We talk quite often at PCF about the sovereignty of God – God’s total ability to do what he will, his wise and meticulous control over all things. ‘Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases (Psalm 115.3). ‘Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps’ (Psalm 135.6). ‘I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose”’ (Isaiah 46.9-10). Not only do we talk about God’s sovereignty, we celebrate it. It’s good news – the best possible news. We believe, in the words of the Heidelberg Catechism that all things come to us not by chance but by God’s fatherly hand. We can rest in that.
But it can also be hard – very hard – when God’s sovereign plan involves suffering for us. The son of author and speaker Tim Challies (www.challies.com) recently died, and Tim Challies, who affirms the sovereignty of God in all things, has written a deeply personal, deeply honest, deeply theological reflection on how he’s feeling toward God these days. Read it here. It’s a powerful insight into what it means to really believe in the sovereignty of God.
