According to the biblical record, King Solomon was the wisest and most powerful king of his time—perhaps of all time. We have this conclusion from no less an authority than God himself. Early in King Solomon’s reign, God appeared to him and basically gave him a blank check. He simply said to Solomon, “Ask what you wish Me to give you.” You may know this story already—Solomon decided to ask for wisdom, and in response God said, “Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days” (1 Kings 3:12–13).
We’ve been studying the words of this wise man for several months now in the book of Proverbs, and I think we certainly have seen some keen and penetrating insights into life. But perhaps the quality that truly made Solomon the wisest man around was that he acknowledged that God was even wiser! Solomon said this and more about God in the book of Proverbs, and today we’re going to study what this book teaches us about our Creator.
This subject is one that is of no small importance. Pastor A. W. Tozer once wrote, “What comes to our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Worship is pure or [impure] as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most [important] fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.”1 If this is true, then let’s allow Proverbs to clarify our mental image of God today!
What does Proverbs teach us about God?
I. God Knows Our Actions And Attitudes
This is a lesson that we teach our youngest Sunday School kids, but a man as wise as Solomon felt it was important enough to mention. Look at Prov. 15:3 [READ 15:3]. Here we are told that God watches everyone and takes note of our actions. Notice something about God’s knowledge here—His knowledge is first-hand knowledge. He doesn’t have to rely on someone else to tell Him what is going on—He observes everything first-hand, so there’s no possibility that a messenger got the story wrong or that details were left out.
Compare this with the knowledge of someone like the President of the United States. Our president has a tremendous amount of information available to him, but that’s only because we have a network of people around the world that collect information for him. Ambassadors, spies, our government allies—all of these people make information available to him, but this is nothing like God’s knowledge. God doesn’t need anyone to inform Him of anything. As Paul wrote in Romans 11:34, “Who has been his counselor?”
But God not only knows our actions—He knows our attitudes as well. He not only has an external knowledge of us, but an internal knowledge as well. Let’s read Prov. 15:11 [READ 15:11]. These two words—Sheol and Abaddon—are simply Hebrew words spelled out in English letters. So the first part of what I just read from the English Standard Version isn’t actually a translation—they just brought the Hebrew words into English in order to leave the interpreting up to us. Now some translations say, “hell and destruction,” and others say, “death and destruction.” I think “death and destruction” would be more accurate because the idea of sheol is not exactly the same as the idea of hell; its basically the idea of the grave or the afterlife. The destruction mentioned here would probably refer to the decomposition of the physical body in the grave.
But the basic idea of this verse is very clear—if even the grave and the afterlife are known to God, then how much more does He know our hearts!
But apparently God doesn’t just know our hearts—it seems that He actually knows them better than we do! Turn to Prov. 21:2 [READ 21:2]. This verse touches on the potential that we have for deceiving ourselves. We can convince ourselves that we are right in basically any situation—even when we’re doing something sinful! We can convince ourselves that we have some kind of special exception in certain cases. We can justify virtually any kind of behavior, but God sees the reality of things. He understands our true motives when we may not even understand them. God revealed the same message to the prophet Jeremiah when He said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds” (Jer. 17:9–10).
The application that we should take from all of this has both a challenge and an encouragement to it. The challenge is that we must not think that we can hide anything from God. He knows us better than we know us, so how could we hide something from Him? The encouragement is to remember that God doesn’t miss anything that happens to us. If someone hurts us or robs us of justice, God knows! If we are dealing with fear or deep emotional wounds, God knows! He knows, and He is there for us.
But not only does God know all things…
II. God Is In Control Over All Things
We see a lot of turmoil and upheaval in our world right now, but be assured that our world does not operate by chance or simply by the whims of human beings. God, the Creator, is still in control over His creation. Look at Prov. 16:9 [READ 16:9]. Verses like this strike a blow at our pride, don’t they? Now, there’s nothing wrong with planning, but as the old poem says, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” and that’s because we’re not ultimately in control! We can make all the plans we want, and have every detail accounted for, but ultimately it is God who determines what actually happens. History has rightly been called “His-story,” because God is the author.
