The Blessed and Only Sovereign

by Doy Moyer

The Lord “is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords…” (I Timothy 6:15).

To say that God is sovereign is to recognize that He is in control. This is not to make a trite or bumper-sticker theology kind of statement. It is a recognition that God is the One who oversees, sets the limits, and brings all things to Himself in the end. It does not mean that God is to be blamed for evil or that God makes evil things happen against His will. Even then, evil has a day of reckoning under God’s mighty hand.

To say that God is in control is not to say that God aggressively asserts that control over every little matter in some micro-managing kind of sense. A shepherd is to have control of his own household (I Timothy 3:4-5), but that does not imply that he asserts control in a tyrannical way. Some appear to have the idea that “control” means manipulating the minutiae of every detail, but that does not fit the biblical evidence.

God is not a tyrant. He gives free will. He allows for variance. He provides for what seems to us to be time and chance (yet, how do we really know what is and isn’t?). Through it all, He maintains control of final outcomes. To accept His control is to accept His providence, to know that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Prayer itself is a recognition that God is able to respond decisively. He determines what will and will not be.

And what is the alternative? Shall we say that God is not in control? That God is not able to take care of matters according to His will? Is this the kind of god we want to accept? Where, then, will our faith be?

We do not fully understand the wisdom, knowledge, and power of God. But it is not our “end of the stick” to be whittling away at what is fully in God’s jurisdiction. He is able to do far more abundantly beyond what we can even think (Ephesians 3:20).

Let us, then, agree with Paul, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” (I Timothy 1:17).

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