We can reap the joy of cooperating with the sovereignty of God or be crushed by it …

The headline for this blog post reveals the “big thought” of my message today, but it’s one we often hurl ourselves through busy, self-oriented lives without understanding or caring about until it’s too late.

A few important truths:

1. There is one true God.

2. He created us with the specific purpose of worshiping, glorifying, and enjoying Him.

3. He is sovereign over all things, and His will will be done, either by willfully cooperating with His sovereign reign over all creation, or by being corrected or “crushed” for fighting against His sovereign will.

I was moved this morning in part of my Bible studies, the first being in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, of how throughout history God has been more than patient and long-suffering with us, He has gone through extraordinary lengths to get us to turn, from self and our desire for sin, to Him — and to enjoy the fullness and richness of life that comes from being ruled by the Sovereign Lord.

BUT, if we willfully refuse to acknowledge He is sovereignty over all — including our little lives — He will make it plain He is the Sovereign Lord. That’s what’s happening in Ezekiel 26. Nations have ignored God’s sovereignty, and now comes a crushing judgment for that. Read this one example:

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will make Tyre an uninhabited ruin, like many others. I will bury you beneath the terrible waves of enemy attack. Great seas will swallow you. I will send you to the pit to join those who descended there long ago. Your city will lie in ruins, buried beneath the earth, like those in the pit who have entered the world of the dead. You will have no place of respect here in the land of the living. I will bring you to a terrible end, and you will exist no more. You will be looked for, but you will never again be found. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!” Ezekiel 26:19-21.

It can be a terrible, crushing thing for God to have to remind you that He is, indeed, the Sovereign Lord.

Let’s add to that reminder that God’s sovereignty doesn’t mean God wants us to be robots without thought, or feeling, or even desires. The need to is to meld ours to His. Chris Appleby tells a story that illustrates this:

“It was a rainy Sunday morning. As Harry turned into the main road, he saw ahead of him three bedraggled figures huddled under a single umbrella at the next bus stop. One was old Mrs Fletcher. She still insisted on getting to church by herself, despite her arthritis which was always worse in wet weather. There was Dr. Jones, the local GP to whom he literally owed his life. And the third person was Judith. Harry had a crush on Judith for the past six months since she joined their church, but had never had the courage or the opportunity to ask her out. Harry had about three seconds to decide what to do. There was only one spare seat. Who should he offer a lift to? But three seconds was enough. He pulled to a halt, jumped out, passed the keys to Dr. Jones, helped Mrs Fletcher into the passenger seat, then modestly waved them goodbye as he huddled close to Judith under the umbrella. God’s sovereignty and our action so often go hand in hand.”

We ruin our lives when we wrestle with God over sovereignty. We find fullness, richness, and joy in life willfully yielding to the holy rule of our Creator.

Scotty