Sovereign God
We hear the word Sovereign applied to God quite often.
As I walked along a stream, it began to rain. I felt a drop on my mostly bald head. Where has that been? That drop. Did it come from the stream I am walking beside? Will it end up there? Which cloud? Did it take part in the Flood of Noah? The parting of the Red Sea? The baptism of Jesus? How many times have those molecules made the transit from cloud to earth to stream to ocean to cloud again? These are things that God is in charge of. He spoke those molecules into existence. He didn’t use language shorthand like we do. We say “water”. He said the actual thing we refer to as “water”. He sustains all things by His Word. He is still speaking. He knows exactly where every molecule, atom, quark, lepton …. has been and will be. He doesn’t refer to them as we do with our shorthand language. He refers to them as they are. He comprehends them completely. We apprehend them, barely. We assign words to these things.
He doesn’t know where they have been and will be by following them around. He knows these things because He determines them in advance. He is not just an observer.
He determined the laws of nature. Water falls. Water flows. Water conforms to shapes it is placed in. But He can change things. He can turn water into wine. He can heal. He alters the course of Creation, in conformity with His natural laws or in defiance of them. He can resurrect the dead. He is in control of the molecules and the life force that inhabits all of His Creation. His word is that life force.
He may or may not heal your loved one when you ask Him. He may have other plans for those molecules. His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. It’s a good thing. We couldn’t handle His thoughts. It is said that we use a small percentage of our brain’s capacity. Even at full usage, we could not think His thoughts. Perhaps we will know more about this when we get to Heaven but we will never be His equal. We are just a part of the Creation that He remains sovereign over.
We like to say that He is sovereign over every square inch of this Creation. That simply doesn’t do the situation justice. That’s merely physical. Include sovereignty over every definition in all of Creation and you’re closer to an accurate picture. Take the love of God for example:
The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell.
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care,
God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin.When hoary time shall pass away,
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall;
When men who here refuse to pray,
On rocks and hills and mountains call;
God’s love, so sure, shall still endure,
All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—
The saints’ and angels’ song.Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
The saints’ and angels’ song.
(The Love of God is Greater Far by Frederick Martin Lehman)
There are not enough molecules in all the world to write the real words of that song.
God’s Law declares that we are sinners destined to spend eternity apart from Him because He can’t allow sin in His presence. That applies to all of us and is the natural order of His Creation.
But God turned the Law into Grace. He altered the course of Creation for the redemption of His people by dying in our place.
Now we can, by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, stand in His presence.
God is Sovereign.
This was inspired as I was reading: Notes from the Tilt-a-Whirl: Wide-Eyed Wonder in God's Spoken World by N.D. Wilson
— Scott Chapman