The triune God who is perfectly holy, perfectly wise, perfectly good, perfectly just, perfectly perfect in His essence and all of His actions is in precise and scrupulous control of all things. His will cannot be thwarted and all He has decreed and only what He has decreed comes to pass.

We live in an everchanging world. Scientific consensus changes. Political platforms change. Moral standards seemingly change from one day to the next.

In such an era of uncertainty, is there any place for the Christian to find stability and comfort? The biblical answer, of course, is a resounding yes and amen. The meticulous rule of God over this world is a solace for the Christian soul.

God’s sovereign control is our unshakable foundation. All Christian confidence lies in this truth! Even when we cannot see it, we know God is actively working out His perfect will in every detail of life.

In this post, we’ll explore what it means for God to be sovereign, not as a concept for debate, but as a truth that should fill our hearts with hope. It’s a precious and indispensable doctrine that points us to trust Christ fully and rest in God’s unchanging control over all things.

What should come to our mind when we think of the sovereign of God? First,

Awesome Aseity

When we think about God’s sovereignty, we should remember His awe-inspiring self-sufficiency. Job says to Yahweh, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).

It is significant that God’s covenant name is used (Job 42:1). Our triune God is the eternal I AM (cf. Exodus 3:14). ‘Aseity’ is a term that simply means God exists from Himself—He depends on nothing and no one.

The sovereignty of God reminds us of God’s uniqueness. In this particular sense, there is no Venn Diagram you can draw whereby God overlaps with anything else. He is in His own circle infinitely distinct from His creation. He is the Blessed and Only Sovereign (cf. 1 Tim. 6:15).

Like Job, the sovereignty of God ought to cause us to put our hands to our mouths and simply worship. Only God is awesome–we use this word far too cavalierly.It is this God Whom we are called to adore. A God whose will is not changed by you. A God whose plans are not frustrated by creation. A God who is independent.

The sovereignty of God draws our mind to His awesome aseity. secondly, to His:

Absolute Authority

The Lord’s rule is His alone. Question 10 of the Baptist Catechism asks: What are the decrees of God? It answers, “The decrees of God are his eternal purpose according to the counsel of his will, whereby, for his own glory, he hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass (Eph. 1:4, 11; Rom. 9:22-23; Is. 46:10; Lam. 3:37).”

What God eternally decrees to happen, happens and nothing that happens can or does happen apart from His decree.

God is meticulously sovereign over nature. Commentator David Howard notes, “God rules over all natural laws and can do whatever He chooses to do.” His way is in the whirlwind (cf. Nahum 1:3).

God is sovereign over nations. God plants nations and plucks them up. God builds nations and breaks them down (cf. Jeremiah 1:10).

How can God do this? Because He has absolute authority. He alone has the sovereign right to do with His creation what He wants.

God is sovereign over individuals. No person is in control of his or her first birth. You did not choose your parents. Your country. The time period in which you were born. The circumstances surrounding your birth. God displays His authority over all of this.

God is also sovereign over the salvation of individuals. Romans 9:18 is quite clear:“So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.” We know Paul is speaking of individual salvation here because of the very objections he anticipates in v.19ff.

God has absolute authority over salvation. He will save whom He will for His glory because He is sovereign. This is His right. He rules over all.

Awesome Aseity, Absolute Authority, thirdly, God’s Sovereignty draws our minds and hearts to His:

Accomplishing Ability

No purpose of God can be thwarted. God is not only able to accomplish all that He desires to accomplish, but He actually does accomplish all that He ultimately pleases to accomplish. A few more verses to consider:

• PSALM 115:3—Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

• PROVERBS 16:33—The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

• PROVERBS 21:1—The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

• DANIEL 4:35—all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

• AMOS 3:6b—Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?

• ISAIAH 46:9-10—remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose…’

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