“I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” Isaiah 44:6 (KJB)
This article was prompted by a weakness that I perceive among my brothers and sisters in Christ concerning a deep faith and conviction of the Creator’s total sovereignty. My observations are from my own exposure to the Christian world, which mainly consists of one-on-one conversations, or reading and listening to discussions and arguments in the newspaper, on television, and on the internet. Unstable words are spoken--words lacking authority--because most of these dear people don’t have their own personal revelation (quickening of the word) on this matter; in their HEARTS, they aren’t sure if God is really in control. There are reasons, of course, why this uncertainty hovers and causes fear and anxiety, but take heart, for all of our questions have answers. I am here to assure you that God is in total control. He is in charge! He is THE boss!
While it is understandable that all not awakened (yet) to Jesus would wonder if there even was a God, it is also understandable that true followers of the Living God could waver on his “control” if the scriptures of His sovereignty still lie as dead letter in their heads. But these words are mouthed and leaned on--and desperately hoped in! Yes, God’s control is preached (and screamed) from the pulpits, but most who speak the words don’t really believe them. If they did, they wouldn’t put our fate in “their” hands. Most preachers believe that if they don’t get people saved, that it won’t get done. Most also believe that we have a choice, which puts our fate in “our” hands. Those religious philosophies are proof that they don’t really have faith in the saving power of Jesus, which--as a magnet--draws all men to Him.(John 12:32) This lack of trust (from lack of insight) also casts a shadow on God’s ability to really run things.
Many, many believers have doubts and questions when prayers aren’t answered or are answered differently than what was hoped for. At those times, we can believe that we didn’t see God’s will in a matter. Then, we watch the words of religious leaders fall on the floor as dead. Expectations of this, that, and the other never materialize. Circumstances in our own lives don’t turn out the way we had hoped, drastic personal losses throw off our concept of God’s love and protection, and terrible happenings in the world cast a shadow on the ability (and passion) of God’s overseeing all things. Seems many times that he is looking elsewhere or doesn’t really have a handle on our chaos. And, looking at our lives at point blank range, unable to rise above our lowly view to see a bigger picture and high purpose, it can seem that God is indifferent or cruel.
Let me, at this time, draw attention to what life without the ultimate control of a benevolent deity would be like--in a nutshell. Life would be a nightmare from the worst sci-fi scenarios. We would be at the mercy (or lack of) the lovely beast nature of men running rampant without any kind of restraint, for there would be no inward motivation for restraint. All people would discover their own wantonness, selfishness and depravity. No food banks or help centers of any kind would exist. Anarchy would be the status quo with no humane governments allowed to operate, for the wicked human heart (Jer 17:9) would be reigning. Protocol would be an unknown format. No personal safety from police or structured militaries would be available, because men would refuse to submit to anything or anyone other than there own drive to survive. Every one would have to own weapons and be prepared to use them. Earthquake victims would lie in piles and rot, because no one would care about them. All weak and ailing would be regarded as refuge and burdens to be gladly unloaded. If your car went over a cliff or plunged into water, you would die alone, for no one would see the need to risk their lives for you. If houses or buildings burned down, no one would rebuild them. Ours would be a very animalistic world where instinct rules and reigns and only the fastest and meanest would survive. To say the least.
Much more could be elaborated, but I believe a picture has been painted of life without one major component: LOVE. Why do we have food banks? Why do we have volunteers of all kinds? Why do we have daycare for children? Why do people donate their own blood? Why do we have law, courts, judges and prisons? Why do armies exist to defend the helpless and innocent? Why are dictatorships not acceptable to anyone but the dictator? Why do countries send jets full of help and provision to the needy of all kinds of tragedies? Isn’t it obvious? Because God is secretly woven into the fabric of our lives and governments in His own invisible structure to maintain a semblance of law and order. “Self-driven” humanity has to be supervised and managed. His love and compassion manifest in all of our humane acts, and all of our giving. As imperfect as our systems are, they are paradise compared to the afore-mentioned scenario. Even in this, our heavenly Father is working his own purpose and calling all the shots behind the scenes.
Sovereignty, from a dictionary perspective, mentions words of supreme and independent power and authority; also “rightful status” and “royalty”. The word “autonomy” uses sovereignty as a synonym. Autonomy means “independence or freedom”, the “right of self-government”. (Dictionary.com) In this case, “self” means the Self of deity. God, Himself, exudes Divine order. The one-world government that men talk of is already in place, and there is no need to fear it. He rules his Kingdom (everything and everyone) with total control. And even though he allows us to have our own allotments of "free will", His plan is secretly woven even into that. His level of control has never been available to us. Never!
