Pretend you’re on an ocean liner headed from New York City to England. You and several thousand other passengers enjoy your days at sea, free to choose from dozens of activities—games, shopping, shows, sports, crafts, and more.
You can eat anytime you like, sleep whenever you feel drowsy, make friends among the other passengers or remain solitary. In other words, you make many choices during the voyage, but all the while the ship is headed towards its predetermined destination.
A.W. Tozer gave us this ocean-voyage illustration in his classic, The Knowledge of the Holy, to help us understand God’s sovereignty:
- Our all-powerful God wields total authority in the universe, just as the shipping authorities exercise sovereignty over the course of a ship.
- We’ve been given much freedom within the confines of God’s sovereignty to move about and make choices.
Now some folks take issue with God’s control. They want to direct the course of their life-ships. I for one find great comfort in the numerous, reassuring scriptures about God’s sovereignty.
For example, everything in heaven and earth belongs to Him. He is the glorious head over all, the ruler of all things (1 Chronicles 29:11-12). That includes us–those who know Jesus and belong to the family of God.
As our Heavenly Father, he provides for our needs, guides us through decisions, bestows many blessings, and more. What encouraging truth! The Almighty God of the universe is in charge of our lives as we submit to him. We don’t have to navigate alone.
The key, however, is submission. God is a gentleman and will not force himself upon us. He’s chosen to limit his sovereignty, to allow humans free choice.
Another reassuring truth: God is totally competent. We’ve all known inept leaders who couldn’t fulfill their responsibilities.
But our Ruler is supremely capable. Nothing is too hard for him (Jeremiah 32:17). As we focus on his complete sufficiency, our worries shrink in significance.
In addition, no plan of God’s can be thwarted (Job 42:2). What God says, happens.
His sovereign plan is efficient and goal-oriented. He works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his perfect plan (Isaiah 25:1).
God’s sovereignty is also employed with infinite wisdom (Job 12:13). No foolish decisions come from God’s throne!
And contrary to appearances, he does maintain over-arching rule on humankind (Daniel 4:35).
Consider how circumstances must have seemed to the people of Judah as the barbaric Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B. C., murdered all the nobles, and took thousands of Jewish captives to Babylon.
That wasn’t an isolated case of oppression either. Good people have suffered at the hands of the wicked for eons, and it breaks our hearts. It breaks God’s heart too (Isaiah 63:10).
Our question of why God allows bad things to happen to good people doesn’t always get answered. We’re not privy to everything God knows or all the reasons behind his decisions (Romans 11:33-36).
What we do know is this: evil never wins in the end. Every evil empire of history that rose in prominence and power eventually fell in ruin. Our sovereign God knows what he’s doing.
And he will have the last word.
So when the squeaky wheels of worry, doubt, or fear begin to spin in your head, and you wonder, Who’s in Charge Here?, apply the oil of gladness, delighting in who God is—your all-powerful, all-knowing, all-wise, and yes, in-control God!
Take joy in the knowledge that “if God is for us, who can be against us” (Romans 8:31)?
And rest in thIs affirmation: “from him and through him and to him are all things” (Romans 11:36, emphasis added).
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Sovereign Lord of the universe, I bow in worshipful wonder of your magnificence. Your greatness shatters all boundaries! I stand in awe of your vast power and infinite wisdom, always at work in the world.
But for those times when I cannot understand your plan or your ways, help me stand in the truth of who you are.
(Revised and reblogged from February 26, 2015, while we enjoy the company of out-of-town family.)
Photo credits: http://www.commons.wikimedia.org; http://www.heartlight.org (2); http://www.dailyverses.net; http://www.canva.com; http://www.dailyverses.net.
From the Inside Out 