I think one of the great confusions about God in theology, and what causes the greatest amount of problems, is God’s sovereignty. The basic approach of Christian theology since Augustine, and finalized in the disciples of Calvin, is God’s control over every aspect of creation. Nothing gets done without God’s authority and approval. Of course, this approach to God falls into difficulties when seeing terrible events happen in which many thousands of people die. How can God, who is supposed to love every single person individually, personally approve of a mass killing of those He is tender-hearted about? I don’t want to get into the complex arguments about how this could be, and some of the greatest Christian literature has been written on this subject. My approach, personally, is that our whole conception of God is wrong.
It begins with a wrong idea of what sovereignty is. Somehow, we consider God’s sovereignty to be different than human sovereignty. This would make sense, since, as we have seen, God is considered to be containing all the power of the universe, in all place, knowing all things both possible and actual, active in sustaining all the universe. Such a being, when considered to be sovereign, would be rightly considered in complete control of every event in the universe. However, as we have also seen, the God of the Bible is not exactly the same as this perfect theological picture of God. God can do whatever He wants, but that doesn’t mean that He exerts all power that exists. God can know whatever He wants, and can be wherever He wants, but this does not mean that He is at all places at the same time. God is existing both before and after human history, but this doesn’t mean that God never had a beginning. God’s needs are limited, but it can be shown that He needs us, if only emotionally, which emotions such as anger and jealousy and love we must affirm that God has or else deny the whole of Scripture.
Even so, biblically, we must limit God’s sovereignty. This statement can get me in trouble, because, of course, biblically we must affirm that God is the creator of the universe, and thus He holds the complete right to rule the universe. That I absolutely affirm. But Scripture also affirms that God has surrendered His sovereignty—His rule—of the earth and all it contains to humanity (Genesis 1, Psalm 8). Humanity is now the sovereign one over all the earth, and humanity has surrendered that sovereignty to governments. Thus, the governments act in God’s stead as ruler over the earth.
Is God still sovereign? Absolutely. If a government steps too far out of line of God’s will, then God steps in and takes the government out—as described in Psalm 82, and seen in Genesis 18-19. And if the whole world abuses those whom God protects, then God will take over the whole world again—and this is what is prayed for in “Thy kingdom come” and described in detail in Revelation. Part of the hope of the believer is God’s direct rule over the earth, through Jesus, without anyone else as mediator between the earth and God.
Why do disasters happen? Because they do. The earth isn’t completely stable, and disasters will always happen. God might prevent them, if He is asked to. And He might help more, if He is asked. But God will not move amidst a government who doesn’t seek Him. And God will not protect a nation who isn’t interested in doing His will—which is all of them, without exception. God is much like a parent who releases his child to go out into the world on their own. The child will suffer much and face terrible trials, but as long as the child says, “I’ll do it myself”, the parent will let them.
The exception is supposed to be the people of Jesus. Jesus was fully in tune with His Father, only doing as He pleases, seeking His will and relying on Him alone. The people of Jesus are supposed to have a relationship with God like that. God is to be fully sovereign over those who release their sovereignty to Him. But as long as we, who claim to follow Jesus, retain our sovereignty, and deny God His proper place, then we will never experience God’s love and power. Disasters will still happen and we will have to face them on our own. The more we release ourselves to trusting God, then the more we will experience God’s care for us.
How is it, then, that those who trust God suffer so much? Because we live in churches, in cities, under governments that do not trust God or surrender their sovereignty to Him. We are under the rulership of toddlers who think that they can do whatever they please. In some cases, those who fully trust the Lord are sacrificed for the sake of others so that they might trust God. This is what happened to Jesus, and many of us suffer because God specifically is asking us to stand in the gap for those who need His help so much.
But there are also many who suffer because the ones truly in charge of the world are toddlers who have to do things themselves, not under the guidance of God’s wisdom, with the focus of God’s mercy or the unbelievable magnitude of God’s power. Trusters of God are just as likely to be in a natural disaster, because those who rule the area are not asking God for help. This isn’t some spite by God, but simply a natural event that God could have prevented if people relied on prayer rather than their own power. Trusters of God are just as likely to die in a war as anyone else, because war is a sign of people not trusting in God, but their own power, and as long as war exists then everyone is threatened. Trusters of God are just as likely to suffer poverty as anyone else, because the governments of this world are more interested in denying their own responsibility and asserting others’ responsibility rather than relying on God’s mercy.
This is why we need Jesus to rule the world. He is the only human who can see clearly with God’s power and mercy. Churches talk about God’s sovereignty, but act as if He is powerless and must work through them. Governments talk about mercy, but they neglect the needy in their own nations and the world, because they don’t really believe in God’s mercy. Jesus demonstrated through His ministry God’s unbelievable power and His mercy. And through His death he paved the way for us to live in it.
God’s “sovereignty requires that He be absolutely free, which means simply that He must be free to do whatever He wills to do anywhere at any time to carry out His eternal purpose.” –A.W. Tozer But the inscrutability of God is that He has taken his ultimate freedom and surrendered this freedom to His creation. Freedom in the modern day means that one has a right to follow one’s basic, positive nature. But God surrendered His freedom to accomplish His perfect will on earth to humanity. He took some of the most lively part of His creation and limited His own access to it, limiting his rights to openly act on the earth. And he gave over this freedom to the hands of an unworthy, weak creation.
It is this very act that Satan doesn’t understand and rebels against. Satan tested humanity right at the beginning and found them unworthy. Satan continues to test our best and brightest, and finds them all filled with sin, selfish, and lacking true understanding and mercy. Humanity—because of the powerful nature to imitate that which surrounds them—has copied Satan in despising the weak, and rejecting the unworthy, immediately punishing them as soon as they are found. The very rebellion that Satan acts upon humanity to dethrone them from their high place, is that which makes our planet unlivable—judgment of the weak, and calling unworthy those whom God has given rule.
Instead, God invites us, in His gentle way, to follow Jesus. To grant even the unworthy mercy. To offer forgiveness to those who have rebelled. To give up one’s own rights so that the weak might have power and wholeness. To surrender the unnecessary punishment, but instead to be respectful and welcoming so that humanity might imitate God and not Satan.
2 comments:
As much sovereignty as we can take back from government the better.
Interesting, dm, that you say this. Because in Scripture, there is no indication that it is possible to take sovereignty from the government. After all, which government would freely give up power? So the Scriptural idea is to put oneself in a position for God to take sovereignty away, by proving the government unworthy.
Today, we have the concept that we can take government's power away from it. To a limited degree, that is true. But two things-- first, there are some things, like the military, that government will never surrender, so we can never live in a state that we can command to love their enemies. Secondly, to take away power from the government begs the question-- who fills the power void? Corporations, churches, non-profit organizations? All of them have proven to be unworthy of holding power. But humans, as power hungry as we are, we are also, as a mass, more than willing to give power to someone who is more than willing to take it. The only one deserving of such power is God.
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