Tag: God’s sovereignty

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Psalms Devotionals

Praying for a world hostile to God

Psalms

We live in a world that is hostile to God. They hate the idea that they are under his rule and are answerable to him.

And so Asaph recognizes that though the nations surrounding Israel hated them and wanted to destroy them, the ultimate reason for their hatred of Israel was that they hated God first.

It is a truth that Jesus himself recognized and applied to himself and his disciples. (John 15:18-25)

The day will come, though, when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Philippians 2:10-11)

Some will do it in love and gratitude. Others will do it reluctantly and with hatred.

I think that’s what we see in this psalm.

All the world will one day recognize that God is sovereign over all, including them. (Psalm 83:18)

Some in their shame, will be destroyed, and justly so because of their sin. And so our prayer is that for those who refuse to repent, God will bring justice. After all, a God who never brings justice is not a good God.

But more than that, we pray that in their shame, they would repent and seek God’s face. (16)

Why? Because God in his grace showed mercy to us too. And he desires that no one should perish. (Ezekiel 33:11; 1 Timothy 2:3-4)

So let us pray for this world that is hostile to God. Pray that they would seek his face, and in his grace find him.

May they know that you alone—whose name is the Lord—are the Most High over the whole earth. (Psalm 83:18)

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Acts Devotionals

Mega-power, mega-grace

Acts

In a world filled with all kinds of problems right now, the response of the early church to their troubles is really worth noting. What did they do?

1. They went to their Christian friends. (Acts 4:23)

They shared their problems with them. We aren’t meant to make it through this life in our own strength. We are to lean on each other and support one another.

2. Together with their friends, they lifted their voices together to God. (24a)

While it’s great to have the support of Christian friends, that is not enough. As friends we are to point each other to God, and approach his throne together.

3. They remembered who God is. (24b, 27-28)

They remembered that he is the Lord who is sovereign over everything. That he is the one who created all things with just a word. And he does whatever his hand and his will predestined before time began. Nothing is out of his control.

4. They prayed for strength to do what God had told them to do.

The result? The Holy Spirit fell upon them, and they were filled with great power and grace in their time of trouble. (31, 33)

The word for “great” in both cases is the Greek word “megas,” where we get our word “mega” from.

In short, they received not just power and grace from God, but “mega-power” and “mega-grace.”

In these times, don’t we all need more of both?

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Matthew Matthew 27 Matthew 28

A God who cannot be thwarted

Matthew

This is perhaps one of the more humorous incidents in the Bible if you really think about it.

The Pharisees and chief priests were concerned that perhaps the disciples might come to steal the body and claim that Jesus had risen from the dead as he had prophesied. And so they asked Pilate to make the grave secure so that no one could come and steal the body.

Pilate assented, and gave them a guard (that is, a group of soldiers), to protect the tomb from any robbers.

But on the third day, there was an earthquake, and an angel rolled away the stone and sat on it. This so freaked out the guards that they fainted dead away.

Imagine the consternation of the priests and the Pharisees when they heard this.

They had to have been questioning themselves, “Why in the world did we set that guard? All we did is make it more inexplicable that the body has disappeared?”

But it all goes to prove one thing. People can make all their plans to achieve their purposes while denying God’s. But God is not someone who can be thwarted. And his purposes will stand.

Many people wonder about the tension between God’s sovereignty and our free will.

I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I think you catch a glimpse of the answer here. By their free will, the priests and Pharisees put out a guard to prevent Jesus from coming out from that grave.

God didn’t interfere with that choice at all. But after they made their choice, God made his. He raised Jesus from the dead, rolled away the stone, and scared the living daylights out of the guards in the process.

In the same way, we make our choices, and God lets us do so.

But then God makes his choices, and his purposes will not be thwarted. It wasn’t thwarted then back at the tomb. Nor will it be thwarted now nor into eternity.

So let us praise him and walk with confidence knowing that no matter what happens, God is in control, and his purposes will be accomplished.

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Daniel

The God who is sovereign

Nebuchadnezzar

We now return to the book of Daniel, and close up the story of Nebuchadnezzar.

This is the famous story of how Nebuchadnezzar lost his sanity, acting basically like a cow for seven years before finally acknowledging that God alone is sovereign.

The story opens up with Nebuchadnezzar praising God, saying,

How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation. (Daniel 4:3)

This indeed is the theme of the whole chapter.

Nebuchadnezzar then talks about how he had been in his palace, content, prosperous, and as a result, quite full of himself.

But then he had a dream that terrified him. He saw a huge, beautiful, and fruitful tree that provided shelter and food to all. But then a messenger from heaven called out,

“Cut down the tree and trim off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches.

But let the stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground, in the grass of the field.

Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him live with the animals among the plants of the earth.

Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal, till seven times pass by for him.