Now, common people like ourselves can certainly understand that we’re not in control, because we’re used to being effected by things that are out of our control—like the economy, or the weather, or international politics. But surely this lesson wouldn’t apply to a king, would it? Who has more control than a king? Well, let’s read Prov. 21:1 [READ 21:1]. I love the picture of ease that comes through in this verse. It’s like when you water your lawn. It’s not hard—you just turn the water on, and turn the water off, however you please. And if you want more water in a certain spot, you just move the sprinkler. Aside from maybe a little walking, its as easy as can be!
That’s what God’s control over the most powerful people in the world is like! Its not difficult for Him; its really very easy. He just directs their hearts any way He wants!
Now this lesson brings up all sorts of questions for us that we really cannot completely answer. Some of these are philosophical questions, like “How do our choices play into God’s control?” or “If God is in control, do we really determine our own destiny?” But some of these questions are much more personal and even painful, such as “If God is in control, why do bad things happen in my life?” As I said, I don’t think we have a complete answer for this question, but I do think that our next lesson gives us at least a partial answer.
III. God Works To Purify Our Hearts
One of the purposes behind everything that God allows is to remove the impurities of sin from our hearts. Notice what Prov. 17:3 has to say [READ 17:3]. You probably know that when silver and gold are mined out of the earth, they don’t come out of the ground ready to be formed into jewelry. Because of geological and chemical processes, they are often bonded with rock and other materials, so they are put through a refining process to separate the precious metals from everything else—to purify the silver and the gold and thus reveal their true beauty and quality.
According to Prov. 17:3, God puts our hearts through a similar process. The contamination of sin is thorough within our lives, so that even our hearts are corrupted. Thus, even our most noble and godly desires may be bonded together with impure motives, goals, or aspirations. And so as God sovereignly directs our lives, part of His design is to melt away these impurities that pollute our hearts.
This purifying process is what Paul had in mind in Romans 8:28 when he wrote, “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” And the good result that Paul had in mind is defined in verse 29: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” There’s the goal; there’s the point of this whole process—that we might be conformed to the image of Christ, so that we can be faithful representatives for Him today and become joint-heirs with Him (Rom. 8:17) as servant-leaders in His coming kingdom on earth.
Now I do not mean to minimize the pain that any of you have endured through the circumstances of your life, because that pain is very real and it can be very intense. Let’s face it—when we talk about being purified by God and compare it to gold being melted in a furnace, that doesn’t sound entirely pleasant, does it? I’m sure if gold could talk, it would probably scream as its being refined. Sometimes that’s where we find ourselves—screaming and crying out to God to put an end to all the pain. But please remember the final product, my friends. If you allow God to purify you, you have that moment to look forward to when Jesus will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master.” That’s why Paul could say, “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Cor. 4:16). Don’t lose hope as God shapes you to be more like His Son.
IV. God Desires Obedience From Us More Than Religious Formalities
One of the reasons that God purifies us is so that we will offer Him obedience from the heart rather than just go through the motions of religious activity. Turn with me to Prov. 21:3 [READ 21:3]. This verse expresses a consistent theme of the Old Testament—God certainly did want the people to offer sacrifices, but He wanted the worship that flowed from the people to be consistent with the rest of their lives. He wanted their obedience first and foremost, and then their worship was to be simply one more expression of a life of obedience.
It is far too easy to go through the motions of worshipping God and not follow through with a lifestyle of worship. In corners of the world like Montezuma, KS, we often find what we might simply call “countryanity.” Countryanity is the basic religious mindset in many rural areas. It embraces a strong tradition of going to church, but sometimes it means little more than that. We hear this loud and clear in a lot of country music. The basic religious worldview of country music sounds something like this: “Yeah, I may get drunk and chase cowgirls over at the honky-tonk on Saturday night, but I’m in the front row at church on Sunday morning singing old-time gospel hymns at the top of my lungs.” Well, I don’t think “hymns with a hangover” is quite what God desires from us. He’ll take the hymns, but the hangover He can do without. He is pleased with our worship when it flows from a life of faithfulness and obedience.
