God is Sovereign

Have you ever heard that phrase quoted at you particularly when something terrible has happened? If so then you need to ask the one stating that, what do they mean by that? Its important, as it is usually meant to disarm you from worry by saying that God has everything under His control as He is sovereign and all powerful. Yet something tragic has happened.

The problem with this way of looking at calamities, is that it is leading the hearer to think that God is allowing a catastrophe as a good thing. Something that God wants to happen for some greater good. Even if the one quoting that doesn’t know what good.

We think of a sovereign as our king or queen, the one who brings laws into being, so naturally we want to apply the same meaning to God however this does not take into account the free will God has given mankind. When we look around at our world, we see the result of both good and evil in our world. So although its right and biblical ( 1 Chronicles 29:11 Matthew 28:18  1 Peter 5:11 ) to think of God as over every power and authority, no higher power or authority exists than His, its also right to recognise that in our world the affairs of mankind are not aligned with God’s perfection and this is because of the free will God gave to mankind and the choices mankind made with it.

Lets assume in the UK the king is in charge of laws (I know its the government in the UK – but its his Majesty’s government). King Charles is sovereign, his laws stand.  Now does that mean everyone obeys them? Even though he is sovereign, his majesty’s prisons are full of offenders, paying the price for breaking his laws. In the same way God is sovereign in that He has made laws we should live by, however we are free to break them but we will then incur the due penalty for that. So being Sovereign means you make the rules, but on this earth, because of evils influence and the sinful nature of people those rules get broken by us and others because we have free will. Yes there are consequences here and now and ultimately the eternal price has to be paid by the law breaker (or if you are a Christian Jesus has paid it for you) but it does not mean that everyone on this earth obeys the rules all the time hence we have evil and sin in the world and our lives. So God’s sovereignty, on earth, does not equal God’s will is being done. It means God sets the rules and he is the ultimate authority.

The Lord’s prayer teaches us to pray “Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven” Matthew 6 verse 10. If God’s will was already being done as a result of His sovereignty then why would Jesus ask us to pray for it to be done?

Indeed, when we just look at our own lives we can see that we do wrong, so if God being sovereign means nothing happens without His approval then we have to recognise that God has allowed you and I to do wrongful things and is he ok with that because He didn’t stop you. No! The bible clearly states He is not. (Psalm 5:5 or Acts 17:30). So clearly things happen in this world that displeases God and is not within His perfect will.

Can you see why its not helpful when calamities happen to say to someone “God is sovereign”? It would be like your loved one being hurt by another and someone saying to you, “its OK the king is sovereign” or “Its OK God is still on the throne”. When calamities occur instead of looking up and blaming God we should look up and pray for His help, because something has gone terribly wrong. 

Now because God is listening to prayers, especially the prayers of a righteous person, the situation, whatever it is, be it personal or otherwise can be redeemed somewhat. God is the great redeemer after all. Some good can be salvaged such as an earthquake can stop and rebuilding of more earthquake proof structures can begin. If the situation was a personal loss such as a suicide or sudden infant death those who remain and are affected may start self help groups or raise funds to research the cause and may prove very beneficial to future generations but my point is God did not “allow” the tragedy to happen for these groups (the benefit) to be setup. If you believe God is all powerful he does not need evil or tragedy to accomplish His will.