By Steven J. Hogan
~ A Saturday Morning Post #142 ~
From Iowa to Arizona to Nevada to Iowa to Maryland to Florida – geographically speaking, this sums up my life for the past 66 years. Much has happened through all that time – growing up in a family of 8, my father dying when I was 7, going to Catholic schools for 13 years, becoming a Christian in college, serving in the church, finding an excellent wife, helping raise 4 children, teaching God’s word, and having many good friends. There have been personal struggles, spiritual battles, many victories, untold blessings, and with that, God-given patience, perseverance, grace and mercy. In all this, the foundational factor and force has been my relationship with God, and consistently experiencing His unconditional love. Without God, I wouldn’t have made it, which leads to the main point of this blogpost, God’s sovereignty in my life.
That God is sovereign is an absolute truth, but to see it be true in my own life has been miraculous and encouraging. Since I am older, I have the advantage of being able to look back over all the years, and see a great many examples of His divine working in my life. In many ways, situations and relationships, God has been purposely and strategically sovereign – when I was born, where I lived, what people I was with, being born again, and so much more. Knowing that God has been lovingly, wisely, and faithfully sovereign, has been extremely humbling and comforting. Now more than ever, it’s obvious to me that God is God, and I am but a man, and that all the credit goes to Him for all the good and wonderful things that have happened in my life.
That God is sovereign has come to mean many things to me:
* God is in charge of my life, and I am glad that I am not. Daniel 4:35
* I am still responsible for my actions, which means my sin is all my fault. Yet, God has been working it all out for my growth, my good, and for His glory. Ephesians 1:9-14
* I can’t do whatever I want, for God is my Lord and He is in charge. James 4:13-15
* There have been no accidents in my life, even when I broke my arm. Lamentations 3:38
* God is working in me and through me so as to fulfill His purposes. Acts 13:22, 36
* That God has work for me to do motivates me to pray and look for His leading, confident that He will show me what He wants me to do. Ephesians 2:10
* I am not going to sit still and watch God do the work. I will make plans every day, knowing that He can change them, and then redirect my steps. Proverbs 16:9
* Sometimes, life is confusing to me, but not to God, for being sovereign means He knows exactly what He is doing, and why He is doing it. Proverbs 20:24
* My life is a puzzle piece. All the people in the world make up the puzzle pieces, and God is purposefully and wisely fitting us together in just the way that He wants. As a puzzle piece, my life is closely connected, interlocking with a few other puzzle pieces, a few other people. This puzzle will be fully put together and finished when Jesus Christ returns to rapture the church. Only then will we be able to see the big picture, what our holy God has been doing throughout HisStory. “The whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.” Ephesians 2:19-22
Here’s one way I refresh myself with the truth of God’s sovereignty: about every month, I take 20-30 minutes to mentally and spiritually review my life, going over all the decades from the 1950’s to the present. As I think about some of the big things God has done for me, I get very encouraged and thankful, and am even more fired up to live for Him. I strongly recommend that you do the same, that you regularly take the time to look back over your years, or even your past week or month. “I will meditate on all your work and muse on all your deeds. Your way, O God, is holy” (Psalm 77:11-13). When you see God’s work in your life, then you will see God’s ways (sovereignty and holiness) in your life (Psalm 103:7). The truth of God’s sovereignty needs to be real to you, embedded in your heart. I cannot stress enough how necessary it is for you to know and believe that God is sovereign in your life, especially at this time in history.
That the Jews are back in their land means we’re getting close to the end of this age and the coming of Christ. But Christ can only come back if God continues to be completely sovereign over everyone and everything in this world. And yes, God is faithfully putting every puzzle piece in its proper place. He is personally working in all the people, cities and countries in this world. He will be sovereign over all the wars, famines, diseases, earthquakes, and the coming Antichrist, too. At times, you may think this world is off course, but from God’s point of view and by His providence, it is racing in a straight line to the finish line, to the return of Christ and the rapture of the church. Matthew 24:4-32
I get excited knowing that my time to live is in these end-times, and I hope you feel the same. God has important work for you to do, work that is directly related to what He needs to accomplish in the years leading up to Christ’s coming. I encourage you to read God’s word, be praying, and be doing your part, remembering that God is sovereignly working all things together for your good and for His glory (Romans 8:28-30). I pray that you continue to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:12-13
P.S. I have a new article, and it is about this subject, The Sovereignty of God. There are a great number of verses listed, ones that I believe will be very helpful to you in learning more about this most important topic.