Friday, October 17, 2008

Things We Sometimes Forget #2: God is Sovereign

from Webster's Dictionary (1828):

SOVEREIGN, a. suv'eran.
1. Supreme in power; possessing supreme dominion; as a sovereign ruler of the universe.
2. Supreme; superior to all others; chief. God is the sovereign good of all who love and obey him.
3. Supremely efficacious; superior to all others; predominant; effectual; as a sovereign remedy.
4. Supreme; pertaining to the first magistrate of a nation; as sovereign authority.

SOVEREIGN, n. suv'eran.
1. A supreme lord or ruler; one who possesses the highest authority without control. Some earthly princes, kings and emperors are sovereigns in their dominions.

"And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." - Exodus 3:14 (KJV)

What does it mean to say God is sovereign? It means He rules and reigns. It means God is in control. No matter how lousy life may appear. No matter how out of control the world seems to be spinning. In good times and bad, lean times and prosperous, sorrow and joy, clarity and confusion... God is in control.

Always.

This can be one of the tougher truths to wrap our minds around. When things are good, it is easy to say, "God has surely blessed me!" Yet when trouble comes (and into every life, at one time or another, trouble comes), it isn't so easy. We must remember the very first thing James related to believers in his epistle:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." - James 1:2-4 (NIV)

I think the root of the problem for we humans comes in finding our joy in circumstances. Rather than allowing our lot in life define our joy (or lack thereof), we should find our joy in God Himself through Jesus Christ. God is sovereign over all! He loves us, bathes us in His goodness and pours His grace upon us. This is why Paul had the confidence to write, "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (! Thess. 5:16-18, NIV).

Paul understood that God is sovereign, He is in control, and His will is going to be done. And, for those of us who belong to Him, that is far greater news than we could ever receive on this earth!!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Things We Sometimes Forget #1: Let God

I've been thinking long and hard for some time now about how to proceed with E-ncouragement and The View From Down Here... I knew it had to be personal, heartfelt and relative. All that thinking has produced a lot of inactivity, a fair amount of frustration and one or two false starts.

Here's the conclusion all that thinking has produced: just do it. Just be me, pray, trust God to speak through these words and let Him bring the results in the hearts of those who read. Don't sit and stew about "what if" or "maybe I should" or "who will." Just do it. Just write. Just trust God.

Its easy to forget the "trust God" aspect, isn't it? When life gets busy and we're trying to achieve our goals and the results aren't forthcoming, we tend to want to seize control and do what we feel needs done ourselves. "It's OK, God... I know you're busy. Let me handle this one."

How amazingly - stupefyingly - arrogant! I say this from experience, because I have that tendency. "God, you're just not working fast enough. I want results now! Let me do this one..."

Of course, every time I try to take over what I once turned over to God, the results end up a disaster.

And I eventually find myself on my knees, crying out to God to clean up the mess.

Sometimes we forget that we need to do our best, but leave the results to God. We need to plan, but - far more importantly - we need to pray. We need to trust Him to direct our paths and cover our mistakes (He is perfectly omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent, after all!). We need to wait when God says, "Wait." We need to go when He says, "Go."

We need to - gulp! - yield. Oh, man, what an unpopular notion in our "You Have The Power Within You To Do Anything!" society. We need to remember these words from Paul:

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." - Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV) (italics added for emphasis).

Amen indeed!