Some people really don’t seem to like belief in the absolute sovereignty of God. I don’t want to presume what, exactly, offends them about it. I just know that it does. But as an absolute sovereignty of God believer, I thought I would outline a few of the benefits that such a doctrine, if true, might bring us.
An ordered universe
If God is absolutely sovereign over all things, it means there is an ordered universe in which nothing ultimately happens by chance. The great thing about that is it means all things – even particularly difficult and heinous things – have some ultimate, good purpose behind them. It obviously doesn’t make the bad thing good in and of itself. Of course not. But it does mean the bad things isn’t just unremittingly bad. God does have a good purpose, in and ultimate sense, even in this.
Security in God’s plan for my life
One of the many handwringing things that Christians sometimes work themselves up about is whether they are “in God’s will”. There can be something about wondering whether we are “in God’s will” that has a habit of just totally hamstringing us so that we effectively don’t do anything at all. But a belief in the absolute sovereignty of God means I can’t walk outside of God’s will. Not in an ultimate sense. I can do what he tells me he doesn’t want me to do; I can walk outside of his preceptive will that way. I can do things that don’t make God happy; I can walk outside of his will of disposition that way too. But I can’t walk outside of his decretive will; what God ultimately intends to happen in the world. And there is something remarkably freeing about that, knowing I can just act and I will nevertheless ultimately function within God’s will. It means I can’t derail God’s plans; whether his salvific ones broadly, his worldwide ones generally or his ones for my life specifically.
Freedom to serve
If God needs me to do a bunch of stuff for him, that is a load I can’t bear. Every person I fail to speak to is a soul who could have been saved that I have allowed to perish. Every person I don’t disciple well enough is a person I should have moved to maturity in Christ who I allowed to remain infantile in their faith. Every person who… well you get the picture. But if God is absolutely sovereign, I can serve freely knowing that I will ultimately speak to those God would have me speak to. He will bring those into my life who he wants me to disciples. The people he wants to grow will grow and to save will be saved. It doesn’t free me from the responsibility to act in line with God’s Word (his preceptive will), but there won’t be a single soul he wants to save that isn’t or a single person he wants to grow up in Christ that doesn’t. I am freed to serve knowing God is in control and all he desires come to him will do exactly that.
Comfort whatever happens
The bottom line is that God’s absolute sovereignty gives me great comfort whatever may come my way. In his ordered universe, even hard things that come serve God’s ultimately good purposes. I can simply live my life safe in the knowledge that all that comes to pass serves God’s glorious purposes. Even the hardest of things that come my way can be managed in the belief that God works all things to the counsel of his will and I believe in a good God. If God is working all things for the good of those that love him (and the Bible says he is), I can trust that whatever happens will serve my good in some way. Even the hard thing I may have to wear, the very hardest of things, God will use to make me more like Christ – which is to my ultimate and eternal good.
The truth is that the absolute sovereignty of God is good. His sovereignty even over our very decisions and choices (including that to choose him) is good because it means none of our decisions and choices are the ones that ultimately derails his plans for the world, for his people or for us in particular. I am convinced that CH Spurgeon had it right: ‘The sovereignty of God is the pillow upon which the child of God rests his head at night, giving perfect peace.’