God is in control

When I think of sovereignty, the phrase I like best is that “God is in control.” That’s such a comfort. When a loved one lies in a hospital bed, God is in control. When we think of our most difficult times with a child, God is in control. When a close friend is in ICU, God is in control. When the economy—national or personal—is on a slide, God is in control. Nothing will enter your life that God does not either decree or allow. And nothing will ever enter your life that, if you are willing to trust in him, he cannot work out for your good. That’s what it means to be sovereign.

Because God is sovereign, he is without equal: the King of kings, the Lord of lords, without limitation in any way. He is the only absolutely free being in the universe. I love A. W. Tozer’s explanation of sovereignty in his book The Knowledge of the Holy:

Quick Definition

God’s sovereignty is the attribute by which He rules His entire creation, and to be sovereign God must be all-knowing, all-powerful, and absolutely free. The reasons are these:

Were there even one datum of knowledge, however small, unknown to God, His rule would break down at that point. To be Lord over all creation, He must possess all knowledge. And were God lacking one infinitesimal modicum of power, that lack would end His reign and undo His kingdom; that one stray atom of power would belong to someone else and God would be a limited ruler and hence not sovereign.

Furthermore, His sovereignty requires that He be absolutely free, which means simply that He must be free to do whatever He wills to do anywhere at any time to carry out His eternal purpose in every single detail without interference. Were He less than free, He must be less than sovereign.1

When you bow your head to pray—when you’re in a jam and you need to ask God for something—are you aware of whom you’re talking to? The one to whom you pray has power over the entire universe, over every single atom, and yet he is infinitely loving and he cares about you. That’s who you’re talking to. That’s why we worship him.

Chip Ingram, The Real God: How He Longs for You to See Him (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2016).