Daniel 4:34-35; Colossians 1:16
The sovereignty of
God is what separates the God of the Bible from all other religious teachings
or philosophies. When we say that God is Sovereign, we declare that by virtue
of His creation of all life and reality, His omniscient, all-powerful, and
benevolent rule, He is the Lord of all Lords, king of kings, and has absolute
control of time and eternity. Nothing will come into your life that He has not
permitted or decreed for your highest good.
The concept of
God's control over everything is called the “sovereignty” of God. Nothing gives
us more strength and confidence than an understanding of God's sovereignty in
our lives. God's sovereignty is defined as his total and independent control
over every creature, event, and circumstance at every moment in history.
Subject to no one, without the influence of anyone, absolutely independent, God
does as he pleases. God is in absolute control of the universe at every moment,
and everything that happens is caused or permitted by Him for His own perfect
purposes.
He is continually,
actively directing things, all things. But thinking that He needs our
cooperation, our help, or the exercise of our free will to carry out His plans
puts us in control over Him, which makes us God. Where have we heard that lie
before? It is a repetition of Satan's same lie from the Garden: “You will be
like God” (Genesis 3:5). Our wills are only free to the extent that God allows
us that freedom and no further. "All the people of the earth are
considered as nothing. He does what he wants with the powers of heaven and the
people of the earth. There is no one who can stay his hand, nor say to him:
“What have you done?” (Daniel 4:35) No one's free will prevails over God's
sovereignty.
Some people think
that Satan has control over a certain amount of life and that God is constantly
revising his plans to accommodate Satan's tricks. The Book of Job is a clear
illustration of who has sovereign power and who does not. Satan came to God
and, in effect, said, “Job only serves you because you protect him.” So God
gave Satan permission to do certain things with Job, but no more (Job 1:6-22).
Could Satan do more than that? No. God has control over Satan and his demons
who try to thwart God's plans at every turn.
The Bible is a book
that reminds us of God's presence in our lives and how He has a hand in
everything that happens to us. From book to book, God keeps reminding us that
He is always with us in every moment of our lives and that no part of our lives
is hidden or new to Him. This poses a big problem in understanding why evil
exists in the world. When you look around you see homeless children and
hundreds of people dying from diseases, wars, etc. With all the stress and
hassle that life has become, all the ups and downs that the Christian faces,
the personal struggles and so many trials, it is almost impossible not to ask:
Is God still in control?
The Bible assures
us of his presence in our lives, his power, and how he always rescues his people,
but when we look around us, this can seem like a lie and a kind of illusion
that is never made clear, so is God still in control? To understand this we
have to start with what the Bible says about suffering in John 16:33: “I have
told you these things so that in me you may have peace in this world you will
have affliction but trust in it.” "I have overcome the world."
1 Peter 4:12-13
says, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon
you to test you, as if something strange were happening to you, but rejoice
because you share in the sufferings of Christ so that perhaps you will rejoice
when his glory is revealed.” The Bible has made it clear that suffering is part
of human life; it is evident that the world is full of physical, emotional, and
spiritual suffering. Pain has been and will be an intrinsic part of The Human
Experience, there is no way to escape from it. There is no escape. There is no
problem-free life, even the most spiritual or wealthiest people in the world
will at some point experience a near-breaking point, even Jesus himself
suffered.
With that promise
of suffering and pain, the Word of God does not leave us hopeless. Jesus tells
us to have hope since He has overcome the world. The apostle Peter says that at
the end of our suffering, there will be an even greater glory. Romans 5:3-4
says, “Not only this, but we also glory in our sufferings because we know that
suffering produces patience, perseverance of character, and character of hope.”
The problem is that today's believer has reduced God along with his sovereignty
and power to a self-help genius who is supposed to give him everything that
makes him happy. People have dethroned God from his rightful place of authority
and turned him into the idle dispenser of prosperity, comfort, and wealth. They
care more about the things they receive than about who gives them. People often
confuse blessings with the one who blesses and takes the evidence of a perfect
life as His presence and power in their lives and dismiss God as absent when
things get difficult.
