The fact that God is sovereign guarantees the stability of creation and everything in our lives. Our hope and faith are secure because God is sovereign, infallible, and unchanging.
Almighty God has sufficient knowledge, wisdom and power to do His will. His sovereignty is revealed in His ability to bring to completion everything that He has planned. God’s protection, provision and salvation is only possible because the God of love is sovereign.
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV84 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.
Only God Almighty can make a statement like that. He is sufficient to carry out every plan that He has for you. Listen to the declaration of God’s sovereign control.
Isaiah 45:5-8 NIV84 I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from Me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged Me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things. You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the Lord, have created it.
Isaiah 45:11-12 NIV84 This is what the Lord says— the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands? It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts.
God is Sovereign
Think about what this means. When God makes promises, He is able to do what He says. Every word that He speaks shall accomplish His plan. Heaven and earth will pass away, but God’s word will not fail. Throughout the Scriptures, we see God’s care over His children. Under the shadow of the Almighty they find shelter and safety. Noah and his family were saved. Moses and the Israelites were delivered. David testified of God’s protection and sovereign care. All of the judges, kings and prophets who abided in His presence gave testimony that God did what He said. Consider the sovereign God’s power to protect His people.
Psalm 91:7 NKJV A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.
Psalm 91:10-11 NKJV No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.
No one else can make these promises. Before Jeremiah had the opportunity to do anything good or bad, God exercised sovereign control over his life.
Jeremiah 1:5 NIV84 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.
The same message was given to the Apostle Paul, Isaiah, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and many others. You need to know that the Lord God Almighty knows everything about your life. Your heavenly Father knows the things that you need before you ask Him. He knows everything about you, but His sovereignty does not end there. God is able to accomplish every plan that He has for your life.
Listen to how God preserves and protects His people.
1 Samuel 2:9 NIV84 He will guard the feet of His saints…
Romans 8:28 NIV84 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.
Think about that! Almighty God knows what He is doing.
Even when you don’t understand or know what is going on, God is in control and He will work it out for you.
Do you remember Jacob’s son Joseph?
Early in Joseph’s life, God began revealing a phenomenal plan for his future. When God began speaking to him, Joseph was not able to understand it all. Because of what God had shown him in his dreams, his brother’s hated him. Finally, they sold him to slave traders. It looked like nothing good could ever happen in his life. It seemed that every plan would fail. God says, “I know the plans that I have for you…” In slavery, he was falsely accused and ended up in prison. After years in prison, God brought him out and he was exalted to the position God had planned. When Joseph’s brothers stood before him in Egypt, he told his brothers God’s plan.
Genesis 45:5 NIV84 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.
In everything that he faced, Joseph could see the mighty hand of God. God had a plan to save lives. God placed Joseph in the right place at the right time.
You need to know that the sovereign God is in control. God has a plan for your life.
You can go back to the beginning and find that God had a plan for your life and salvation.
Isaiah 46:9–10 NIV84 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.
These words show us God’s power, authority and sovereignty. There is no one like God. He knows the beginning and the end and controls the future. His purpose will stand and He does what He pleases.
Much of God’s sovereignty is witnessed in His plan of salvation.
When sins separated us from God and hid His face from us, God looked throughout time and found no one who could bring salvation.
Isaiah 59:16-17 NIV84 He saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so His Own arm worked salvation for Him, and His own righteousness sustained Him. He put on righteousness as His breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in zeal as in a cloak.
When He saw our helpless condition, God made plans to send a Redeemer and lift up a standard against the enemy. He promised, “A Redeemer will come.”
Isaiah 60:1-2 NKJV Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.
Hundreds of years before Mary gave birth to her son, God planned to provide a Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Isaiah 7:14 NKJV Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
The Lord our God is sovereign.
Consider the depth of God’s plan for your life. He has left nothing out of His preparations. To guarantee what He said would happen, God sent His Son. Isaiah was given this promise of God’s Redeemer.
Isaiah 53:2-6 NKJV For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, There is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Think about the depth of what God is telling us.God has taken sovereign action.
Through grace and mercy God has shown us the depth of His love. His salvation encompasses the whole need of humanity: spirit, soul, and body. God has taken your past, present, and future into account when He provided our Savior. He deals with past sins and their penalty. He saves us from the power of sin so we can now live in victory and have new life in Christ. We have the blessed hope that when our great God and Savior Jesus Christ shall appear we will be saved from the presence of sin.
When Jesus Christ became your Savior, God took into account your sorrows, griefs, iniquities, peace, and sicknesses.
1 Peter 1:18–19 NIV84 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
God has demonstrated His love for us when He sent His Son into the world so that we might live through Him, (1 John 4:9).
The Lord our God is Sovereign.