The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.” (Daniel 4:14–17)

I find Daniel’s response to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream very interesting. It was filled with compassion. Here was a man who took Jeremiah’s words to heart when he said,

Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. (Jeremiah 29:7)

Though Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the nation he loved, still Daniel desired Nebuchadnezzar’s good.

He told Nebuchadnezzar that this dream was directed at him and that judgment was about to fall on him until the day came when he recognized God’s sovereignty over all, including his own self.

He then urged the king to repent so that God’s judgment would not have to fall.

As is God’s pattern throughout history, he gave Nebuchadnezzar time to do so before passing judgment. For one year, God waited for Nebuchadnezzar to repent. But after one year, nothing changed.

Then one day, Nebuchadnezzar was on the roof of his palace bathing in his own glory, saying,

Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty? (Daniel 4:30)

At which point, God’s judgment fell on him, and he became like a beast for seven years. When this happened, no one knows, although it has been noted that there is no record of Nebuchadnezzar’s activities between 582 and 575 B.C.

Finally, at the end of this time, Nebuchadnezzar looked up to heaven and his sanity was restored. As it was, he praised God saying,

His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation.

All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth.

No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”…

Everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble. (Daniel 4:34–35, 37)

What can we get from all of this? Very simply: Remember that God is sovereign. You are not.

What does this mean for us practically?

For one thing, are you in a position of authority? Whether as a husband, or a mother, or a boss, or whatever position you may be in?

Remember that though you may have a position of authority, you yourself are subject to the ultimate Authority. And he will hold you accountable for how you use the authority you’ve been granted.

God did not give you this authority to trample on those in your care. He has given you that authority to serve.

Jesus himself is our example. As God, he had ultimate authority. But he didn’t come to reign. He came to serve.

And so should you. Serve your wife. Serve your children. Serve the people in your care. That’s what it means to be a leader.

Second, when you are worried about who’s leading you, whether on a government level, or in your job, or in your family, remember that God is sovereign.

God has allowed them to take these positions of leadership over you, though we may not see why.

And as Daniel did with Nebuchadnezzar, we are to seek their good and pray for them even when they aren’t good leaders.

We are not to rejoice when they fail or fall. We are to pray for their repentance and restoration. For when our leaders are truly submitting themselves to God, not only will they prosper, but so will we.

How about you? Are you submitting to God’s sovereignty in your life?

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2 Chronicles 2 Kings Jeremiah

God’s choice, our choice

Kings,Chronicles, and Jeremiah

The sovereignty of God and the free will of man is one of those things that has been a long-standing debate in the Christian world.

We see this tension in this passage, so we’ll discuss it a bit here, but I won’t claim to have any new answers on the subject.

At this point in history, Jehoiakim was deposed by the king of Babylon after Jehoiakim rebelled.

His son Jehoiachin took over, but his reign lasted only three months before Nebuchadnezzar came again and took him prisoner too, along with a bunch of other people.

The king’s mother, his wives, his officials and leading men, the entire army, as well as a thousand craftsmen and artisans were all taken as well.

In Jehoiachin’s stead, Nebuchadnezzar made his uncle Zedekiah king.

It was during this time that God gave Jeremiah a vision of two baskets of figs, one of very good figs, and one of very bad figs.

God told Jeremiah that he considered the people that were taken into exile the good figs and the people that remained in Jerusalem the bad figs.

And while he would ultimately destroy those remaining in Jerusalem, God promised to restore the exiles to their land and bless them.

The question is why would God spare one group and destroy the other? God said, of the exiles,

My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land.

I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.

I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord.

They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart (Jeremiah 24:6–7).

Certainly some of the people taken into exile were innocents, so to speak. Daniel and Ezekiel were two examples of this.

But there were many others who were not so innocent. Why would God spare them? I don’t know, other than to say it was due to God’s mercy.

Some people would say, “Well, it’s because of God’s foreknowledge. He knew they would return to him eventually, and so that’s why he spared them.”

But that ignores the passage where God says that the reason they would return to him is that he would give them a heart to know him. He was the one that would change their hearts.

Why didn’t he do the same for Zedekiah and the people remaining in Jerusalem?

I don’t know.

What can I say for sure?

First, people are condemned directly by their own choices. Had Zedekiah and the other people chosen to follow God, he would have blessed them. But they chose not to.

Second, nobody would come to God unless he started to work in their lives and gave them a heart to know him. This is true of the exiles. It is true of us.

As someone once put it, “He fixed our broken antenna so that we might hear him.”

Third, God is never arbitrary in his choices. God always has his reasons.

The problem we have is that he never gives us those reasons in his word. We have a lack of data because God has chosen not to reveal it to us. And so there we have to stop.

The question we ultimately have to ask ourselves is this: What will we choose?

Nobody can ever come to God and say, “It’s not my fault I didn’t follow you.”

We are responsible for our own choices. And so God will hold us responsible for the choices that we make.

We can choose to follow him or choose not to. What will you choose?