God is all-knowing and all-powerful. He is in total control of all that has happened, is happening, and will happen. There is nothing that He can’t do and nothing that he doesn’t know. In the midst of his sovereignty, he allows all humans that he created to have free will. God has chosen to give all of us the ability to make choices and experience the consequences, whether good or bad. All that happens, God has allowed. What does all this mean to us on a daily basis?
God is a God of purpose, love, and order. His goal, for all of us, is that we would love Him and love others with all our heart, soul mind, and strength. He cares for us and loves us deeply all the time. He promises to be with us every moment of every day to help us be the person that God created us to be. We are never alone.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8: 31,32, 38,39).
God’s sovereignty matters to us as we daily live in a very broken world that is contrary to God’s plan. Pain and suffering are part of the lives we live until we got to live in Heaven. Because of God’s sovereignty, we do not have to worry, God is in control, even though sometimes it doesn’t seem like it. He will be there with us to help us navigate troubled waters and grow in wisdom through them.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7).
The sovereignty of God also gives us confidence when we make decisions. We ask for God’s will and pray about those choices that we need to make. Knowing that God wants us to choose what would best glorify Him when we do make the wrong decision, all is not lost. We know God is always faithful and can set us back on the right course. He wants us to learn from our mistakes so that we might grow in wisdom. He does not condemn us.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1,2).
That truth that God is sovereign impacts our sense of identity. When we understand how powerful God is and how much He loves us, we can know we are secure in Him. God defines us. We tend to identify ourselves by our failures, but God sees us as His child, who is forgiven. The world judges us by our performance, and God is pleased by our heart who follows him. We know that even though we make mistakes, that we matter to God. We can approach our Lord with confidence, knowing that we are His and that in the end, His way is always the best way. We know our future is secure, which frees us up to live each day to love God and others well!
“Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:26-28).