And in light of what we’ve learned about our God today, how can we give Him anything less? If we simply give the Lord half-hearted obedience and worship, who do we really think He is? Do we truly think of Him as the God who knows all things and controls all things and who works to purify us, or do we think of Him as some kind of optional accessory in our lives? To quote A. W. Tozer again, he said, “We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.” What does the direction of your life say about your mental image of God? We would be wise to take a cue from a man of wisdom like Solomon and make sure that we think of God the way He truly is—the King of all things, who works for our good and His glory.
1. A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, (San Francisco CA, HarperSanFrancisco, 1961) Pg. 1. Updated wording in brackets is mine. The original words are “base” and “portentous.”
Showing posts with label God's control. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's control. Show all posts
Monday, April 4, 2011
Monday, October 4, 2010
Sovereignty--God's Royal Reign
Have you ever listened to someone talk about why they don’t like to fly in an airplane? I, for one, kind of enjoy it—I feel like I get to sit back and relax while I’m travelling somewhere. But I know a lot of people really don’t enjoy flying, and they have a lot of different reasons for that opinion. For some people, it might be the fact that they’re afraid of heights—they don’t like to think about being thousands of feet up in the air. Other people just feel too confined when they’re in a plane—they don’t like sharing an armrest with the person next to them or going into those tiny restrooms on the plane.
But one reason that I’ve heard from people a number of times is that they don’t like to fly because they’re not in control of the plane. They feel much safer in a car because they’re in control of the vehicle. But in a plane, they don’t know what’s going on in the cockpit; they don’t know what all of those strange noises are; they don’t know if the pilot is actually paying attention!
So for people who feel this way, the feel uneasy because they are not in control of the plane. You know, sometimes I think life can make us feel the same way. Life offers us many, many reminders that we are not in control. We are not in control of the people around us, we are not in control of the economy or the stock market or the weather or the future or even the present day, and these reminders can make us feel very uneasy. We feel unsettled because we can start to feel helpless in the face of all of these things, and when we realize that we are not in control of all of these things, deep down we want to know that someone is. We know we’re not in control, but if we have the reassurance that someone is, it can go a long way toward bringing rest to our souls.
The word we are going to study today teaches us that God is in control of all things. Today we are going to study the word “sovereignty.” We’ll take a look first of all at what the word “sovereignty” means and then we’ll look at a couple of aspects of God’s sovereignty.
I. What does the word “sovereignty” mean? Dan. 4
The word “sovereignty” refers to the power or authority that someone exercises over a certain area, like a kingdom or a nation. This is illustrated well in Daniel 4—why don’t you turn there with me? In Dan. 4, King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has an unusual dream about a large and mighty tree. In the dream, this tree was cut down and stripped of all of its foliage and fruit, but its stump was still left in the ground. Eventually, King Nebuchadnezzar had Daniel interpret this dream, and Daniel revealed that the tree represented the king. The fact that it was cut down meant that Nebuchadnezzar was going to lose his power for a while, but the remnant of the stump meant that the king would regain his power after a period of time.
The fulfillment of this dream is recorded beginning in v. 28 [READ Dan. 4:28–32]. So we see here in v. 32 that the king’s sovereignty was removed from him, and we can see exactly what that means—his authority and power was taken away from him. And in this case, his reason was, too, because he started acting like an animal!
But then we have the rest of the story beginning in v. 34 [READ Dan. 4:34–36]. So now the king’s sovereignty has returned—he has lost his sovereignty at first, but then he regained it, and its not hard for us to see what that means: he lost his power (when he went insane) and then he got it back. During that period he didn’t have authority over the kingdom, but eventually he regained his authority.
So the word “sovereignty” is not a difficult word to define. Again, it refers to the power or authority that someone exercises over a certain area. Now when we read the Bible, we read over and over again that it is God who exercises sovereignty over all of creation. God is pictured as a majestic and glorious king over all of the universe. Let’s take a moment to see how God is pictured in His sovereignty.
