GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY

By: Chris Govekar

Isaiah 49:6-He says, "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." (NIV)

When we (Christians) talk about the Great Commission, we all generally understand that we mean Matthew 28:19,20, but how many of us know that God had this commission in mind much earlier? When we go back into the Old Testament, His design for carrying His salvation throughout the world is made more than clear. Look, for instance, at God's promise to Abram in Genesis 15, to bless the entire world through his descendants.

The Bible is lucid about many topics, but one topic that I think is sometimes missed is the one on which Scripture is most clear-the absolute sovereignty of God. The book of Isaiah is full of God's declaration of His sovereignty, and we would do well to take note. Specifically, God says repeatedly that He will do what He promises. The things God promises will happen. I think back to one of Dan's newest songs out of Job 38. There God asks Job, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?" (Job 38:4) and then follows up with two full chapters describing His power over all creation. We've lost something of the idea of what it means for God to be sovereign in modern times. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, sovereignty means, among other things, "freedom from external control." That's God. He answers to no one but Himself. It is not possible for God to say He will accomplish something and then not accomplish it. If He says it will happen, then it will happen.

When we think about world missions in the context of God's sovereignty, then, we get a much different idea of what it is God expects from us. When Jesus spoke to His friends in Luke 10 lamenting (it seemed) that "the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field." (Luke 10:2), He was not exhorting them to some great effort to turn souls to God. Rather, he was simply stating that there are so many who've turned already through the sovereign power of God by His spirit that there were not enough workers to bring them all into the family! God does not need us to change anyone's mind, and if we think we're the cause of a single soul coming into the kingdom, then we have a sadly inflated notion of our own importance. After all, the One who formed the universe can probably convince a human being to come to Him.

What God needs (wants, expects) from us is obedience. When we go into all the world (and that means the world right around us) to work in His fields, He already knows the result. Our obedience then, while not needed to accomplish God's plan, brings greater glory to Him through what those not yet in the kingdom see in us. If we proclaim Jesus with our mouths and our actions, then God is all the more glorified in this fallen world, and we bring Him joy.

Please remember, God's plan will come to pass. He does not need you or me to make it happen, but He is pleased when we "get on the bus" and do our part working for His plan. Ask yourself, "What have I done to bring in the harvest?" God planted, God tended, God ensured good growth, and now we just have to go out and gather what He has ensured. Praise be to God almighty!