(304) 757-9222 connect@tvcog.org

“Sovereign” means, “supreme power or authority.”  So, the doctrine of the Sovereignty of God means that God is the supreme power, the supreme authority.  Let me try to unpack why learning to rest in the Sovereignty of God is really important as I believe it can be a major antidote for the anxiety that many are wrestling with, and it can be a convincing witness for a world in turmoil that God is Who He says He is. 

We live in a time when peace is eluding many and fear is driving even more.  What could be more relevant than a relationship with the Ultimate Peace Giver?  What could be more stabilizing than the protection of the Rock of Ages?  Would could be more reassuring than knowing and walking daily with the God who cannot fail? 

God is Someone who is in control of all things, and we can know Him!  Not only can we know Him, but we can rest as we trust in His sovereign plan.  We have an awesome opportunity in these anxious times to point people to the God who is in control.  Anxiety gains an upper hand in the life of the person who doesn’t know that God is in control, that Someone is in control.  People who don’t know that God is in control are just left to their own instincts to do what seems best, and that just adds to the chaos. 

But what about those of us who do know that God is in control?  How are we doing with the chaos?  Are we spiraling along with the world or are we living confidently in response to the things that happen around us and to the things that happen to us?  Can people see the Sovereign God because we are revealing that His power and authority are guarding our lives?  The truth is anxiety can also overtake the Christ-follower who little by little begins to trust in self over the Sovereignty of God. Little by little, fear and doubt can undermine faith and soon even believers may be looking to earthly solutions instead of to a Sovereign God to help them stay on solid footing.  And earthly solutions have no lasting power, no lasting help, no lasting peace.  Drugs and alcohol, pornography and gambling, another purse or pair of shoes, the escape mechanisms of the world don’t give us peace or security.

When anxieties rise, when worry wells up inside of us, we must not trust what we feel, but we must trust what God has revealed about His Sovereignty. 

God existed before anything else.  Ps. 90:2-“Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 

God created all things.  John 1:3 says-“Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” 

God sustains all things.  Colossians 1:17-He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”  

God is above all things.  Ephesians 4:6-“There is one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”    God has the final say about EVERYTHING that concerns you.

God knows all things. I John 3:20 God’s knowledge is described as infinite and exhaustive.  No one can stump God.  No one can hide anything from Him.  He knows the end from the beginning. And not only does God know the end from the beginning, but He is working out the end from that beginning in your life.

God can do whatever He wants to do. Psalm 115:3-Our God is in heaven. He does whatever pleases Him.”  Isaiah 14:24-“Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen.”

God is in control of all things, including shifts in earthly power.  Daniel 4:17-“The Most High is sovereign over all kingdoms on earth and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of people.” Or how about Romans 13:1-Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

God is even sovereign over calamity. Amos 3:6-“When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?”  That’s a tough thought to wrap our minds around.  We know God has the power to stop hurricanes, tsunami’s, tornadoes, earthquakes and the like, but to read that there are moments when He is the One responsible for sending calamity, it can be hard to take in.  Yet, we know that God’s Sovereignty will never undermine His righteousness or goodness.  God has a righteous plan that He is fulfilling, even when disaster strikes. The Psalms tell us lightning, hail, snow, cloud, and wind all do His bidding. Perhaps those moments reveal glimpses of the judgment of God and are meant to help people not turn away in anger toward God, but in repentance to Him. Maybe they are to invoke a holy reverence for Him.  Or perhaps they are an invitation to believers to be involved in the mercy ministry of Jesus as efforts to rebuild from the rubble take place.  Maybe it is in the midst of calamity that the compassion of Christ is best seen by the world through His church.  Maybe disasters are just simple reminders of what I have already said.  We are not in charge!

“God’s thoughts aren’t our thoughts.  His ways aren’t our ways.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts.”-Isaiah 55:8-9 

I suppose where the rubber meets the road, what you and I must wrestle with, is do we trust God as Sovereign or not?  God’s going to be Sovereign whether we trust Him or not, but our faith or lack of faith in His Sovereignty will determine if we have perfect peace or if we live with crippling anxiety.  It will determine if others see God at work in us or if we will add to the anxiety of the world around us by responding chaotically to the chaos.  Those who truly trust God to be God are those who live convinced that “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” -Romans 8:28

What if the believer’s current struggle with anxiety isn’t so much a commentary on current culture or painful personal circumstances, but what if it is a commentary on the condition of his or her faith?  What if anxiety isn’t a symptom of something gone wrong, but is a signal that we don’t trust God the Sovereignty of God?  What if, we too, have been looking for security in the things of this world, a world that is always changing, is always in chaos, rather than to the Sovereign God?

God is surely who He says He is.  No believer would dispute that.  But why don’t we live like we believe God is who He claims to be?  Can we trust His Sovereignty in the midst of the struggle?  Can we take our hands off the distressing situations we face and fully transfer the weight of our lives into His everlasting arms? 

John 8:1-11 1Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the
Jesus prayed a lot. Prayer was routine for Jesus. Luke 5:16 says, “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
In both Matthew’s and Luke’s account of the Wilderness Temptations, Satan began his speeches with, “If you are the Son