Lord of Lords is our Sovereign God

Revelation 19:16 - "His name is written on his clothes and on his thigh: "King of kings and Lord of lords"

Divine sovereignty is probably the most misunderstood attribute of God among Christians. Believers talk about God's love, mercy, forgiveness of sins, atonement - who hold to the understanding of a loving God. And legalists talk about hell, punishment, purgatory, in general, the negative aspects of Christianity. But few people want to talk about the Sovereign God.

It sometimes seems to me that this topic is dismissed as an annoying fly that has interfered with theological discussions. Maybe this understanding of the nature of God scares people. Maybe they decided that it was not worth trying to understand the unknown, and this subject did not need to be studied and analyzed. I don't know why many, even those who believe in the sovereignty of God, simply avoid this topic.

Defining Divine Sovereignty

What is God's Sovereignty? This is the supreme power, domination - free, independent of any external forces, the rule of God. Our Lord is King of kings and Lord of lords.

When I say that God is Sovereign, I am declaring that He is Almighty. He is the owner of all power on earth as well as in heaven. And no one can change His ways, pervert His purposes, and resist His will. He is the Sovereign over the peoples who governs states and presidents. He crushes empires, be it the Roman Empire or Hitler's Germany. It allows certain political parties and dynasties to rule and govern in countries.

Psalm 21:29 - For the Lord is the kingdom, and He is the Lord over the nations.

All that I have written is certain formulations and definitions of Sovereignty. What does sovereignty really mean for ordinary people who may not be strong in theology?

Whose power is our life? After all, every person thinks what is happening today, what will happen tomorrow and in the future - on whom and on what everything depends. Who is behind this? I create my own life, is God in control of all situations, or is it just an accident?

Or maybe my life depends on the will of other people? How my relatives, parents, relatives, friends influence my life. And what depends on the state, government, president and officials? After all, my parents and friends can push me to some wrong decision. And officials in the Duma will adopt a law that will completely change my life.

Sometimes I am tormented by the mistakes that I made and continue to make in my life. Suddenly I will make a decision that will destroy my prospects in the present and the promised bright future.

After all, I can get the wrong job, and miss a good one. And how many divorces even among believers who decided that in the past they made a mistake and married or married the wrong person.

Does God have one plan for my life or many, depending on my decisions and free will. To some extent, on the one hand, we believe that our life depends entirely on us, and on the other hand, in fatalism, thinking that nothing can be changed.

But the truth is always somewhere in between, there is balance in everything. We choose, and God does. And as the Scripture says, "whatever a man sows, he will also reap." But it is also said that it is not in the will of man his way, and not in his power to give direction to his feet. We make wrong or right decisions, but God gives the result. Man prepares himself for victory in life, but victory depends on the Lord.

Jeremiah 18: 1-6 shows a picture of a potter's house. God speaks to the prophet Jeremiah. And he tells him to get up and go to the potter's house, where He will tell him His words. The prophet comes to this house and sees the potter working on his circle. And the vessel that the potter was making of clay fell apart in his hand. And he made another vessel out of the same clay, which the potter wanted to make. God revealed the principle of Jeremiah that He can treat His people like this potter. After all, we are clay in the hand of God, who created us and continues to create and transform.

Sovereignty is related to the character and attributes of God

Sovereignty is not just an attribute of God, it is His character and essence. And he is completely dependent on the rest of the characteristics and attributes of God. Let's see what this means.

If God is Sovereign, then He has authority over all creation. And he does what he wants. Hence, He must be able to rule this universe. Therefore, God must be Eternal, Almighty, Omnipresent, Omniscient, Unchanging, Self-Sufficient. And if we believe that He is not a totalitarian ruler, then He is Loving, Good and Gracious.

And again, believers have a question. Why does God allow evil in this world? If He is Sovereign and Almighty, then why are we suffering. And we conclude that He is neither Good nor Loving. But if He is Loving and Merciful, then maybe He cannot cope with what is happening on earth, since there is so much evil and pain in this world.

And again we need to come to the truth in this matter. God works together for good in our lives. All situations, people, our mistakes and even our sins, are the perfect will of God for our lives. For our souls to be transformed and changed into the character of Jesus Christ.

In general, I think that what I am writing about is a reflection for several topics and articles. Sovereignty extends to many aspects of both the character of God and all of human life.

God's Ability to Do His Will

Daniel 4:32- And everyone living on the earth means nothing; He acts according to His will both in the heavenly army and among those living on earth; and there is no one who can resist His hand and say to Him, "What have you done?"

Each of us goes through the realization of our own limitations or powerlessness. Let's say you are up to something. For example, be healthy. On Monday, you decide that you will run in the morning, go to the pool and to the gym. Then, make a menu, how you will eat right. Naturally, you remove sweet, flour, salty, and spicy foods from your diet. Some refuse meat altogether. Well, that's everyone's preference and business.

