Our Bible verse for today: “He has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.” Psalm 103:19 (NIV
Our thought for today: “God is sovereign”
When we say that God is sovereign we mean that He rules and reigns over all creation. He has a comprehensive plan for world history and He is fully able to carry it out. Because He is the supreme ruler of the universe, and He has perfect knowledge, and He is all-powerful, He can and will accomplish His plans in His time and in His ways.
Interestingly, He has chosen to administrate His sovereignty in conjunction with human responsibility. In other words, He works in partnership with us in order to accomplish His purposes. The problem with that of course, is that God is perfect but we are not. Therefore when we get involved in God’s activity we frequently make a mess of things. God then must take corrective action (often by other means and using other people) in order to accomplish His ends. But even with our missteps, disobedience, and rebellion, He acts as necessary to accomplish His purposes.
It is our imperfections not God’s, which create all the problems in the world. But when that happens, God simply reaches into the messes we have created and He brings good things out of them. That’s one of the applications of Paul’s statement in 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.” He reaches into the middle of bad situations (many of which have been created by us or by others contrary to His will) and He brings good things out of those messes.
There is much about God and His ways that we simply are not able to understand, but we do know enough about Him to trust Him. He is God, and He is good. He is also sovereign over His creation and fully able to accomplish His good purposes for creation in general, for the human race overall, and for you and me in particular.
Spend some time this morning thinking about the sovereignty of God. To really make it personal, Jeremiah 29:11-13 might be a good passage to meditate on and to praise Him for, “For I know the plans I have for you” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Oak Hill Baptist Church