What does sovereignty really mean when we apply it to God? This daily devotional looks at how we can identify Sovereign God.
Nuggets
- Sovereign God is clothed by His moral character.
- Sovereign God is known for His love for us.
- Sovereign God loves us so much that He has specific plans for our lives.
- Because God is Sovereign God, we should praise and worship Him.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Finding Our Center series
I don’t know about you, but growing up, I struggled with what sovereign really means. Yeah, we generally think about sovereign being the king.
But I think, with God, it is more than that. To me, sovereign has come to mean that God is the supreme Ruler of all things.
If we are going to find our center — find out Who God really is — we have to know Him as Sovereign God. Let’s see what we can find out from the verses in Scripture.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Identified as Sovereign by Garments
“The Lord is king! He is robed in majesty. Indeed, the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength. The world stands firm and cannot be shaken” (Ps. 93: 1 NLT)
Sovereign God is clothed by His moral character.
There is a saying that clothes make the man (and woman!). God’s clothes are definitely an extension of Who He is. The Homilist wrote that “… His clothing is of no material fabric. His moral character is His garment, and that character is transcendently grand — ‘glorious in holiness.’” Keen said He is clothed in His attributes.
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God is Sovereign because of His purity. Purity means God is without the stain of sin.
God’s character is pure. Keen wrote, “Holy in character (ver. 5) knowing nothing of prejudice, partiality, connivance at wrongdoing: hence, righteous in administration, consistent, and beautiful in all.”
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Strength is part of God’s nature. He has to be in order to control the universe.
Charnock noted that there is a difference between God’s power and His authority. God has the strength and the power to do all the things He is doing.
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God has the authority to do what He does. Burder reminded us that sovereignty means supreme power, giving God the right to control things. And God is definitely in control of the universe. He created it, and He hasn’t put its control in our hands.
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Identifying Sovereign God by His Love
“For his unfailing love for us is powerful; the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever. Praise the Lord!” (Ps. 117: 2 NLT)
Sovereign God is known for His love for us.
Over all of God’s power, over His strength and holiness is His love. God loves us.
Dickson talked to us about praising God. He wrote, “In God’s worship it is not always necessary to be long; few words sometimes say what is sufficient, as this short psalm giveth us to understand.”
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Not we don’t have to pray in the King James Version style. We don’t have to have enough words to rival Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
Our prayers have to be genuine worship. They have to be relationship building.
One day, everyone is going to fall down and worship God. “So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2: 10-11 ESV). All will recognize that He is Sovereign God.
But it is going to be too late for some. They won’t be ushered into Heaven because they did not make that confession while they had time.
Identified as Sovereign by His Plans
“Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish” (Isa. 46: 10 NLT)
Sovereign God loves us so much that He has specific plans for our lives.
Have you ever thought about how much God works? He is a hands-on God. He didn’t make us and ride off into the sunset. He is involved in each of our lives.
God not only made us, He has plans for us. “‘For I know the plans I have for you’ — this is the Lord’s declaration—‘plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a Hope’” (Jer. 29: 11 CSB).
I never noticed this before. The King James Version says His plans are for peace. All except the New International Version and the New American Standard Bible translate it as some sort of welfare. Those two translate it as prosper.
No, no, no. It isn’t a prosperity gospel. It isn’t about what we can gain.
It is about our spiritual condition and our character. Woolsey wrote, “… the moral in God’s sight must have a far higher value than the physical; righteousness is the stability of His throne; it were better for heaven and earth to pass away than that He should favour or sanction one jot of injustice.”
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Did you catch that? It is the Lord’s declaration. He not only knows what is on my plan, but He also is in constant communication with me about it.
Oh, yeah. Sometimes, I have my headphones on and can’t hear. Maybe I am rewatching Ragnarok. Or maybe I am listening to the tunes on The Message on SiriusXM.
Hmmm. We can miss God because we are focused on some other God thing? Ouch!
What is a worse ouch is when we miss God because we are doing something we have convinced ourself is a God thing — but it isn’t!
Oh, we should pay attention to God. He knows all that has happened in the past, all that is happening now, and all that will happen in the future.
Sovereign God has all the information we wish we had, and He is willing to help us make our decisions.
No, He doesn’t make our decisions for us. Yes, it says, “… for I do whatever I wish” (Isa. 46: 10 NLT).
What does God wish? “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (I Tim. 2: 3-4 NIV).
He wishes that we accept His gift of salvation.
Identifying Sovereign God through Praise
“Let all that I am praise the LORD; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name” (Ps. 103: 19 NLT)
Because God is Sovereign God, we should praise and worship Him.
God is Sovereign over all the universe.
I loved the Homilist’s definition of piety. They wrote, “Piety is supreme love to God; and hence its supreme desire is that all should love and praise Him.”
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Charnock made an interesting comment. He said that making laws was the first initiative undertaken by sovereign rulers. God had to develop the standards by which we would be ruled. He couldn’t leave us to govern ourselves.
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Let’s talk about God’s laws for a second. After Jesus completed the Plan of Salvation, the civil laws and ceremonial laws were fulfilled. We no longer have to take people out and kill them when they break God’s laws. Neither do we have to kill all the animals.
God as Sovereign God can choose to invoke laws and to repeal them. We don’t. We are to obey.
But that also means that God has the authority to punish those who break His laws and commandments. We know that a final judgment day is coming.
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Making the Connections
That is an interesting concept that God’s morality is His clothing. We choose what clothes we put on or take off. That makes who we are visible to others.
God has all of the requirements to make Him Sovereign. Keen wrote, “… ‘thy testimonies are very sure,’ in rewarding obedience, in punishing transgression — they are just, perfect, good, can never fail.”
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Whoever is in control should be characterized as just, perfect, good, and can never fail.
That let’s us humans out. We definitely aren’t.
How Do We Apply This?
Keen said, “We must first know Him as Saviour before we can obey Him as Sovereign.” Yes, it always begins and ends with God’s concern for our spiritual condition.
Until that is rectified, and we are once again His children, nothing else is of importance. Keen wrote, “Life has no intelligible meaning, there is no satisfactory explanation of anything apart from the belief.”
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Father God. You are Sovereign God. You rule all with love. You are clothed with majesty and glory. Lord, we prayer that we are imitating Your moral character. Amen.
What do you think?
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