God is Sovereign

Sovereign: Possessing supreme or ultimate power, supreme ruler.

From the beginning of time humans have accredited life, death, blessings, and curses with a ‘god-being’ in control. Humans naturally seek to please some form of higher power. These days many people do not believe God is in control of everything. Many people believe in happenstance, fate, or that they have power over their own lives. These types of beliefs remove the responsibility for people to examine their own lives and ask God for direction.

If we claim to be disciples of Jesus, we must go to scripture and examine truth found in scripture. Over the years, you may have heard among believers that “things just happen", “that we live in a sin-filled world”, and “we just need to hope bad things don’t happen to us”. And if bad things do happen to us, then “just hope God will answer your prayers”. These are nice good sounding human thoughts that cause many people just accept this way of thinking. The problem is we do not see this kind of thinking taught in scripture. What we do see throughout scripture is that God is in control. He is sovereign. He has supreme power and authority. We never see happenstance or coincidence in scripture, we do not see things “just happening”. Everything we see in scripture shows that God is very purposeful. We also see throughout scripture that Satan does not have unchecked authority to do whatever to whomever, he wants.

In scripture see that God speaks to His friends. God will tell us about situations coming into the world before they happen. Often times, He warns people about situations before they occur, in their own lives and in the lives of others. In the Bible, we see warnings given to His children and even warnings given to people who practice wickedness. We will look at two stories that show God’s supreme power and authority. In these two stories we see God’s authority in heaven and on earth, over angels, and over evil spirits.

1 For three years Syria and Israel continued without war. 2 But in the third year Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. 3 And the king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, and we keep quiet and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?” 4 And he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?” And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”5 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.” 6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” 7 But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?” 8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.” 9 Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah.” 10 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 11 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’” 12 And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” 13 And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” 14 But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak.” 15 And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?” And he answered him, “Go up and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” 16 But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” 17 And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’” 18 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?” 19 And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; 20 and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ 22 And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ 23 Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has declared disaster for you.” 24 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “How did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?” 25 And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.” 26 And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah, and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son, 27 and say, ‘Thus says the king, “Put this fellow in prison and feed him meager rations of bread and water, until I come in peace.”’” 28 And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Hear, all you peoples!” 29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. 30 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. 31 Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, “Fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel.” 32 And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is surely the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out. 33 And when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. 34 But a certain man drew his bow at random[a] and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.” 35 And the battle continued that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians, until at evening he died. And the blood of the wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot. 36 And about sunset a cry went through the army, “Every man to his city, and every man to his country!”37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria. And they buried the king in  Samaria. 38 And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken.

1 Kings 22:1-38 ESV

This example has a lot of important facts packed into one situation. We see King Ahab, who practiced wickedness, and King Jehoshaphat, who feared God, team up to go to war. Jehoshaphat feared God and wanted to get direction from Him before going to war. We see Jehoshaphat is persistent in desiring to know God’s will and because of that persistence, God shows him mercy. God reveals through His prophet, Micaiah, what has happened in the past and what will happen in the future. This knowledge gives Ahab an opportunity for repentance as God warned both men of destruction. God tests these men by allowing evil spirits to tempt them into war. Ahab chooses to do his own will over the Word given by God. We see that these men could not run from the Word of God. As shown in this story, what He says will happen, will happen, no matter what you try to do. Even though Jehoshaphat went to war with Ahab and he was told the outcome, God still showed mercy on Jehoshaphat while Ahab was killed. In 1 Kings 22:38 everything the Lord spoke over Ahab happened. 

We must make a choice in our own lives who we are going to follow, our own will and own desires or His. We also need to learn to test the spirits as we are told in 1 John 4:1. 

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.

1 John 4:1 ESV

The next story is about King Hezekiah in 2 Kings.

 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 “Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, 6 and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.” 7 And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”

2 Kings 20:1-7 ESV

The story of King Hezekiah shows God’s mercy on Hezekiah’s life. We know that Hezekiah asked God in faith for healing and to live longer or God would not have listened to Him. Hezekiah started out his life obedient to God, but in the latter part of his life he turned from God. 

There are many more stories in the Bible that will point out these facts. We see God speaking to people all throughout scripture. We see Him sending angels, prophets, and prophecies telling of things to come, warnings, and giving directions to people. God has never stopped speaking to us. The problem is many of us have stopped asking and listening to Him.

We cannot go on assuming things “just happen” or “we just live in a sin-filled world”. We must start to believe that He is God and He is sovereign. He wants us to ask. He wants us to teach us things we do not know. He wants to talk to us. He wants to be our friend and walk in us. That is the whole point of salvation. That is the only reason He sent Jesus to die, so that He could live and walk in us. When we begin to understand and believe this truth, then the Bible will come alive to us. 

I will leave you with this verse in Jeremiah 33. I encourage you to stop and ask God to reveal hidden things to you and next time you need direction ask Him, do not just assume life happens.

2 “Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: 3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.

Jeremiah 33:2-3 ESV