And now, you are faced with the first obstacle in your plans, this is your weak will and lack of discipline. In the beginning, of course, you go out for a run every morning, but then suddenly it starts raining in the morning and bad weather. It happens that you did not get enough sleep or just feel bad. Well, if you suddenly get sick, then you already have a real reason not to go running.

With proper nutrition, it's not easy either. Not sweet, not salty, not fatty, not peppery food, very often, not very tasty. What a pity that healthy food does not always saturate our sensual pleasures. And we break off once, then the second, and so over and over again, we promise not to eat these delicious cakes. But our will cannot resist temptations.

What is the reason? Weak will, lack of desire, bad discipline? Actually, what's the difference, the main thing is that the plans are thwarted and the result is not achieved. And we think that God is the same as we are. Until He revealed Himself and His greatness to us, we often drive Him into our frames and patterns, and often into our spiritual systems and beliefs.

But God is different. He not only wants to do something, but he can, having all the opportunity, strength and ability. No one and nothing can stop His desire and the fulfillment of His plans. In this regard, God is free to plan and do what He wants. So, we just need to give up our human efforts to understand how this is possible and believe God's words and promises.

The fullness of time in the Bible means that at the time determined by Him in our lives will happen what He planned even before we were born. God always achieves His goals in our lives. And what are we trying to understand with our limited little mind?

God does not get tired, does not get tired, and does not stop doing His work in this world. He does not sleep, He does not have a quiet hour, He does not take a day off to take a break from His work. We often try to put on God's shoes and walk His path. I think we are like Job, to whom God appeared and demanded from him an answer about who created this world and holds everything with His power.

No one can destroy God's intentions and plans. This can cause resistance or peace in our souls, but we can completely trust God.

Sovereignty returns the Kingdom of God to the spirit of man

The sovereignty of God is His primacy in our lives. We have a core, or reference point, something that is the main motive, driving force, center and essence of our being. Everyone has a meaning of existence, even if he does not fully understand why he gets out of bed in the morning.

Motivation arises and grows from our values. Where our treasure is, there will be our heart. Each person has his own treasure, which he collects, preserves and protects. For some it is a family - a wife and a child, for someone - personal happiness, for someone - a career and self-realization, for someone - well-being and wealth. And I do not mean that this is bad, we just were created by God to live for a purpose, live for values, live for meaning, otherwise we would not be human.

Animals also have a purpose and meaning, to get up in the morning, eat, sleep, then relieve their needs, then eat again, etc. It's okay for them, that's how God created them. It is sad that sometimes we are not much different from our smaller brothers. But we were created so that God would be the highest good and happiness for us. It's not bad to want to be happy, but to look for happiness in people, money, things, pleasures - this path leads us to destruction.

But He knows that only when we love Him with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our strength, only then we magnify and glorify Him. To love God above all else means to pay tribute to Him and recognize that He is higher and more valuable than everything in this world.

To know Divine Sovereignty in our lives is to find the Kingdom of God within our spirit. We are like a merchant looking for a precious pearl. And when he found it, he went and sold everything that he had and bought it.

Sometimes, I look at unbelievers and Christians, and I think that some of them live well without God. They turn to Him only in extreme need, when difficult circumstances or situations arise that they cannot cope with.

But every morning I feel my poverty and emptiness in my soul. And I understand that if God today does not fill my soul with His love and light, then I will suffer from the meaninglessness and hopelessness of this life. Without Him, there is no joy in my heart. Before, I could get pleasure and pleasure from communicating with people, traveling and entertainment, delicious food and good health. But now I cannot find joy in anything but Him alone.

When God is the first for us, then we will no longer get confused in priorities and choose who or what is more important to us. God Himself puts everything in its place within us and circumstances. When God reigns in our soul, then there is no disorder and anarchy in it.

He, with His strong and loving hand, cleans our souls from all rubbish and trash. Then she becomes like a garden of Eden without weeds and wild plants that prevent her from blooming and fragrant. God uproots rotten roots and loosens the soil of the heart so that later he can plant good fruit in us.

To recognize the sovereignty of God is to acknowledge His kingdom in this universe and the kingdom of God within us. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, not only on this earth, but also within my spirit. We may agree that God gave us free will, but how difficult it is for us to acknowledge His sovereignty in our lives. We find it difficult to accept human power and authority because of our sinful nature. But accepting that God is in control of the earth, time, and people is perhaps even more difficult.

While it should be the other way around, we need to be more careful with the power of the people who stand over us, because bosses often use it for their own selfish ends. But to accept the authority of God is to accept His grace, to accept His love for us, to accept God's promises. Since we can be sure that if God has promised something in our life, He will fulfill it.