II. How is God pictured in His sovereignty? Ps. 103:19–22
A. God’s sovereignty is a settled fact
Verse 19 says [READ v. 19]. Just a few verses prior to this, David mentioned how quickly we as men pass away [READ vv. 15–16]. But God and His sovereignty stand in contrast to this; His throne is established in the heavens. You know, sometimes when you walk into a building you’ll see a cornerstone or a plaque that says, “Built: 1932,” or “Est. 1932.” Well, if God’s throne had a plaque like that it would say, “Est.—eternity past!”
God’s position of authority in the universe is established; it is set, fixed, and it includes all things. There have been religions in the past that have taught that our universe is ruled by two gods—one that is good and one that is evil, and these two gods are in constant competition with one another. But the Bible won’t allow us to believe any notion like that, because it clearly declares that God’s sovereignty is over all. There isn’t a corner in this universe where God doesn’t have control, and there isn’t a being in this universe over whom God doesn’t have control. His sovereignty rules over all!
B. God’s sovereign will is carried out by mighty angels
Look at vv. 20–21 again [READ vv. 20–21]. Here King David mentions a group of beings that carry out the Lord’s commands. Like any king, God has servants in His presence who wait to carry out His every command. They are at His beck and call, and David says they are mighty in strength. Apparently, they are strong enough to carry out whatever it is that God asks of them.
In fact, the word “hosts” is a military term that pictures these angels as warriors. Whenever you see God called “Lord of hosts” in the Old Testament, the idea is that God is the commander of a vast and mighty army that stands ready to carry out his orders.
Think about this in human terms for a moment—a king really doesn’t have much power unless he has control of an army. Kings and presidents get overthrown all the time when the army turns against them. But with an army under his command, a king’s authority is reinforced.
So it is with God—He has authority, He has sovereignty and His sovereignty can be seen among the ranks of angels who stand ready to do His will.
C. God’s sovereignty is displayed in His creation
In verse 22, David reminds us of God’s power as creator [READ v. 22]. What a powerful reminder for us of our place in this universe! No matter how great we might think we are, we are still simply the works of God’s hands. We didn’t bring ourselves into existence—God did! Nor are we the product of any process of evolution. We were designed and we were brought to life by God, and we are still dependent upon Him for the necessities of life at every moment.
Oh, we can curse God and speak against Him, but the breath that we use will be a breath that He has allowed us to take! We can oppose Him or run from Him, but the energy we use will be energy that He has allowed us to have. Lest we ever be tempted to think that God is not Lord of all, we need only to remember that God is the creator of all things, and He sustains us in this world according to His good pleasure.
So this picture of God in His sovereignty should keep us from ever thinking that we are on the same level as God. We should never be so foolish as to think—as Satan did!—that we can ascend to the same level of power and authority as God, because as David said, “His sovereignty rules over all.” God created all things and He rules over them according to His will.
So God is sovereign, but how does God exercise His sovereignty? What does that look like in our world?
III. How does God exercise His sovereignty? 1 Tim. 6:15
A. By controlling and ordering the events of history
Let’s start reading back at v. 13 so we can get the complete thought here [READ vv. 13–15]. The important idea for us to focus on is at the end of v. 14 going into v. 15, where Paul says that God will bring about the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ at the proper time. Paul is talking about the moment that Jesus will return to this world, and he is affirming that God is in control of the timing of that event. The New American Standard translation says God will bring that event about “at the proper time.” I think the NIV has a better translation here—it says that God will bring it about “in His own time.” Or if we really want to bring this into everyday language we could say that God will bring it about when He is good and ready! It’s God’s decision, because He is in control of how history plays out!
Now there is a teaching in some Christian churches today that says that God doesn’t really know what’s going to happen in the future. Those who teach from this perspective would say, “God knows everything that might happen tomorrow, but He doesn’t know what actually will happen tomorrow; He knows all of the possibilities, but He doesn’t know which possibility will actually play itself out.” I think this teaching is a misguided attempt to answer questions about how our choices play into God’s plan, because it seems clear that this verse here tells us that God is in full control of everything that will happen in the future. Let us never reject that truth simply because we cannot understand it!
