A popular song from Carrie Underwood. It sounds so good and free? Does God control everything in life? Are we just sitting back letting Jesus take the wheel of our lives? Do we have any responsibility in how our life goes?
Do we believe that God wills everything, good or bad, to happen to us? If we think so, it gives us some temporary relief from confusion and condemnation, and it releases us from personal responsibility but in the long-run it attacks the character and nature of God, it causes us not to trust God wholly and it leads us to just sit back and be passive. Qui sera sera? Whatever Will Be, Will Be. What are we talking about? The sovereignty of God.
“The word “sovereign” is not used in the King James Version of the Bible. It is used 303 times in the Old Testament of the New International Version, but it is always used in association with the word “LORD” and is the equivalent of the King James Version’s “LORD God.”
“Religion has resulted in the invention of a new meaning for the word “sovereign,” which basically means God controls everything.”
“Nothing can happen but what He wills or allows. However, there is nothing in the actual definition that states that.”
“The dictionary defines “sovereign” as, “1. Paramount; supreme. 2. Having supreme rank or power. 3. Independent: a sovereign state. 4. Excellent.” None of these definitions means that God controls everything.”
“It is assumed that since God is paramount or supreme that nothing can happen without His approval. That is not what the Scriptures teach. In 2 Peter 3:9, Peter said, “The Lord is…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
“This clearly states that it is not the Lord’s will for anyone to perish, but people are perishing. Jesus said, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat” (Matt. 7:13).“
“This is because the Lord gave us the freedom to choose. He doesn’t will anyone into hell. He paid for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2; 1 Tim. 4:10), but we must choose to put our faith in Christ and receive His salvation. People are the ones choosing hell by not choosing Jesus as their Savior. It is the free will of man that damns them, not God.”
“God is sovereign in the sense that He is paramount and supreme. There is no one higher in authority or power, but that does not mean He exercises His power by controlling everything in our lives. God has given us the freedom to choose. He has a plan for us. He seeks to reveal that plan to us and urge us in that direction, but we choose. He doesn’t make our choices for us.”
“If God controls everything and If this belief is true, then our actions are irrelevant, and our efforts are meaningless. What will be will be.”
Look at this next scripture:
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NKJV)
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
20 that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
We see in this scripture our responsibility to choose! To choose blessing or cursing. It encourages us to choose life!
God has a perfect plan for every person’s life (-Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.)-but He doesn’t make us walk that path.
“We are free moral agents with the ability to choose. He has told us what the right choices are (Deut. 30:19), but He doesn’t make those choices for us. God gave us the power to control our destinies.”
“Typical teaching on the sovereignty of God puts Jesus in the driver’s seat with us as passengers.”
“On the surface that looks good. All of us have encountered the disastrous results of doing our own thing. We desire to be led of the Lord, and teaching that nothing happens but what God wills fits that nicely.”
“However, the Scriptures paint a picture of each of us being behind the wheel of our own lives. We are the one doing the driving. We are supposed to take directions from the Lord, but He doesn’t do the driving for us.“
“Man has been given the authority over his own life, but he must have the Lord’s direction to succeed.”Jeremiah 10:23 says, “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.”
“It is very comforting to know that God only has good things in store for us. Any problems in our life are from the devil, of my own making, or just the results of life on a fallen planet. Our heavenly Father has never done me any harm and never will. I KNOW that.”
James 1:17 (NKJV)
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
“This is a fundamental doctrine of Christianity that must be understood properly if we want victory in our life. Believing that God controls everything renders a person passive. Why pray and believe for something better? Whatever God wants will come to pass. That simply is not true.
“The Lord is the answer to all our problems. He is not the problem.“
Note: Quotes taken from Andrew Wommack.