EVERYWHERE, EVERY MOMENT GOD IS SOVEREIGN!

Dear God-Seekers!

I remember when little Thomas Watkins learned that he could tumble safely OUT of his shallow wading pool, crawling over the soft sides. Ah, sweet freedom! Giggling and splashing, I can still picture him climbing in and out, in and out, in and out! Interestingly about the same time he learned to stand with bold, one-year-old courage, gripping his bed rails, hoisting a chubby leg upward attempting to crawl out of his crib. Freedom did not quickly there! (Not too fast, Thomas! This is your wise, old Gram speaking!)

Who set up his water-filled boy pond? Who watched his every movement so that he didn’t knock out any of his new teeth? Who picked him up when he fell on his head over the edge, wiping his tears? Who patiently taught him how to fall on his diaper-padded bottom when he cried out fearfully, in the standing position, not knowing where to go from there? His mommy, of course! Kim, our daughter, daily paved the way for Thomas, tenderly guarding his steps, and even putting up gates to keep him away from danger! She made sure he was fed and tried gallantly to keep him clean. She’d lay down her life for him. And by the way, so would his daddy, Brax! After all, they together physically gave him life!

It’s a loving scene, isn’t it? Our relationship, our life here on earth with this glorious God on whom we’ve been mediating, is set up in much the same way, wouldn’t you say? Our Creator, the Sovereign God, or Blessed Controller, as Ruth Meyers calls Him, knows the right, the best way! He set it up! HE is always there, always knowing, powerful to make or break every situation, and on top of it all He loves us so deeply. Through the Only Begotten Son He laid down His life for us. He took the fall for us. He now daily fills His followers with life through the Holy Spirit.

But in spite of that love, this idea of a ruling Lord,

a controlling Father,
a wall-making or, for that matter, a wall-breaking God just rubs us the wrong way.
We simply struggle with wanting to push back.
Why?
We are the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve!

From the beginning THE Sovereign God created us beings of choice rather than robots or puppets.  Even with eyes wide open watching the Creator’s perfect control of all things, Adam and Eve in a spot to enjoy HIM to the fullest, having all they needed, wanted TOTAL control. They wanted FREEDOM from all boundaries. You know the rest of the story and since that time, in the same way our Blessed Controller has not changed in His perfect love, guidance, and provisions, we continue to battle surrender.

One God Seeker responded with words that represent many of our hearts struggling to just rest in all that HE IS:

I think God is finally starting to get through to me.  It’s taken 40 years… I’m slow to figure something out, but when I’ve got it, I’ve really got it!  I am FINALLY getting to where I’m not constantly asking WHY? WHY? WHY? and just accepting that God is God and that’s it – there’s NOT a why, at least that we can understand.  I don’t like it at all – faith is still hard for me, but at least I am realizing that’s what faith is really all about.  I listened to the Book of Job on an audio Bible and it was SO HARD.  I really don’t like that book.  I think the reason why I’ve never been able to trust God with my day-to-day life is because when it came down to it I didn’t really believe that he was trustworthy because I was at some level demanding an explanation for every time I felt He let me down.  I’ve finally gotten sick and tired enough of trying to handle everything myself and utterly failing that I’m starting to actually consider another tactic!   I’ve still got a long way to go but at least I feel like I’m moving down the road not stuck!

Are you aware of the regular touch of our Blessed Controller? Do you see it in others? Two young parents continue to impact us as they proclaim God to be the loving, listening, responding Sovereign God even in heartache. It’s well worth your time to view this short video clip about Eliot Mooney, a little boy who lived 99 days…

www.99Balloons.org <http://www.ignitermedia.com/products/iv/singles/570/99-Balloons>

Join me, will you, this week in mediating on OUR BLESSED CONTROLLER, EVER ACTIVE IN OUR LIVES, AND LOVER OF OUR SOULS! Scripture tells us and “our own swimming pools of life” show us that, indeed, in Him we live and move and have our being – He won’t go….


 

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EVERYWHERE, EVERY MOMENT GOD IS SOVEREIGN!

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Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
SOVEREIGN - ADJECTIVE
1a: superlative in quality : excellent  b: of the most exalted kind : supreme <sovereign virtue> c: having generalized curative powers <a sovereign remedy> d: of an unqualified nature : unmitigated  <sovereign contempt> e: having undisputed ascendancy : paramount  2 a: possessed of supreme power <a sovereign ruler> b: unlimited in extent : absolute   c: enjoying autonomy : independent   <sovereign states>3: relating to, characteristic of, or befitting a sovereign
SOVEREIGN - NOUN
one possessing or held to possess sovereignty  b: one that exercises supreme authority within a limited sphere c: an acknowledged leader : arbiter


Definition by MIT –
SOVEREIGN – holding the position of ruler, royal, reigning; independent of all others; above or superior to all others; controls everything, can do anything.
 

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The Bible says:

2 Chronicles 20:6 – O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.

1 Samuel 2:7,8 – The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lefts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor.

Job 42:2 – I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted.

Psalm 18: 30, 93:1, 115:3, 135:7, 145:13b – This God – his way is perfect…The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty…Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him…He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings the wind from his storehouses…and your dominion endures through all generations.

Psalm 50:12 b - …For the world is mine, and all that is in it.

Ecclesiastes 7:13,14 - Consider the work of God; who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider; God has made the one as well as the other.

Romans 8:28 – 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.

Matthew 10:29,30,31 – Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Acts 17:25-28a – He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else...and he determines the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him…For in him we live and move and have our being.

Ephesians 1:11,12, 22 – In him we were chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory…And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Hebrews 1:3a – The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

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Word of the Wise:

Herman Bavinck – Scripture everywhere affirms that whatsoever is and comes to pass is the realization of God’s thought and will.
 