Now lest we be tempted to think that God’s plans for the future might actually be bad and harmful, Paul tells us something very important in v. 15 when he says that God is “blessed.” Now sometimes when we say that someone is blessed, what we mean is that they are fortunate or lucky. But the word that Paul uses here actually carries the idea of being happy or contented. So, as one of professors in college loved to say, God is a happy God. He is not grumpy or angry or vengeful as many people tend to think He is. It is true that He shows wrath toward sin, but that is not His basic frame of mind. God is a happy God, and so we can be encouraged to know that such a God controls the events of history. We can rest assured that God’s plan is a good plan—it is not based on evil motives or intentions, but instead it flows out of a heart of love.
B. By ruling over those who have power within history
In the last part of v. 15, Paul describes God as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His meaning is very clear—with respect to anyone who can be called a king, God is their king; or with respect to anyone who can be called a lord, God is their lord. Anyone in human history who has held power has received only because God has allowed them to have it.
This is the consistent teaching of Scripture with respect to those who are in power. In Romans 13:1 Paul said, “There is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” When Jesus was on trial before Pontius Pilate, He told Pilate, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.” Even King Nebuchadnezzar back in Daniel 4 had to acknowledge “that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men” (Dan. 4:17).
So what this tells us is that every ruler in this world, whether good or evil, is under the sovereign power and control of God. It may puzzle us why God allows certain leaders to come to power, but they can never—not for a single moment!—act in a way over which God has no control. Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.”
So once again we can rest assured that our happy God, who controls the events of history, also rules over the movers and shakers of history—those who rule over tribes or nations or kingdoms. Even though such leaders might reject God, they cannot change the fact that God is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, who orders all things for our good and for His glory.
So how are we to respond to all of this? I think Ravi Zacharias said it well in an illustration from his autobiography. Allow me to read it for you in closing:
"If you travel to the north of India, you will see the most magnificent saris ever made, and Varanasi is where the wedding saris are handwoven. The gold, the silver, the reds, the blues, - all the marvelous colors threaded together are spectacular. These saris are usually made by just two people- a father who sits on a platform and a son who sits two steps down from him. That father has all the spools of silk threads around him. As he begins to pull the threads together, he nods, and the son responds by moving the shuttle from one side to another. Then the process begins again, with the dad nodding and the son responding. Everything is done with a simple nod of the father. It's a long, tedious process to watch. But if you come back in two or three weeks, you'll see the magnificent pattern emerging.
This is an image I always remind myself of: we may be moving the shuttle, but the design is in the mind of the Father. The son has no idea what pattern is emerging. He just responds to the father's nod.”*
And so it should be with us. Since we know that God is in control, our response should one of humble obedience to His will. Even though we can’t see the whole plan that he has for our lives, we know that He is good, and the plan that unfolds will be beautiful if we simply do what He has called us to do in His word.
*Ravi Zacharias, Walking from East to West, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2006) 27.
But one reason that I’ve heard from people a number of times is that they don’t like to fly because they’re not in control of the plane. They feel much safer in a car because they’re in control of the vehicle. But in a plane, they don’t know what’s going on in the cockpit; they don’t know what all of those strange noises are; they don’t know if the pilot is actually paying attention!
So for people who feel this way, the feel uneasy because they are not in control of the plane. You know, sometimes I think life can make us feel the same way. Life offers us many, many reminders that we are not in control. We are not in control of the people around us, we are not in control of the economy or the stock market or the weather or the future or even the present day, and these reminders can make us feel very uneasy. We feel unsettled because we can start to feel helpless in the face of all of these things, and when we realize that we are not in control of all of these things, deep down we want to know that someone is. We know we’re not in control, but if we have the reassurance that someone is, it can go a long way toward bringing rest to our souls.
The word we are going to study today teaches us that God is in control of all things. Today we are going to study the word “sovereignty.” We’ll take a look first of all at what the word “sovereignty” means and then we’ll look at a couple of aspects of God’s sovereignty.
I. What does the word “sovereignty” mean? Dan. 4
The word “sovereignty” refers to the power or authority that someone exercises over a certain area, like a kingdom or a nation. This is illustrated well in Daniel 4—why don’t you turn there with me? In Dan. 4, King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has an unusual dream about a large and mighty tree. In the dream, this tree was cut down and stripped of all of its foliage and fruit, but its stump was still left in the ground. Eventually, King Nebuchadnezzar had Daniel interpret this dream, and Daniel revealed that the tree represented the king. The fact that it was cut down meant that Nebuchadnezzar was going to lose his power for a while, but the remnant of the stump meant that the king would regain his power after a period of time.
