God Is In All and Over All

God is in all and over all.  That's a short explanation of the sovereignty of God.  I am trying to get a better grasp of this truth about the God we serve, but I only have a glimpse of this monumental certainty.

God's sovereignty does not mean that everything that occurs in the world is His will because He has given us a free will and the freedom of choice.  The Holman Bible Dictionary states:  "The sovereignty of God involves God's self-limitation in order that His creation might choose freedom in Him."  He lets us make the choice to choose Him.  He never forces Himself on anyone.  Yet, nothing ever happens to us that He has not allowed or caused - He is in all and over all.

When you study the book of Ruth, you get a glimpse of the sovereignty of God.  It most likely was not God's perfect will for an Israelite man, Elimelech, to go the the pagan country of Moab when the famine hit Bethlehem, but God used those circumstances to bring about His plan.  A young Moabite woman named Ruth married one of Elimelech's sons (Mahlon) while they sojourned in Moab.  Elimelech's wife, Naomi, lost her husband and both of her sons while in Moab and then returned home to Bethlehem.   

Ruth, one of Naomi's daughters-in-law, traveled back to Bethlehem with her and made a commitment to Naomi and Naomi's God.  The sovereignty of God is written all over the life of Ruth as God took this young girl from a pagan country and placed her in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. ("Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth." (Matthew 1:5b)

When you think nothing is going as you planned (and I suspect that Ruth and Naomi had those thoughts), remember if you are God's child, God is at work.  In His sovereignty, He is always at work even when we cannot see His hand orchestrating events.

When you reflect on your life, I hope you see the sovereignty of God written all over it.  Watch Him place you in certain places at certain times and remember that is a small glimpse of His sovereignty.  What a comfort to focus on the sovereignty of our God!

"One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." (Ephesians 4:6)

Serving Him,
Kay Martin