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?”
Who is there that could challenge God’s position? What mere mortal would dare stand against the rule and reign of the Lord most high?
You would think that for anyone to make such a challenge, they would be out of their mind, but many have tried to no avail. Herod received praise from people as if he were God himself, he consequently dropped dead before their eyes. Nebuchadnezzar erected huge idols of himself and demanded the people bow before them, he in turn spent 7 years roaming the grasses like a madman. Lucifer the archangel challenged God’s throne, and with his pride came a great fall. Time and time again the pride of man or angel was elevated into an unworthy position as God, and yet God still reigns and the threats amounted to nothing.
Why is it so important to understand the sovereignty of God?
Why should we have a healthy perspective when it comes to the power and reach of God’s arm? No one is immune to the temptation of pride, and regardless of their sphere of influence, the disease of prideful sin waits to infect any who would test the Lord.
Psalm 115:3 “Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.”
I heard a recent interview of a prominent billionaire. The question was regarding who he looks up to and his response was, “the Creator”. “Who is the Creator?” was the follow-up question and the response was “God is the Creator”. Then the interviewer challenged him by repeating his own words he once said, “but you don’t believe in God”. He followed up the statement with more philosophical gibberish of how people define or label God. He didn’t say he trusted in the Lord nor was he saying he respected the God of Creation, he only admitted that he was inferior to God.
Does a billionaires belief affect one iota of God’s power or position?
It doesn’t matter if someone held all of the world’s wealth in their hands or if they were penniless…the opinion and beliefs of mankind do not pose any sort of challenge to God’s sovereignty. Man could stand at the peak of Everest and claim there was no God and it would mean nothing more than a stone that tumbled down the hill, crashing as it fell.
God Acts Alone
When God acts, He does whatever He chooses to do—this is the very definition of power. Men and women seek power and for many it becomes their obsession. There are many who hold prominent positions in American government that have outlived their ability to perform, they just can’t let it go.
All that we have, all that we think we have control over has ultimately been given to us.
Psalm 115:16 “He heavens are the LORD’s heavens,
but the earth he has given to the children of man.”
God’s sovereignty extends to all of time and eternity. Established by the Creator, Earth is and was His idea, it was His creative genius that formed it, and there is nothing created that can lay claim to all that God rules over. He orders, He ordains, and He brings judgement.
For God’s people, the knowledge of God’s reach brings forth praise.
Psalm 115:17-18 “The dead do not praise the LORD,
nor do any who go down into silence.
But we will bless the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the LORD!”
What does this mean to us? We cannot control God. We will not dictate His purposes. We can change our hearts and turn them toward Him, and when we do, something mysterious happens.
Psalm 115:9 “O Israel, trust in the LORD!
He is their help and their shield.”
When a person places their hope in Christ, they are placed into a position of unity with God. His will becomes their priority. His purposes reflect their hearts. His attributes begin to disseminate through their lives…in short…they become more like Him.
The people of God are brought into a position of power, God’s power. He can do this because they are like-minded with Him. The Spirit of God inhabits their hearts, and they are sealed with His promise. The order by which God created mankind is restored into a right relationship with Him and Creation begins to take the original form by which is was intended.
God helps His people do His will.
Doing God’s will is what drives people to open their Bibles each morning and pray. Doing God’s will is a demonstration of love. Walking according to God’s will is their motivation and becomes a sacrifice of praise.
God is sovereign but He amazingly allows His people to enter into a scope of His reign.
Revelation 20:6 “Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.”
Why does the Lord lavish such great gifts to His people?
The bottom line is…because He loves them. He Created people out of love and He is consistent in that love. We can enter in because of the work of Christ.
U.T. 