Sovereignty.
It is not a word we use often. As Americans, it can leave a repugnant taste in our mouths. Why? What exactly causes us to think of this word with such disdain? It’s rooted in our history and our national values. Sovereignty is tied to power. The rule of one person over another. It wasn’t long after creation that men learned to press their will upon their fellow man. And the one who was the strongest began to express his sovereignty over his neighbor.
If you are the sovereign, you impose your will upon others. You do what you want and answer to no one. Why? Because there is no one to impose his will upon you. Unless, of course, there arises someone stronger than you. Then they become the sovereign. This cycle has played out over and over through one war after another. War, then, became the instrument by which man imposed his sovereignty over others.
In 1776, the American colonies stood up to their sovereign, King George, and a war ensued. With the help of a strong ally, the colonists stood up to their sovereign and took away his rule. And since then, Americans have rejected the notion of the sovereignty of one man over them. The individual is sovereign. The individual chooses who will rule over them and can recall that person at their will.
Americans would no longer bow the knee to any man. They crafted a constitution that separated powers so that power could not be concentrated in any one person. Three equal branches of government, each with its checks and balances on the other two, would ensure that no man would claim sovereignty over them ever again.
So, the rejection of sovereignty was not merely an act of rebellion. It became a national value rooted in our collective consciousness. Over two hundred years have passed under this constitution, and we have not bowed the knee to any man. Yet, we are a nation born with a collective desire to serve God and His Son, Jesus. We were, by any estimation, a Christian nation, and our national ancestors understood what it meant that God was sovereign. Sovereignty was something they lived under as colonists of King George, and the concept of sovereignty had real-world meaning to them.
But over time, as we became accustomed to not having to bow the knee to any man, I fear that we have lost the understanding of what it means that God is sovereign. That is why I wrote this book. It began with an introspective look as I challenged my beliefs and understanding of what it means to me that God is sovereign. Some of the ideas I learned from the Scriptures made me uncomfortable. As a proud American, fully submitting to another authority unconditionally felt awkward, even unnatural. Indeed, my relationship with the Creator would be more of a 50/50 give and take between He and me. I would do my part, and He would do His part.
And thus was the crux of my woeful misunderstanding of the sovereignty of God. He is sovereign regardless of what I think about the matter. My opinion, my belief, nor my desire has one bearing on the sovereignty of God. In a nutshell, here is what I learned about His sovereignty.
God has inherent authority, power, and ability to do whatever He wants. Period.
God answers to no man, no power, or to any other authority. Period.
God has the right to make the rules and the power to enforce those rules on whomever He chooses. Period.
His sovereignty extends to the very nature of what we view as morality and what is good and evil. The sovereignty of God means that He defines what is moral. He is not held to any moral standard. He IS the moral standard. Good is good only because He defines what good is. Evil is evil only because He defines what evil is. He, and He alone, has the power to define for everyone else what good and evil mean, and no standard can hold Him accountable except His own.
Once we believe these fundamental truths of God’s sovereignty, it changes everything in our lives. It changes the nature of our relationship with Him. It changes how we live, how we order our priorities, and how we bend our will to His. We understand that our relationship with God is not a 50/50 proposition but rather a 100/0 proposition. It is all Him. He is the Potter; we are the clay.
In the following few pages of this book, we will dive deeply into what sovereignty is and what it is not. We will see how God has demonstrated His sovereignty and explore what His sovereignty means to us. And finally, we will look at what happens to those who accept and reject His sovereignty. Hang in there with me because we will learn that as terrifying as it is to stand in opposition to a sovereign God, it is just as strengthening and peaceful to submit fully to His sovereignty. And once we submit fully to His sovereignty, we will find that we can do all things through Him who strengthens us and live fully within His grace.
We can only do this by yielding to His sovereignty and bowing the knee before Him daily. He is our God. He is our Creator. He is our King. He is our Lord. He is our everything.
He is our Sovereign.