," you were destined for either Heaven or Hell. And you have no choice in the matter, because God is sovereign.
For others, "sovereign" doesn't go quite that far, but God's sovereignty means that "everything happens for a reason." If we were just wise enough, we could discern a reason behind every thing (and usually we apply this only to "bad" things) that happens to us. That child who died of cancer, that drunk driver who ran the stoplight, that man who came into your bedroom every night to abuse you, the plane that flew into a building—all of those things have a reason. And that means, when you get down to the ground level, that God caused those things. God did those things to teach us something. To teach us a lesson. Logically, then, it's hard to believe that God is good when God is doing all these cruel things. (This, by the way, is the struggle many atheists have with belief in God.) God is sovereign.
But is that what the original Biblical writers meant when they used this word to describe God's sovereignty? The word "sovereign" refers to a king. A "sovereign" is a "supreme ruler," but does that mean that the king (or queen, but more likely a king in Biblical days) decides every little thing for every little person? Or does it mean that the king, rather, owns it all, stewards it all, shepherds it all, cares for it all? Does that mean, rather, that the king is responsible to bring goodness to the kingdom no matter what outside circumstances might occur? A sovereign isn't responsible for deciding what you wear today. A sovereign hears requests from the folks in the kingdom and responds. A good sovereign cares for his kingdom.
Now, could God take control? Absolutely! God is all-powerful in a way that a human sovereign is not. So why doesn't God? Why doesn't God stop the earthquakes and the murders and the suicide bombers? Well, far be it for me to speak for God, but I think it's because he loves us. He gave us freedom to choose, even to make bad choices, and those choices break his heart like they do ours (even moreso). But he loves us too much to take away our freedom. It's a bit like how good parents are with their children. We watch them struggle to make decisions and yes, the easy thing would be to "swoop in" and make the decision for them, clean up the mess that's made by bad decisions, smooth it all over as if it never happened (or make sure that it doesn't happen). And some parents, granted, do that. But is that, really, love? Does it help the child ever stand on their own two feet? Or is love allowing our child to make mistakes, to make messes, and then loving them through it? Doesn't love want the best for the child? And doesn't that require that we allow them freedom, even the freedom to choose poorly?
There is much more to go into here than a brief (?) blog post can cover. My Calvinist friends will argue that such a view of sovereignty in some way diminishes God. I disagree. Rather, this view (an orthodox view, despite some Calvinist's arguments to the contrary) enlarges God. God is much more dynamic and able to interact with humanity rather than needing to have everything decided beforehand. If God has made every decision for us, then life is basically a movie he is watching. Why would we bother praying if everything has already been decided? Why should we bother sharing our faith if everyone who will be saved has already been chosen? Why do we bother doing anything?
But if God calls us to cooperate with him, to co-create with him, then what a privilege we have! We really are just a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8:5).
And we stand side-by-side with a God who will, one day, come as sovereign to reclaim that which is his. He will renew it, remake it, and live forever with those who are his in peace and joy. After all, it's really already his. As Abraham Kuyper once said, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, 'Mine'!” Creation is his. You are his. I am his. And he is sovereign. He is king. He is ruler over all, caring for his creation. And one day he will redeem every square inch of it. That's our king!
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