(84) The Sovereignty of God - Introduction

Let me suggest to you what I believe is one of the top ten most used but most misunderstood mantras of Christianity, “God is in control.” Christians say it when they want to find stability and encouragement in the face of frightening circumstances like the news of a serious illness. We say it when we want to believe we will make it through a tough financial time. Often, we will use it to try to bolster the confidence of a family member or friend who is hurting.

Then, there are other times we want nothing to do with this statement. For many Christians, when you are hit hard by the evil that is so prevalent in the world, we don’t quickly affirm that God is in control of the evil actions of wicked men.

And then, we don’t gravitate toward embracing God’s control when things continually don’t go the way we like. We don’t mind God being in control of everything as long as it fits with how we think things should be. We don’t mind celebrating the sovereignty of God as long as He doesn’t interfere with how we think things should go.

The sovereignty of God is possibly the most debated and easily misunderstood and misapplied of all the attributes of God. We will take this study one step at a time, relying heavily on scripture as our guide and beginning with a narrow focus on God’s sovereignty as an essential aspect of His nature. It is critical that we start with this focus on God and His nature as sovereign so as not to cloud or pollute the nature of God by thoughts of what this means to us and our supposed personal sovereignty over our own lives. In other words, we must focus on what scripture reveals about God’s sovereignty first, and later, think about what this means for us and our lives.

Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.  Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. (1 Chronicles 29:11-12 ESV)

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