God Is Sovereign

Once we acknowledge that God is the sole Creator of everything that has been created, several implications follow. We only have time for a few of them!

But one critical observation is that the Creator is Sovereign. He possesses supreme and ultimate power.

This is the kind of framework that Paul is operating within when he says, in Romans 9, "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, 'Why have you made me like this?'"

This is uncomfortable. We would prefer to be the creator of the gods. We would prefer idols. Because we manufacture the idol, we are in control. Our engagement with the idol is what gives us power over fertility or prosperity or avoidance of harm.

We can bring this attitude to God. I'll go to church, I'll pray, I'll read my Bible, and I won't say bad words. Let's make a deal.

We aren't in that kind of position with our Creator. He breathed into existence the very matter that forms our being. Our physical environment exists because of his creative words. Our ability to think and communicate with God entirely depends on our Creator King.

Let's reckon with what Paul says in Colossians 1:

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

Consider the greatest powers of our world - a throne or a rule. They are created beings subject to the awesome power of the Creator. So God is hardly intimidated by Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar or Caesar.

If you study the plagues in Exodus, you see that the Creator is overturning the created order to show Pharaoh that he does not control the physical environment. YHWH does.

There is no one and nothing that can challenge the rule of the Creator.

My goal is that you are feeling the raw power and Authority of God as our Creator. That the doctrine is vivid and clear. This is part of what it means to live in the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. We are coming to terms with who God is - and we are in awe.