Are we free if God is sovereign?

It’s interesting how we seem to become so stumped at the idea that we can be free even though God is sovereign over everyone and everything.

That’s because we tend to automatically interpret “sovereignty” as controlling every aspect, every thought, every decision, and every action so that we are basically rendered God’s mindless puppets.

That is not the case at all!

There is no doubt about it, God is, indeed, sovereign!

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things,” 1 Chronicles 29:11-12.

“Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes,” Psalm 115:3.

“The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord; he guides it wherever he pleases,” Proverbs 21:1.

“Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan,” Ephesians 1:11.

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see — such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him,” Colossians 1:15-16.

But God, in His sovereignty, desires that we be free: “So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law,” Galatians 5:1.

We can come to God because, in His sovereignty, He invites us. Look how one scripture portrays this …

“Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends,” Revelation 3:20.

Note the passage doesn’t say Jesus demands we open to Him and allow Him in, but that He knocks. Proverbs 16:9 is yet another passage that echoes the merging of God’s sovereignty with our freedom:

“We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”

That sentence sounds to many people like a contradiction, but it isn’t, as twentieth century pastor and author, A. W. Tozer, helps us understand with this illustration:

An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. It’s destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of sovereignty.

On board the liner are several scores of passengers. These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, sleep, play, lounge about on the deck, read, talk, altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port.

There is one God, and He is sovereign … and that’s really good news! It means someone else is – Someone who is infinitely more holy, capable, and powerful than all of us, and He’s moving us to an amazing eternity! In the meantime, God grants us great freedom to think and feel and plan; but if we have been reconciled to Him, it becomes our desire to mesh our freedom into His will so that His desires are our delights.

Scotty