Christians should be able to rest easy knowing that God is sovereign. According to the dictionary, to be sovereign means to be “supreme in rank or authority,” and God certainly is that. The word reign is right there in the word—as our Sovereign God, He reigns supreme over the universe He created.
The word sovereign does not appear in the Bible, but Isaiah 45:5-7 says, “I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the LORD, who does all these things.”
That sounds like sovereignty to me.
God does whatever He wants. He consults no one; He seeks advice from no one; He answers to no one. Psalm 115:3 tells us, “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that he pleases.”
We might be tempted to think that we are sovereign over our own lives. I like to think about it this way: last year we bought a house on a plot of land. I have the paperwork that says the land is mine. If someone were to trespass I could legally have them removed. But do I really own the land? In the eyes of the law I do, but someone owned it before me, and someone will own it after I’m gone. Regardless of whose name is on the title, God owns it all.
Psalm 24:1 is a good reminder: “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein…”
God controls the universe, while allowing us freedom to make choices within certain parameters (Tozer compared this to passengers on a cruise ship; they have freedom to move around, eat and relax, but they cannot control the ship). Our best response to sovereignty is to trust God. We make our choices as we feel led by His Spirit, and at the end of the day, we recognize that He is ultimately in control over all things so that nothing happens outside of His notice. We must learn to say:
God is absolutely in control
Of all things big and small—
Whether just my life or the universe,
God is over it all.
So trust in Him for everything
Let go of every doubt—
You’ll find true freedom at the cross,
That’s what life is all about.