God, and God alone,
is fit to take the universe’s throne.
Let everything with breath reserve its truest praise
For God, and God alone!
Steve Green
 

John Piper – It is not merely that God has the power and right to govern all things but that He does so always and without exception.

A.W. Pink (1886-1952) - The god of this century no more resembles the Sovereign of Holy Writ than does the dim flickering of a candle the glory of the midday sun. The god who is talked about in the average pulpit, spoken of in the ordinary Sunday school, mentioned in much of the religious literature of the day, and preached in most of the so-called Bible conferences, is a figment of human imagination, an invention of maudlin sentimentality. The heathen outside the pale of Christendom form gods of wood and stone, while millions of heathen inside Christendom manufacture a god out of their carnal minds.
 

And Israel,
who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it.
How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God,
they took over.
They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing.
They were so absorbed in their “God projects that they didn’t notice God right in front of them,
 like a huge rock in the middle of the road.
And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling!
Romans 9:31-33
 Eugene Peterson

Charles Ryrie – The word sovereign means chief, highest, supreme…(God) is the number one Ruler in the universe…In God’s case that authority is total and absolute. THIS DOES NOT MEAN, HOWEVER, THAT HE RULES HIS UNIVERSE AS A DICTATOR, FOR GOD IS NOT ONLY SOVEREIGN, HE IS ALSO LOVE AND HOLINESS. HE CAN DO NOTHING APART FROM THE EXERCISE OF ALL HIS ATTRIBUTES ACTING HARMONIOUSLY TOGETHER…The concept of sovereignty involves the entire plan of God in all its intricate details of design and outworking. Although He often allows things to take their natural course according to the laws which He designed, it is the sovereign god who is working all things according to His wise plan.
 

God is God
and I am not!
Stephen Curtis Chapman

A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) – To be sovereign, God must be all-knowing, all-powerful, and absolutely free.



C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) - God gave us the choice of being able to contribute to the course of His events in two different ways: 1) He made the universe in such a way that we can, in those limits, do things to it, and 2) He made His own plan or plot of history such that it admits a certain amount of free play, and can be modified in response to our prayers.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Ten thousand ages ere the skies,
Were into motion brought,
All the long years and worlds to come,
Stood present to His thought;
There’s not a sparrow or a worm,
But’s found in His decrees,
He raises monarchs to their throne,
And sinks them as He pleases.

Bill Bright – God reigns so supremely above all His creation that we cannot question any of His actions. Whatever God wants to happen will happen; His will cannot be thwarted.

The Westminster Confession of Faith – God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty that is neither forced, not by any absolute necessity of nature determined, to good or evil. (Ch. 9, sec. 1, drawn up in 1648)
 

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I wonder if you’re like me, on your way to eagerly embracing the deep love, intense power, and total safety of His Sovereignty, but still puzzled by the mysteries surrounding this BIG truth. For me personally, there continues a struggle with understanding how HE can control all things, every detail, and I can still have choice. After all, look at the God-control and man-choice both present in chapter 1 and 2 and 3 of Genesis:


God created them, male and female…And the Lord God commanded the man, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” …She took some and ate it… She gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate…They hid…


Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) nearly satisfies me with his explanation:

These two truths (1. God presides over all in providence and 2. Man acts as he pleases, and God has left his actions to his own will, in a great measure)…are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory; but they are not. It is the fault of our weak judgment… I do not believe (they) can every be welded into one upon any human anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the mind that shall pursue them farthest, will never discover that they converge; but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring. (From an August 1898 sermon)

But I especially want to thank A.W. Tozer for this story:

An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. (Or picture me on an airplane flying from Fayetteville to London typing away as I have done so many times…) Its destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of sovereignty.
On board the liner are several scores of passengers. These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined to them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, sleep, play, lounge about on the deck, read, talk, altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port.
Both freedom and sovereignty are present here they do not contradict each other. So it is, I believe, with man’s freedom and the sovereignty of God. The mighty liner keeps its steady course over the sea of history. God moves undisturbed and unhindered toward the fulfillment of those eternal purposes which He purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began. We do not know all that is included in those purposes, but enough has been disclosed to furnish us with a broad outline of things to come and to give us good hope and firm assurance of future well-being.

Tozer also says: THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD IS A FACT WELL ESTABLISHED IN THE SCRIPTURES AND DECLARED ALOUD BY THE LOGIC OF TRUTH. BUT ADMITTEDLY IT RAISES CERTAIN PROBLEMS WHICH HAVE NOT TO THIS TIME BEEN SATISFACTORILY SOLVED.

Observing the world as he sees it, in Crossing the Unknown Sea, David Whyte claims, “We are the one part of creation that can refuse to be itself.” That’s food for thought!

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A missionary friend and God Seeker in Peru sent this prayer a few weeks back. I’ll use it to close!

HURRAY, GOD!!!!!…for pursuing us, wooing us, and never letting us go! Thank you for binding us to you when our own hearts are so prone to wander. Thank you for being SO intimate with us…and refreshing us, correcting us, teaching us, enjoying us, loving us! AMEN!!!!!!

Surrendering to The Sovereign with you,
Sue

P.S.  Ponderings alone or with others –

1.  Before reading this communiqué on God’s sovereignty how did you define that aspect? Is it the same after reading all these descriptions?

2.  Why is God’s sovereignty so hard to swallow by most? Is it more or less easy to accept than other characteristics or description of God? Why?

3.  What are your thoughts on Tozer’s ocean liner description above?

4.  Do you use the word sovereign as an adjective or a noun? Does that change the understanding for you?

5.  How would you fill in the blanks at the end of these two statements, BECAUSE GOD IS SOVEREIGN I FEEL __________________________. BECAUSE GOD IS SOVEREIGN I CAN____________________________.