FirstTrueLove

  ”It’s not suprising that we struggle so earnestly and deeply with the problem that stands before us now.  How can we affirm the happiness of God on the basis of His sovereignty when much of what God permits in the world is contrary to His own commands in Scripture?  How can we say God is happy when there is so much sin and misery in the world?”  John Piper – Desiring God

  First off I would like to start by defining the word sovereignty.  For a long time i attended church and heard people use “christian” words like this one and had no idea what they meant.  Honestly, I was a little afraid to ask because I felt like I was expected to know words like that since I was a christian.  The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines sovereignty as “supreme authority within a territory.”  When we think about what God’s territory is, the thought of Him being sovereign is pretty intimidating!  It’s a truth we have to work really hard surrendering to and even just accepting.  It means that if we truly believe God is who He says He is, we believe He can do whatever He desires to do.  That means not only does He provide all the blessings in our lives, it means He allows all the struggles and hard things we deal with everyday.  All the sin and pain around the world serves a part in God’s plan for us!

  Does that mean sin and pain come from God?  Job 2:6-7 says “And the Lord said to Satan; Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.  So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.”  Here we see God allowing Satan to test Job’s faithfulness.  God allowed Satan to take everything from Job except his life because Satan was cocky enough to believe he could disrupt God’s plan for Job.  We are tricked into have thoughts like that constantly when we think our sin is powerful enough to change the plans God has for us.  He allows sin into our lives because He wants us to have the choice to follow His way for our life or our own way.  But what happens is we start to feel guilty and Satan is tricky with the way he deceives us with our guilt.  He tricks us into thinking we aren’t good enough to serve God this week because we messed up too much!  Sometimes we even feel guilty singing out during worship because we aren’t sure it’s the right thing to do because of our sin.  On the contrary, God doesn’t use us because we are equipped or good enough.  He uses us because we are willing to be used and He equips us on the way;  all for His glory!

  Look at some of the people in scripture God uses to do amazing things!  Paul – killer of christians…. Mary Magdalene – prostitute… David – murderer and adulterer.  God is sovereign and He is in control of everything, all the time!  Nothing we say or do affects His plan.  He is always in control!