The sovereignty of God and the sovereignty of Man - A second look.

This subject will always be full of tension. Unfortunately, the tension is usually negative. Why? Because of man's distorted worldview of both matters. That is why I want to analyze it again. You may recall that I wrote an article entitled, "The will of God vs. the will of Man" some time ago. This will be an addendum to that article. This matter is so crucial to the nature of God and man that it deserves more treatment. My goal is to get you closer to the nature of God and the nature of man through this article - to provide Biblical insight so the tension we feel can become a positive instead of a negative. 

Is that possible? Can tension become positive? With clear Biblical explanation, I believe it can.

So, let us start with man since that is who we are. 

God at the beginning of time created man and gave him dominion over everything He created. Man had the absolute power to do anything he wanted within the confines of God's will. In other words. man was the sovereign of the earth. A sovereign is one who has absolute rule, total control. Where man tragically fell was when his sovereignty clashed with Almighty God's authority. We must remember man's rule has limits - meaning we cannot do anything we want without penalty. Our problem is that we do not want limitations. We do not like law and order. Because man is a usurper, he was kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Adam wanted to be like God, in every way. That is the reason he took the devil's lying words over God's and ate the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6). The reality was Adam and Eve were already like God. I am not saying they were God or little gods, but they were like God in this sense: They had intelligence; they had a moral compass; they had emotions; they had the ability to make choices and reason; they had the gift of communication and relationship. These are some of the things that made them God-like.  

The scripture said, "let us make man in our image after our likeness (Genesis 1:26). So when we see and relate to one another, we are looking at the made-image of God. Here is our problem: because of sin, God's image - that is mankind is ruined and depraved. Man no longer has the perfect beauty and innocence  he once had. That is why there is an ongoing war between God's will and man's will -  God's rule versus man's rule. Man has forgotten that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness of it (Psalm 24:1). God left man as the manager of His world.  We see that has turned out tragically. 

Now, let us look at the sovereignty of God.

As I have mentioned in the past, God's rule is autonomous - meaning His rule is absolute, no limits. God can do whatever He wants to do. Psalm 115:3 says, "our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases." When God created the heavens and earth, He did not ask for permission from anyone - no one was here! When He decided to create man, He did not need anyone's consent. God always fulfills His own will without apology. Unlike us, God has no authority He is accountable to. God is judgment proof - no one can ever successfully accuse God of evil. 

All the things that God is, man covets in an evil way: that complete dominion and total worship. And because he can never obtain "god-hood", he will forever be in conflict with his Maker, losing every time. 

So, how is the tension resolved between God and man? It starts with correctly recognizing the roles of each which I have explained above. See God is perfect so He does not have to adjust to us - we must submit to His Lordship. We are the offenders in the relationship so it is incumbent upon man to repent and humbly bow before the Lord of all the universe.

When one views the relationship of both the right way, then the tension dynamic is positive - Man understands his role, and he understands God's role. While we can never understand God fully, we can praise Him and trust that He is in control of the circumstances in our lives.

Concluding, our sovereignty is a gift and a trust God has granted. Since time began, man has continually abused that trust. We see that in our government and police forces. Since most men do not fear God, sin has run wild - it is the sovereign the world happily serves. This is an affront to God, and for His holiness' sake He must judge it. Like the devil said in Isaiah 14:14, "I will be like the Most High", man in his heart utters the same blasphemy to his own doom.