by Doy Moyer<\/p>\n
The Lord “is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords…<\/em>” (I Timothy 6:15).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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<\/em>” (Romans 8:28). Prayer itself is a recognition that God is able to respond decisively. He determines what will and will not be.<\/p>\n
And what is the alternative? Shall we say that God is not <\/b>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?<\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
Let us, then, agree with Paul, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.<\/em>” (I Timothy 1:17).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[403,90,1122,735],"class_list":["post-43095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-control","tag-god","tag-leadership","tag-sovereignty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47970,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sovereignty-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":43095,"position":0},"title":"The Sovereignty of God (Frost)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gene Frost Sovereignty is the state of being sovereign, which is to be \"above or superior to all others; chief; greatest; supreme.\" We illustrate: In all the realm, the king was sovereign. There was no one holding\u00a0 greater rank, with greater authority, or greater power. He willed that on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93221,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-god-in-control\/","url_meta":{"origin":43095,"position":1},"title":"Is God in Control?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 15, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer We often hear that \"God is in control\" when things in this world aren't going well. With all the violence and evil, we wonder, how can God be in control? Are we saying that God makes bad people do bad things? Are we saying that God creates\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53774,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-tale-of-two-gods\/","url_meta":{"origin":43095,"position":2},"title":"A Tale of Two Gods","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"How Calvinism's God and the Bible's God are Two Very Different God's by Ben Giselbach One very popular denominational preacher and writer, John Piper, is famous for saying that \"all things\" - even down to the subatomic level - \"are ordained, guided, and governed\" by God.\u00a0[1]\u00a0The idea that God determines\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50951,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sovereignty-of-god-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":43095,"position":3},"title":"The Sovereignty of God (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Timothy 6:13-21 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When looking at the history of the development of the denominational world, one issue that has significant impact revolves around understanding God\u2019s sovereignty. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sovereignty is being above or superior to others; to be chief, greatest, or supreme. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The question is: Can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92970,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sovereignty-of-god-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":43095,"position":4},"title":"The Sovereignty of God (Benton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton I recently saw someone suggest that Calvinists would change John 3:19 to read: \"And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, but I sovereignly chose not to regenerate them, so they had no choice but to love darkness instead.\" This would need\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26694,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-god-is-sovereign-why-does-he-express-sorrow-when-men-are-bad-if-god-knows-of-everything-why-did-he-repent\/","url_meta":{"origin":43095,"position":5},"title":"If God is sovereign, why does He express sorrow when men are bad? If God knows of everything, why did He repent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If God is sovereign, why does He express sorrow when men are bad? If God knows of everything, why did He repent in Genesis 6:5-7 and Exodus 32:12? Answer: People have a hard time dealing with the infinite. An age-old puzzle is \"If God is so powerful, can He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}