If you've read much of my stuff on God's Sovereignty, however, you'll also likely find that the concept is somewhat ... controversial. Here's the problem. "If God is as Sovereign as you say He is ..." (which I would correct to "the Bible says He is") "... then where is Human Free Will, Man's culpability? Why evangelize, pray, do anything that God wants? If God accomplishes everything, then Man is not culpable and we don't have to do anything." That kind of thing.
Here's the deal. While it is perfectly acceptable to think logically down various paths suggested by biblical statements, it is dangerous to go down logical paths that contradict Scripture. You can imply what you want on a biblical topic, but don't cross biblical lines in doing it. So if the Bible says, "God works all things after the counsel of His will", you might be tempted to object, "Well, then Man cannot be held culpable!" But the Bible is equally clear that Man is responsible for his own actions. So you may think you've followed a line of reasoning properly, but when it crosses a biblically explicit concept, you've gone too far.
Where does that leave me? It leaves me with a biblical concept that God is absolutely Sovereign and Man is responsible for his actions and choices. It leaves me with "I know that You can do all things; no purpose of Yours can be thwarted" (Job 42:2) and "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23). I'm stuck with "The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble" (Prov 16:4) and "The soul who sins shall die" (Ezek 18:20). I cannot get around "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world" (Eph 1:4) or "Choose this day whom you will serve" (Josh 24:15). Or, reversing the order, I am required to hold both "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" and "It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil 2:12-13). Someone once asked Charles Spurgeon how he reconciles the doctrines of God's Sovereignty and Man's Responsibility. He said, "I don't; I never reconcile friends." Conclude what you want; just be sure not to conclude what contradicts Scripture. Both human responsibility and divine Sovereignty are clearly in Scripture.
"So what?" someone may ask. "Why make such a big deal about it? I mean, if we can't figure it out and we're not clear on it and we can't agree on it, why make a big deal about it?"
Reasonable question, I think. I make a big deal about it first because God's Word does. Various lists include large numbers of references to God and His Sovereignty. The concept is routinely mingled with Man's responsibility. For example, we read in Genesis 50 that the sin of Joseph's brothers was both God's plan and theirs. "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today" (Gen 50:20). Judas Iscariot betrayed Christ by God's foreordination and was culpable for his action (Luke 22:22). The Bible, God-breathed, considers it important, so I will, too.
More practically, God's Sovereignty has large pragmatic implications. First, right doctrine determines right thinking, and right thinking determines right actions. Orthodoxy determines orthopraxy. If God's Word assures us without any possibility of confusion that God is absolutely Sovereign, in order to arrive at right actions, we will need to hold this right doctrine. Second, a correct view of God's Sovereignty will tend to impact all of your thinking. It makes for a humble person who realizes that God (not me) is in charge of everything and a courageous person who realizes that He wants us to act based on His Sovereignty. It makes for a grateful person who understands that all we have is from God's hand. And it makes for stability. Knowing that nothing occurs outside His will -- that all that occurs does so according to His plan -- we can proceed with joy in trial, comfort in loss, and contentment in increase or decrease. In the words of Catharina von Schlegel's hymn, Be Still My Soul, "The waves and winds still know His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below."
The Bible makes one more extremely practical application of the Sovereignty of God.
Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain (1 Cor 15:57-58).That's right. God's Sovereignty guarantees a no-lose situation. Your labor in the Lord cannot fail. You can be steadfast, you can be immovable. Why? Because God wins ... always. Therefore -- that practical conclusion -- be "always abounding in the work of the Lord." Why not? It is sure. Do you have the impossible task of counting it all joy encountering various trials (James 1:2)? Not to worry. Your labor in the Lord is not vain. Are you commanded to make disciples among the deaf, dead, and blind enemies of Christ? No problem. Your labor in the Lord is not vain. Are you timid about doing God's work because it seems hard, fruitless, or pointless? Be at ease. God, working through you, cannot fail.
Now that is practicality. Oh, yeah. I love the doctrine of God's Sovereignty. To its very core.
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