The whole book of Amos presents God as the ruler of the world. And many other books provide a boatload of scriptures concerning God's sovereignty; here are just a few. May the reality of them be emblazoned into the reader’s heart and soul:
“The decision is announced by messengers, the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lowliest of men.” Dan 4:17
“All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?” Dan 4:35 (NIV, all)
“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of HIS own will:” Ephesians 1:11 (Youngs)
“We may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall.” Proverbs 16:33 (NLT)
Since we cannot “see” God, we have to rely on any faith we might have, or we may have to rely on someone else’s faith in times of darkness and challenge. And, we can come to a place of blind trust in God’s workings, of hoping and believing in his ultimate purpose, but some incidents can stretch that trust beyond our ability to have comfort and peace. Seeing with our natural eyes, it isn’t possible to conceive of “good” coming from violence, injustice, and suffering. These things don’t compute to our natural understanding. We most definitely need a boost up to a higher view of where our Creator is and how He is working. What am I talking about? We might be more willing to draw near to God if we understood his mechanism of revealing himself in this realm. We cannot view our Heavenly Father as distant or time-oriented. He is to each one of us--individually--closer than the air we breath, and the time is always NOW.
I have talked in other articles about the true dwelling place of God. He does not dwell out in space somewhere, and he is only invisible to us because we don’t recognize his body style, which is VERY visible. It looks like mine--and yours. He has been abiding with and in us for a long time, and we don’t have to be "saved" to qualify for his entry into us. Don’t misunderstand my meaning, for Jesus is the door to the awakening--through the Holy Spirit, but God dwells in every man. He was there before we were born and he abides with all men whether they believe in him or not. I came to understand intelligently that my Lord was living inside of me, but still lacked the revelation. Then, a sister in Christ shared with me what God had shown her about his all-encompassing presence: If God were to remove his presence from our world, we would all fall on the floor as puppets whose wires were cut! This vision turned on the lights for me. There is no other life here but HIS! There is no “we”, there’s only He. (And that’s what Paul said.) We are unique, individual expressions of the soul of God.
Everything comes out of Him and cannot self-perpetuate. Everything also goes back into him, goes through him, is to him and for him.(Col 1:17, Rom 8:38-39, Rom 11:36) And if Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, there is no way we can be anywhere else except hidden behind him somewhere in that line-up. Actually, He is hidden in us. A brother has written about God’s abiding presence in our bodies.* God’s instructions are hidden from the naked eye and reign in our DNA. We are never out of the view of God because we are eternally in the spiritual network of God’s operating system. (Computers were a vision from a higher mind.) All lives are linked to all other lives, and God regulates all missions from His place as Chief Administrator of the Information Systems of us. And we come into this realm with an embedded plan to return to Him.
He has never had to wait on our willingness to accept him, because we first belonged to him. We first existed in His mind, and we came into being in our time. Our purposes (the good, the bad, or the ugly) are specific pieces of a multi-generational puzzle, that--once completed--offers everyone an ultimate exoneration, restoration, and liberation. We are walking out an existence that we try to get grounded in, but which is impossible to experience in its reality until we awaken from our sleepy state. We must remember that the race of Adam was not awakened from its fallen status (Gen 2:21), a status that speaks of loss of communication with the Creator. But the return trip is the awakening, and in God’s time.
We are players on a grand stage with a grand story containing a grand theme: the reconciliation of all back to God. The author, director, producer, stage manager, and special effects creator is Supreme in authority and intelligence in every way. He regulates the lighting and atmospheric conditions, for he is Lord of the outward as well of the inward. He is a master chemist, physicist and mathematician, establishing himself in our make-up, in the very cells of our bodies. He provides the spirit and soul--distributed to us according to his plan--and we provide the bodies. All of us are extremely important to him, and because we had no say in the Master plan (Romans 8:20), God is totally responsible for all of the outcomes. Since he lives inside of us, he is in control! All of the frequencies of light and sound are channeled through his “Server” into our unique receivers. Before we even hear him calling, we are falling in line with our part of the big story, and an individual stage is set for our day of visitation and awakening.
Hopefully, the reader understands that we are not machines, but our technology provides a wonderful allegorical vision to aid our perception of higher things! While these truths may cause sadness to many who want a fairy tale and sensationalism, there is much to rejoice in about God being so non-religious! Yet His magnificence cannot be adequately expressed. He rules with tenacity, but also Love and humility (WOW), because he is THE Father with a Mother's heart tucked inside of him (El Shaddai). And he is logical and practical, contributing to our access to him; thus, he is so very approachable!! He is Deity in every sense, but intentionally created our human form to dwell with us. This was the desire of His heart!
Yes, God is already inside of us, overseeing all input and output. His omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience encases all realms to safeguard his pre-established format. All uprisings are allowed or disallowed according to His purpose. Life and death are never an accident. All timings are His. Things are not as they appear to the natural eye, but they are perfect from a Divine perspective. No man can surpass God’s creativity and ingenuity; neither can they be in control of their destinies or anyone else’s, even though our natural senses will dispute that claim. Yet as we draw near to God, our relationship with him will blossom, trusting Him for what we cannot see and do not understand. Our lives are moving forward and upward and the outcome is sure--and secure. Established before the annals of history from the passion of a loving God, our destinies are sealed, because God’s total control guarantees it!
*The House That God Built, by Robert Torango
Recommended reading:
“Our Chaos is His Order. What We See is Not Where We Are.”
http://thenewfaceofgod.blogspot.com/2010/10/13-our-chaos-is-his-order-what-we-see.html
"The Source of the League of Good Persons"
http://passionofthelamb.blogspot.com/2010/10/chief-of-tribe-of-good-persons.html