The fulfillment of this dream is recorded beginning in v. 28 [READ Dan. 4:28–32]. So we see here in v. 32 that the king’s sovereignty was removed from him, and we can see exactly what that means—his authority and power was taken away from him. And in this case, his reason was, too, because he started acting like an animal!
But then we have the rest of the story beginning in v. 34 [READ Dan. 4:34–36]. So now the king’s sovereignty has returned—he has lost his sovereignty at first, but then he regained it, and its not hard for us to see what that means: he lost his power (when he went insane) and then he got it back. During that period he didn’t have authority over the kingdom, but eventually he regained his authority.
So the word “sovereignty” is not a difficult word to define. Again, it refers to the power or authority that someone exercises over a certain area. Now when we read the Bible, we read over and over again that it is God who exercises sovereignty over all of creation. God is pictured as a majestic and glorious king over all of the universe. Let’s take a moment to see how God is pictured in His sovereignty.
II. How is God pictured in His sovereignty? Ps. 103:19–22
A. God’s sovereignty is a settled fact
Verse 19 says [READ v. 19]. Just a few verses prior to this, David mentioned how quickly we as men pass away [READ vv. 15–16]. But God and His sovereignty stand in contrast to this; His throne is established in the heavens. You know, sometimes when you walk into a building you’ll see a cornerstone or a plaque that says, “Built: 1932,” or “Est. 1932.” Well, if God’s throne had a plaque like that it would say, “Est.—eternity past!”
God’s position of authority in the universe is established; it is set, fixed, and it includes all things. There have been religions in the past that have taught that our universe is ruled by two gods—one that is good and one that is evil, and these two gods are in constant competition with one another. But the Bible won’t allow us to believe any notion like that, because it clearly declares that God’s sovereignty is over all. There isn’t a corner in this universe where God doesn’t have control, and there isn’t a being in this universe over whom God doesn’t have control. His sovereignty rules over all!
B. God’s sovereign will is carried out by mighty angels
Look at vv. 20–21 again [READ vv. 20–21]. Here King David mentions a group of beings that carry out the Lord’s commands. Like any king, God has servants in His presence who wait to carry out His every command. They are at His beck and call, and David says they are mighty in strength. Apparently, they are strong enough to carry out whatever it is that God asks of them.
In fact, the word “hosts” is a military term that pictures these angels as warriors. Whenever you see God called “Lord of hosts” in the Old Testament, the idea is that God is the commander of a vast and mighty army that stands ready to carry out his orders.
Think about this in human terms for a moment—a king really doesn’t have much power unless he has control of an army. Kings and presidents get overthrown all the time when the army turns against them. But with an army under his command, a king’s authority is reinforced.
So it is with God—He has authority, He has sovereignty and His sovereignty can be seen among the ranks of angels who stand ready to do His will.
C. God’s sovereignty is displayed in His creation
In verse 22, David reminds us of God’s power as creator [READ v. 22]. What a powerful reminder for us of our place in this universe! No matter how great we might think we are, we are still simply the works of God’s hands. We didn’t bring ourselves into existence—God did! Nor are we the product of any process of evolution. We were designed and we were brought to life by God, and we are still dependent upon Him for the necessities of life at every moment.
Oh, we can curse God and speak against Him, but the breath that we use will be a breath that He has allowed us to take! We can oppose Him or run from Him, but the energy we use will be energy that He has allowed us to have. Lest we ever be tempted to think that God is not Lord of all, we need only to remember that God is the creator of all things, and He sustains us in this world according to His good pleasure.
So this picture of God in His sovereignty should keep us from ever thinking that we are on the same level as God. We should never be so foolish as to think—as Satan did!—that we can ascend to the same level of power and authority as God, because as David said, “His sovereignty rules over all.” God created all things and He rules over them according to His will.
So God is sovereign, but how does God exercise His sovereignty? What does that look like in our world?
