Disclaimer: this post is very much a work/thought in process (and likely will be for life).

Ok – I’ve been wrestling with understanding God’s sovereignty over the last 18 months. Not in the sense of whether or not Yahweh is sovereign, Scripture is very clear on that one. But more so trying to understand, biblically, what that means. I think the most succinct definition is that God does what he pleases in all ways, places, and times, and answers to no one. That can make God sound capricious and arbitrary, but that’s because we typically only see power and authority abused, or abuse power and authority ourselves. But we must think of Yahweh as he reveals himself in the Bible, and not based on human experience. He’s the kind, relating, creator God who is unified in his love, wrath, mercy, and justice. So his sovereignty is a wonderful source of hope because his unstoppable ways are always both loving and just. He gets it right every time, per se, because his very nature defines what is right and good.

But here’s where I think many of out most dear preachers have unintentionally hindered the Church: in speaking of God’s sovereignty we do not talk about how his unstoppable ways play out in time and space. In other words, as we are living and dealing with all that this life brings, how do God’s sovereign decrees, plans, ways, etc. happen – how do we experience them? It’s one thing for someone who has cancer (as a good friend of mine just found out she does) to know that Yahweh is sovereign (in control and not surprised), there is great hope in that truth. BUT – when you think of a verse like Romans 8:28

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

how does he work “all things together for good, for those are called according to his purpose”?

That, I believe, is the area of Providence. I think of providence as the how of God’s sovereignty. When we are experiencing life, God is relating to us. At the same time he knows all things that happen, and that could happen. He learns nothing, his knowledge is perfect and not bound by time or space.

As we, his creatures living in his creation, are living our lives he is in relationship with us. Whether or not we follow Jesus matters. Prayer matters. Obedience and disobedience matter – BIG TIME. God responds. God alters plans. God allows us to love or hate Jesus. He is working providentially all the time, relating with us, to us. In his sovereignty, he is not a God far off, he is near, drawing all people to himself and intimately involved, especially in the lives of those who love and follow Jesus, the Lord and Savior of all who believe.

I guess what I’m getting at is that all our preaching and conversation about God’s sovereignty has swallowed up providence and left it unmentioned, untaught, and thus left many without the great comfort of understanding the nearness and intimate working of God. That is a tragedy. As critical as it is to have a biblical view of the sovereign God of the Bible, we must also have a biblical view of how he relates to us, without it, I fear we have providence lost, and much joy in Christ with it.