Synopsis
Most of us in the Western world have the terms "sovereign" or "sovereignty" in our vocabulary of recognizable words, though we do not use them frequently. They are words many of us find difficult to define accurately. We vaguely understand they have something to do with rulership, authority and power, but in everyday life we do not consider them something we deal with often enough to look into more thoroughly. Perhaps if we lived in a country ruled by a king or dictator rather than a representative government, some of the dynamism and nuance of these words would be much clearer. Neither "sovereign" nor "sovereignty" appears in the King James Version of the Bible. Some modern translations insert it to amplify God's name. Webster's New World Dictionary defines sovereign as "above or superior to all others; chief, greatest, supreme; supreme in power, rank or authority." It says sovereignty is "the state or quality of being sovereign; the status, dominion, rule or power of a sovereign; supreme and independent political authority." In the late 1990s, I was introduced to God's sovereignty when someone gave me a small book, Your God is Too Small, by J. B. Philips, author of the Philips paraphrase of the New Testament. He draws his theme from conversations with many people whose concepts of God were so limited that he felt it was no wonder they had little or no faith. At best, he concludes, many seem to think of God as nothing more than a greater man; an angry judge; a soft and kindly grandfather; or a scientist who invented the universe, wound it up and walked away from it, unconcerned as it operated on its own. How does our idea of God compare with these? Do we also think of God in some of these terms, however modified by our experiences in the church of God? Is the God we worship almighty in authority over everything? Does He shape the history of nations? Does He place and displace the rulers of the mighty and not-so mighty nations? Is He truly as involved life's details as Psalm 139 indicates David perceived Him? And what about the sufferings of mankind? Where does our God fit into this tragic part of life? If God is truly sovereign, He is involved, deeply involved; in all these areas; but no series of books can possibly answer every question that might be raised about God's sovereignty, especially in regard to specific incidents; however, the next several "Personals" will touch on many concerns people have about how deeply God is involved in the operations of His creation. This book will lay out the foundational principles we need to cover these concerns in greater detail. The sovereignty of God is easily accepted when all that matters is intellectual agreement. But practically, it is often very difficult to accept, even unfathomable, especially when that practical reality strikes close to home through a difficult, tragic event. In cases like this, we feel constrained to ask, "Where was God?" But what about God? Has He no rights over or claims on what He has created? Can we "grant" Him the right to do as He pleases with what He has made without calling His wisdom or fairness into question? People easily make too much of man and too little of God, especially because He is "out of sight." It is time to restore some balance to our understanding of this vital subject by learning more about the Father and what He does from His sovereign position as Creator. Who regulates affairs on earth? Is it God, the Devil or man? If we are not careful, we will automatically designate God as supreme in the heavens but concede that Satan rules the earth. Does not the Bible say that earth is the first estate of the demons, and Satan is god of this world (Jude 6; II Corinthians 4:4)?
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