That is why when
suffering and bad times enter our lives and our world we begin to question the
power of God and doubt his existence and authority on earth. We begin to buy
into the devil's lies that God has no control over anything that happens to us
and that perhaps He is just as helpless as we are when we are in such difficult
times. When the decisions we make in life greatly alter the course of our
lives, and perhaps tragically when the what-ifs are endless and the endings are
more often sad than happy, we wonder if God is still in control.
The fact is that
God is always in control of the things that happen to us that test our faith
and his power is based on our perspective of him as God. God already knew that
the world would be a troubled place and he made sure we knew it too, so he gave
us a way to survive in a world that is full of hurting and evil men, a world
that continues to test our faith and has rejected God. The path is not
magically hidden by a secret code but is open to all. Believing the truth from
the Bible that God is in control, that is all God wants us to believe, even
when our circumstances may say otherwise.
God is still in
control even when things seem to be out of our control and we can't stop them,
and everything you do leads to a worse situation. There is not a single second
in which God will have left the place of authority that he occupies in your
life, there is not a day in which God will let something happen to you that
does not lead to your good, in the end, there is no day. That God will not
bring you closer to his good and perfect will for your life, even if it means
putting you in a difficult situation. God is always in control in good times
and bad. As a believer, we should know that life is not meant to be all
happiness and roses for you. Coming to Jesus was not intended to end life's
challenges or close the door of trials and difficulties; if anything, it only
invited more difficult moments for the elevation of your faith. If you are in Christ,
you will be tested more than anyone else, just as gold has to go through fire,
God has to test us and refine us until we become the shining golden instrument
ready for His use.
Hard times should
not make you lose hope or despair in life when you are in Christ, he does not
take away the storms of life but rather gives you peace and comfort within the
storm, the kind of peace that the Bible considers, and it surpasses all human
understanding. Although that difficult moment may be too painful to bear and
for a minute you are tempted to believe that God has lost his place of power in
your life. I assure you that God is still in control; He did not simply create
all things and set them in motion without controlling them. God's sovereignty
is an essential aspect of who He is. He has supreme authority and absolute
power over all things. He is very active and in control despite the perplexity
of his circumstances.
I often think about
what it was like for work to be a very rich man with an amazing big family, but
one day he wakes up and before nightfall, he has lost everything, his animals,
houses, servants, and children, all in one day, In fact, within hours when Job
received the news of the misfortunes that had befallen him the Bible says in
Job 1:20-22 before this Job stood up and tore his cloak and shaped his head
then he fell to the ground in worship and said: “naked I came out of my
mother's womb and naked I will depart, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken
away, praise the name of the Lord.” Job did not sin by accusing God of
wrongdoing.
It would have been
so easy for Job to get angry at God and ask him where he was when everything
that happened to him happened Job 2:10-12 says but he said to him “You spoke
like a woman who lacks moral judgment if we accept the good that comes from God
we do not We should also accept the bad in all this work, we do not sin.” In
what he said we must understand that God being in control is not another phrase
for good things, he is not only in control when our lives are going well, when
we are healthy, happy, at peace, surrounded by our loved ones and we have money
to You can sponsor vacations or anything like that.
His control is not
evidenced by the material success in our lives or by the fact that we make the
right decisions all the time. God is always in control, he has the entire earth
in the palm of his hands, he is the Lord of times and seasons, and he rules the
seas and the land. He controls how long you close your eyes to sleep and open
them when you wake up, he is always actively involved in your life, the things
you do, the decisions you make, the people you meet, the jobs you do, and then,
simply, everything you do. He keeps everything under his power and control and
always works together for the good of those who love him and those who have
been called according to his purpose; Romans 8:28.
No amount of pain
or suffering should make you doubt God's authority in your life. I just want to
encourage you and assure you that God is still in control and you have nothing
to fear. It may seem like the whole world is collapsing beneath your feet, but
believe me; God is in control of what you may be going through. The darkest
phase of your life and no one seems to be getting close, but God says he is in
control, relax and trust in his power and sovereignty over all things, he has
promised that no temptation will come to you that you cannot overcome. Be
encouraged and stay firm in your faith. Look to God because only from him can
you receive help, trust in him in times of trial and you will persevere in everything
to be victorious in him. Let God be your strength and hope in anything that
comes your way, never forget that he is always in control.
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