The Sovereignty of God

This post is from a dear lady who has gone home to be with the Lord.  She and her husband have been a blessing to me for more than 44 years!  This is a devotional she wrote and Bill, her husband, recently sent out.  It's important we live in this simple reality- God is sovereign! Here are Minnie's words,

Sovereignty of God by Minnie Burnside

What should our response be to God’s sovereignty?

1. A respect for God’s sovereignty should humble us and bring our hearts into submission to God. We should delight to do His Divine will.

2. We should have a godly fear. Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

3. We should be obedient. To recognize that the Bible is God’s Word and is given to us by the Sovereign Creator will cause us to cry with the Psalmist, “Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies. . . order my steps in Thy Word. Psalm 119:36, "Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me." 133 “Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.” We cannot pick and choose. We must accept all of God’s Word.

4. A true recognition of God’s sovereignty will stop all murmuring and complaining. I wrote that for myself because if we really believe that God is sovereign, we really cannot complain and murmur. We just have to try and understand how this fits into His divine will.

I was very troubled many years ago when the missionaries were slain by the Auca Indians We were all pretty young at the time. I remember that Bill and I talked a lot about this. We weren't married very long when all that happened.

After that all the books came out about Elisabeth Elliot going to the Auca Indians and working . And the Dayuma Story. And so I thought, “Oh, that's why Jim was killed, so that this could happen. But then many years later I heard Elisabeth Elliot speak once. After Jim was killed, many people gave her all kinds of answers. And after she went to live with the Aucas, they gave her more answers. Bu you know she said there were only a few Aucas and yet these men felt they should go there. They were already working with many Indians who were responding.

But none of the answers that anyone gave her satisfied her. She said the only answer that satisfied her was that God is sovereign. He knew what was going to happen when they went. He could have stayed the spears. But that was her comfort—not what did happen but that God was sovereign. And I think that shows in Elisabeth Elliot's life. How old is she now? In her late 70's? A wonderful woman of God. She's not bitter. She wanted a simple life. She wanted a marriage with one man to last forever. The next husband she watched die of cancer. She's now married to a younger man that she said she hopes he outlives her! It's very hard but she's such a trusting woman whatever the Lord brings into her life. Even when we cannot understand,  we know Romans 8:28 and Job 1:21 : The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.

5. A deep thankfulness and joy. Ephesians 5:20 “Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” It's easy to give thanks for some things. It's not always easy to give thanks for all things.

Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice.” Now that's one of my favorite verses and another is “This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.“ Psalm 118:24 You know, what a wonderful cure for depression! Keep our eyes on the Lord and realize He is bigger than the problems of today.

6. Adoration and worship: “True worship is based upon recognized Greatness, and Greatness is superlatively seen in Sovereignty, and at no other footstool will man worship.” (J.B.Moody)

Not only is God sovereign, but He is infinitely wise and good.

He cannot make mistakes.

The last time we were in Australia I was talking at a party with some 7th Day Adventist missionaries and we were talking about God's goodness and that He does not make mistakes. My blind grandson was sitting there at the table and I didn't even realize he was listening and then he asked that question (you've probably heard Bill tell this—it really touched our hearts.)

He said, “Mimi, was I one of God's mistakes?”

[Note: That was July 2001. Rory was 14 years old. He had been born without eyeballs so he is totally blind—with artificial blue eyes.]

You know my first reaction was just to cry. And I said, “Rory, God doesn't make mistakes. No, you were not a mistake. I said, “We don't understand why you were born blind and we know there's evil in the world and there's wickedness and so these things happen. But you were not a mistake. You're a very wonderful boy. You just can't see. And God has made you for a very special purpose.”

And then I went on [explaining] and Bill got involved in the conversation and we explained, “Rory, some day you will be able to see if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior. When you get to heaven all things will be put right. But even in the time before you can't see but you're not a mistake of God. God has a very special purpose, a very special reason that you were born not being able to see.” Then I told him, “You're Mimi's very special boy.” Well, he hugged me and that seemed to make it OK.

I don't know if someone had said to him that he was a mistake or just listening to the conversation he just wondered in his little mind and heart when we were talking about God doing all things well.

7. The fact that God is sovereign gives us absolute certainty that our future is secure. God’s plans cannot be derailed. What He has promised will come to pass. He holds eternity in His hand just as He holds us, and we will be join theirs with our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I have this one little poem written by a woman who was in a dungeon far below the surface of the ground lit only by a candle at mealtime. [Madame Jeanne Guyon, 1648-1717]

A little bird I am shut from the fields of air. Yet in my cage I sit and sing to Him who placed me there. Well-pleased a prisoner to be because my God it's pleasing thee.  Naught have I else to do I sing the whole day long. And He who most I love to please doth listen to my song. He caught and bound my wandering wings but still He bids to hear me sing. My cage can bind me round. Abroad I cannot fly, but though my wing is closely bound, My heart's at liberty. My prison walls cannot control the flight, the freedom of the soul. Ah, it is good to soar. These bolts and bars above to Him whose purpose I adore whose providence I love and in Thy mighty will to find the joy, the freedom of the mind. Let's pray. “Father, teach us like this dear saint that lived before us teach us to realize that the things of earth cannot bind our spirit, that we can soar in you that we can rejoice in you and that we can realize that all of your promises, all of your decrees, will come to pass and we can rejoice.