The Grace in God’s Sovereignty.

Today as I was listening to "You Do All Things Well" by Tenth Avenue North, I was reminded of the sovereignty of God. This is something I've been thinking a lot about lately. There have been many times in my life where things happen that I don't understand. I find myself in a seemingly hopeless state and I can’t see the purpose in it. However, in the midst of these hard times, I have to rest in the fact that at the end of the day God has it all under control.

God has a way of reminding me of this fact. This semester I'm taking a class in New Testament. Today we talked about prophecy of the Old Testament in preparation to dive into the New Testament. I never realized how active God was in preparing people for the Messiah. Learning about how he used people and prophecy to pave the way is fascinating. He takes people that are just like us, and gives them the power to work outside of their flesh to accomplish amazing things for His glory.

This makes me pause and think. Oh, the things that would be possible if I would only surrender all I am and all I go through to God. Can’t we just trust in the sovereignty of God? Can’t we trust in His ability to weave those moments of fear and doubt into His masterpiece? If we did so, perhaps He could help us step outside of those hard circumstances in order to grow closer to Him while fulfilling His purpose for our lives. This purpose may or may not become our legacy. It may or may not be remembered by many people. However, I honestly believe that if we could step out of our own fears and doubts about the present in order to step into God's sovereign will for our lives and the people's lives around us, the impact that we could have on even one person for the Kingdom would be worth the struggle.

Handling unsure times is one of the hardest things we as humans can go through. We love to be in control. I think it's a lesson we have to learn-that we're not in control. Perhaps over things like what kind of drink we get at Starbucks or whether or not we'll do our homework. But in the grand scheme of things, God is in control and is working His plans out. I believe all followers of Christ want to be involved in His masterpiece of taking hard times and making them a part of a larger story. In order to do this, we have to sacrifice our doubts and fears at the altar of grace and trust that God has everything under control. Even if He leads into harder times and we face more doubts, at the end of the day we know that He is in control and will draw us closer to Him. This is our true calling-to draw near to our creator and worship Him for being in control of things that we can't begin to grasp. This is the beauty of our creator-He understands the weaknesses that we face, yet He finds it no weakness to accept us for these and love us anyways. He finds no shame in giving the weak strength to glorify Him in fulfilling His plan. This, in a way, is the Gospel that we need so desperately in each of our lives.

Tenth Avenue North, “You Do All Things Well”:

“You break me, to bind me

You hurt me, Lord, to heal me

You cut me, to touch me

You died to revive me.”

1 Chronicles 29:11-12 (ESV)

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.”

Job 42:2 (ESV) 

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Isaiah 46:9-10 (ESV)

“Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,”

Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 (ESV)

“Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.”