The Sovereignty of God
reference : Tony Evans
To understand and cope with the unexpected, pain, problems, confusion and tragedies of life, it is essential for the born-again believer to understand the Sovereignty of God.
I like to call it the big picture!
The sovereignty of God means that God rules over all creation, nothing happens unless God causes it to happen or allows it to happen.
In His sovereignty, God says this is what I want to happen, or He says this is not what I want to happen,
but I am going to allow it to happen to cause what I want to happen to happen.
Therefore, God responds to life based on the decisions you make as you respond to life, whether for good or for bad.
Example:
Matt. 19: 3-9: Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”
And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, and said,
‘FOR THIS REASON, A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER
AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’?
“So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?”
He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives;
but from the beginning it has not been this way. “And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
Divine Providence.
Providence is the methodology God uses to do His ruling. Providence is that act of sovereignty that brings together diverse events and circumstances in order for God to accomplish His sovereign will.
Example:
1 Kings 22:19-23:
I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left.
“The LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’
And one said this while another said that.
“Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’
“The LORD said to him, ‘How?’ And he said, ‘I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’
Then He said, ‘You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so.’
“Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; and the LORD has proclaimed disaster against you.”
In providence God works behind the scenes in a hidden Isaiah 45:15: He hides himself, therefore God’s providence can look like luck.
God’s sovereignty and providence allows for and incorporates human freedom, meaning he gives you the opportunity to choose.
That is, under God’s sovereign guidance and control. According to believers, God governs creation as a loving father, working all things for good. Rom. 8;28
Destiny; Fate: The events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future.
Another thing we must understand and know is the sovereign providential nature of God: God is sovereign and providential in how He runs the universe and your life.
When you have a sovereign and providential understanding of God you will know and understand that there is no such thing as luck which is a form of idolatry.
Without the sovereign providential understanding of the nature of God, you will not be able to understand the complicated complex equations of life.
Nothing happens without God being aware. God rules over everything, sovereignty. Nothing happens by chance (Rom. 11:36)
However, God’s Soverenity has lines or boundaries you can’t move them or change them. Acts 17:26-28.
Within these boundaries God will allow you to make choices that will make you better off or worse off while He works behind the scenes in the little things and all things every single detail. In His providence God can turn things around on a dime in a second, a blink of the eye.
Nothing happens without God’s permission! 2 Cor. 3:12; Job. 1;1-12; Luke 22:31-34
Therefore, we must work with providence. And we know God causes all things work together for good for those who love God and who are called according to His purpose. Rom. 8:29
We know, we don’t think, we don’t speculate we know God causes! By directly making it or allowing it whether good or bad. Work together for good. It comes out beneficial for you. God is divinely orchestrating your life!
