In all the chaos around us these days, I’m sure some are wondering, “Where is God in all of this? Does He even care?” Isaiah 46:9-10 tells us that God is in control (even if it doesn’t look like it to us) and that He has a plan and He will see it fulfilled. Our verse says, “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.’”(NASB)
God is sovereign, which means He is in control of all that happens. He is in control of the world around us; He is in control of nature, He is in control of all the happenings we see, and it is all part of His plan. He says, “My purpose will be established.” His plan will come to fruition.
In the dictionary, the word sovereign means supreme ruler, a monarch. Easton’s Bible Dictionary defines God’s Sovereignty as His “absolute right to do all things according to his own good pleasure.” God has a perfect plan for each one of us and He allows things to come into our lives for a specific purpose. What comes into our lives, whether it seems good or bad, is for our own good. Ultimately God is in control of everything that happens.
Now, some will read this and say, “How can bad things be for our good? Someone gets killed…that’s for their good?” Satan is our enemy, and the Bible says he is the ruler of this world and he blinds the minds of those who don’t believe. (2 Corinthians 4:4) There is also a natural evil. God allows natural disasters like tornadoes and such to happen. There is also a moral evil. We must remember that sometimes bad things happen to us because of our own doing. God knew from the beginning that we would go our own way. Even though God is in control, He doesn’t take away our free will to do what we want despite what He desires for us. Yes, He is in control, but God doesn’t want robots serving Him, He wants people who will love Him and follow Him because they desire to have a relationship with Him.
Jeremiah 29:11 says, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” (NIV) God loves us and He desires to give us hope and a future, He doesn’t mean harm to come to us, but when we go against His plan for us, sometimes bad things happen. Even though the world seems chaotic, He is still sovereign and in control and ultimately His Will is going to be done.
When I read the Bible and it is talking about the end times, I look around at our world today and I see Scripture being fulfilled right before my eyes. Matthew 24:37 says, “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (KJV) The days of Noah were evil, wicked days. God was so upset, the Bible says, that God wished He had never made man! They had turned their hearts away from God. But in His sovereignty, God knew what He had to do. He could have destroyed the whole earth, people, animals everything…gone, poof! No earth! But He didn’t. In His sovereignty, He had a plan, the same plan from the beginning. He decided to save men from themselves. It’s sad to think that in all the world there was only one man whom God could find who loved Him and served Him. God had a plan to save this man, Noah, and his family, and through His sovereign will, God’s plan could continue to provide salvation for us all.
The days we are living in are just as they were in Noah’s day, yet God still has a plan. His sovereign will is still in force, and as we continue to look for the day when Jesus comes back, we see the signs all around us. Even though our world is turned upside down, God is sovereign, and He is in control.
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