So, you have thought a little about the sovereignty of God. You have always believed in it (in some sense), but how do you explain it?
One problem is that there is no natural example you can use. One of the reasons I think people really like using the "he made it, he owns it" argument is that it seems to resonate with something in our own lives, although, as noted yesterday, it really doesn't. None of us are sovereign over anything except in the most trivial of matters. Where I live, I cannot even burn the leaves in my yard without government permission.
So, we have to begin by explaining what it means to be sovereign at all. It means, in one sense, to be ultimately free. A sovereign person is a free person in every sense. He can and will do all that he desires and no one can prevent him (by strength) or block him (at law) or condemn him (in words) because he is sovereign. He can do all things.
We see part of this in some very old stories. When Abraham goes to Egypt, the pharaoh (king) can take Sarah to be pharaoh's wife, without asking. Pharaoh is sovereign in his kingdom and can do as he pleases. Of course, God stops him, because pharaoh's sovereignty is limited, but God's is not limited.
I think what makes sovereignty hard for people is not the concept (we like the idea of God as sovereign) but the working out, because the working out of His sovereignty hurts our feelings. To learn, as we must, that He is so much greater than we are is humbling. To realize that every moment of His existence is so much greater, so much freer, so much truer, than any of our moments, bothers us. We want to be sovereign. We want control over things and over our lives. We want our children to be what we want them to be, for example, not what God wants them to be.
The difficulty, for modern people, is to accept the sovereignty of another. We Americans are prideful, difficult people. We think of ourselves as free, as independent, as powerful, but we are not. God is sovereign over us as He is over all things.
So, step two in teaching about sovereignty is not just to declare but to embrace God's sovereignty. We must accept that He not only rules and reigns, but rules and reigns in all things. We must be willing to live the life He is giving us and to enjoy what we have, without moaning over what we do not have. In short, we must accept the truth we are taught in Ecclesiastes:
There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find
enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from
him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
Ecc. 2:24-25.
One problem is that there is no natural example you can use. One of the reasons I think people really like using the "he made it, he owns it" argument is that it seems to resonate with something in our own lives, although, as noted yesterday, it really doesn't. None of us are sovereign over anything except in the most trivial of matters. Where I live, I cannot even burn the leaves in my yard without government permission.
So, we have to begin by explaining what it means to be sovereign at all. It means, in one sense, to be ultimately free. A sovereign person is a free person in every sense. He can and will do all that he desires and no one can prevent him (by strength) or block him (at law) or condemn him (in words) because he is sovereign. He can do all things.
We see part of this in some very old stories. When Abraham goes to Egypt, the pharaoh (king) can take Sarah to be pharaoh's wife, without asking. Pharaoh is sovereign in his kingdom and can do as he pleases. Of course, God stops him, because pharaoh's sovereignty is limited, but God's is not limited.
I think what makes sovereignty hard for people is not the concept (we like the idea of God as sovereign) but the working out, because the working out of His sovereignty hurts our feelings. To learn, as we must, that He is so much greater than we are is humbling. To realize that every moment of His existence is so much greater, so much freer, so much truer, than any of our moments, bothers us. We want to be sovereign. We want control over things and over our lives. We want our children to be what we want them to be, for example, not what God wants them to be.
The difficulty, for modern people, is to accept the sovereignty of another. We Americans are prideful, difficult people. We think of ourselves as free, as independent, as powerful, but we are not. God is sovereign over us as He is over all things.
So, step two in teaching about sovereignty is not just to declare but to embrace God's sovereignty. We must accept that He not only rules and reigns, but rules and reigns in all things. We must be willing to live the life He is giving us and to enjoy what we have, without moaning over what we do not have. In short, we must accept the truth we are taught in Ecclesiastes:
There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find
enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from
him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?
Ecc. 2:24-25.