III. How does God exercise His sovereignty? 1 Tim. 6:15
A. By controlling and ordering the events of history
Let’s start reading back at v. 13 so we can get the complete thought here [READ vv. 13–15]. The important idea for us to focus on is at the end of v. 14 going into v. 15, where Paul says that God will bring about the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ at the proper time. Paul is talking about the moment that Jesus will return to this world, and he is affirming that God is in control of the timing of that event. The New American Standard translation says God will bring that event about “at the proper time.” I think the NIV has a better translation here—it says that God will bring it about “in His own time.” Or if we really want to bring this into everyday language we could say that God will bring it about when He is good and ready! It’s God’s decision, because He is in control of how history plays out!
Now there is a teaching in some Christian churches today that says that God doesn’t really know what’s going to happen in the future. Those who teach from this perspective would say, “God knows everything that might happen tomorrow, but He doesn’t know what actually will happen tomorrow; He knows all of the possibilities, but He doesn’t know which possibility will actually play itself out.” I think this teaching is a misguided attempt to answer questions about how our choices play into God’s plan, because it seems clear that this verse here tells us that God is in full control of everything that will happen in the future. Let us never reject that truth simply because we cannot understand it!
Now lest we be tempted to think that God’s plans for the future might actually be bad and harmful, Paul tells us something very important in v. 15 when he says that God is “blessed.” Now sometimes when we say that someone is blessed, what we mean is that they are fortunate or lucky. But the word that Paul uses here actually carries the idea of being happy or contented. So, as one of professors in college loved to say, God is a happy God. He is not grumpy or angry or vengeful as many people tend to think He is. It is true that He shows wrath toward sin, but that is not His basic frame of mind. God is a happy God, and so we can be encouraged to know that such a God controls the events of history. We can rest assured that God’s plan is a good plan—it is not based on evil motives or intentions, but instead it flows out of a heart of love.
B. By ruling over those who have power within history
In the last part of v. 15, Paul describes God as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. His meaning is very clear—with respect to anyone who can be called a king, God is their king; or with respect to anyone who can be called a lord, God is their lord. Anyone in human history who has held power has received only because God has allowed them to have it.
This is the consistent teaching of Scripture with respect to those who are in power. In Romans 13:1 Paul said, “There is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” When Jesus was on trial before Pontius Pilate, He told Pilate, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above.” Even King Nebuchadnezzar back in Daniel 4 had to acknowledge “that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men” (Dan. 4:17).
So what this tells us is that every ruler in this world, whether good or evil, is under the sovereign power and control of God. It may puzzle us why God allows certain leaders to come to power, but they can never—not for a single moment!—act in a way over which God has no control. Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.”
So once again we can rest assured that our happy God, who controls the events of history, also rules over the movers and shakers of history—those who rule over tribes or nations or kingdoms. Even though such leaders might reject God, they cannot change the fact that God is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, who orders all things for our good and for His glory.
So how are we to respond to all of this? I think Ravi Zacharias said it well in an illustration from his autobiography. Allow me to read it for you in closing:
"If you travel to the north of India, you will see the most magnificent saris ever made, and Varanasi is where the wedding saris are handwoven. The gold, the silver, the reds, the blues, - all the marvelous colors threaded together are spectacular. These saris are usually made by just two people- a father who sits on a platform and a son who sits two steps down from him. That father has all the spools of silk threads around him. As he begins to pull the threads together, he nods, and the son responds by moving the shuttle from one side to another. Then the process begins again, with the dad nodding and the son responding. Everything is done with a simple nod of the father. It's a long, tedious process to watch. But if you come back in two or three weeks, you'll see the magnificent pattern emerging.
This is an image I always remind myself of: we may be moving the shuttle, but the design is in the mind of the Father. The son has no idea what pattern is emerging. He just responds to the father's nod.”*
And so it should be with us. Since we know that God is in control, our response should one of humble obedience to His will. Even though we can’t see the whole plan that he has for our lives, we know that He is good, and the plan that unfolds will be beautiful if we simply do what He has called us to do in His word.
*Ravi Zacharias, Walking from East to West, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2006) 27.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)