Sovereign

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:15-17 NIV)

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Revelation 4:11 NIV)

The God revealed in the Bible is the creator and sustainer of all things. He is not just some local, or national God. He is the God of the universe - outside it, greater than it and responsible for it. As Paul says to the Colossians, For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

This Biblical God is sovereign. He is ruler over all He created. Psalm 135, verse 6 says: The LORD does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. The nature of God's sovereignty has been discussed and argued over the centuries. The extremes (which very few people actually believe) range from complete human autonomy to complete predestination. In one extreme, there is no God and humans are moral free agents. The logical conclusion of this view is that we humans are responsible for everything that happens, including evil. In the other extreme God is completely sovereign, and we are predestined to heaven or hell. The logical conclusion of this view is that we humans have no freedom to choose, we are pawns of God, and He is responsible for everything, including evil.

Biblical truth balances these extremes by God's grace. Scripture claims God loves us so much He limits His own sovereignty in giving those made in His image the real power of choice. He wants us to love Him like He loves us, and He knows that love isn't love if we have no choice - it's coercion. And so God maintains His sovereignty and has the final say in all things. Yet He does not force us to obey Him or love Him. He allows us to choose. And God is big enough and wise enough to take into account billions of human choices and still accomplish His sovereign will.

God chooses the choices we can choose from. Within those choices, we are free to choose to love and obey Him or reject and rebel against Him. Perhaps the single greatest example in the Bible is the interplay between God, Moses and Pharaoh in the book of Exodus.

God sends Moses to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, time after time, asking him to let His people go from slavery so they could leave Egypt and worship Him. Time after time, Pharaoh refuses. Time after time, Scripture says either "Pharaoh hardened his heart" and would not let the people go, or "the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart" so he would not let them go. So was Pharaoh just a pawn, manipulated by the God of heaven who did not really give him a choice? It may appear so on the surface, but there is another perspective to consider.

The Hebrew word translated "hardened" means something just a little different. It has the clear meaning of "strengthened". The LORD strengthened Pharaoh's heart. The LORD made stronger the rebellion that was already present in Pharaoh's heart. Rather than taking away the king's free choice, God used his choices to refuse the God of the universe to display His supernatural abilities and His superiority over Egypt's gods.

Take a frying pan and put it on the stove. Turn on the heat. Add butter. The butter melts. Add eggs. The eggs fry. They fry hard if you keep the heat on. The same heat that softens the butter hardens the eggs. God's call to release the people and His wonders performed at the hand of His servant, Moses, would have resulted in immediate release for His people if Pharaoh's heart were like butter, rather than like eggs. God strengthened what was already there, and used the king's choices to accomplish His sovereign will.

God is sovereign. His good and perfect will is going to be done in the end. We get to choose to cooperate with His will or rebel against it. We get to choose to love and obey Him or reject and disobey Him. We are made in His image with this glorious and frightening power to choose. Ultimately, God is taking this fallen, broken creation - including us humans - to a glorious new heaven and new earth and eternal Kingdom of life and love and goodness and grace. Nothing will prevent His completing this redemption because God is sovereign. And that can give us hope as we live in the murky swamp of this fallen world and wonder, "How long, O Lord? How long?"

I believe it is God's goodness and love along with His holiness and sovereignty that give life and meaning to a great promise in Scripture:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28 NIV)

The Sovereign One can work in all things to bring good into the lives of His people. He is not only able, He is actively working for good, even in the cruel, broken, sinful things that happen in our lives and in our world. He invites us to walk with Him into freedom and life and love and joy. What will we choose?