Topical Study

Many either take the sovereignty of God for granted or fail to understand it more thoroughly beyond the facts that God exists and is working to some degree in our lives. But we need to see how intimately and actively He is involved. He is more than casually involved in the operations of His creation, and this includes each of us personally and individually.

Humans can literally lose themselves in their work by devoting to it all their time and energy to the exclusion of everything else. We call these people "focused" or "single-minded," and this often leads to relationship problems. There is no telling how many marriages or friendships have been ruined by this intensity of purpose. God is deeply involved in operating His creation. Unlike a man, however, God will never "lose" Himself in what He is doing at any given moment because the capacity of His powers and the perfection of His nature prohibit such a thing. Is our concept of God "big" enough to include such a thought? Our understanding of God must be growing, otherwise our faith will be severely limited.

God expresses Himself with great diversity in both the animate and inanimate elements of creation. Nonetheless, the laws of nature operate and keep everything under control. Because we are so attuned to law, we are naturally and subtly persuaded to think that God made things and then stepped aside to let laws regulate them. Does God really need to manage or govern His creation actively?

Psalm 22:28 supplies the answer: "For the kingdom is the LORD'S, and He rules over the nations." Notice, "rules" is an active verb, and "nations" is plural! He manages, keeps under control, or directs everything according to His own purpose. God did not create then step away from what He made; He does not allow His creation to operate on its own. We are not subject to uniform, impersonal law but a sovereign God actively controlling the operations of His creation!