God is sovereign. However, your understanding of the sovereignty of God may not be the same as mine. Let me explain. When I acknowledge God’s sovereignty, I testify to the fact that He is the Supreme Ruler, Authority, and Power. He exists in an Eternal Self-governing state; He can do whatever He wants, and no one can stop Him.
Some would add to my definition, saying because He is sovereign, everything that happens is God’s will. While God is mighty, powerful, and wise enough to control everything that happens on the earth, He doesn’t because He has chosen not to.
God’s Limitations
God’s sovereignty means that no man can limit God, but God can and has limited Himself. Consider what Psalm 138:2 says: I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. The word name is shem in Hebrew. It means authority and character. So, we see God has magnified His Word even above His sovereign authority. He limits His actions through His Word.
For example, God can and did destroy the entire world (except Noah’s family) with a flood. Could He do it again? He is certainly capable of bringing another world-wide flood to the earth, but I know He won’t because He said He wouldn’t.
Genesis 9:11-13 says, And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
God’s power has not waned since Noah’s flood; He could do it again, but He decided to bracket Himself. He entered into a covenant, promising not to destroy the earth that way again.
Those in Covenant with God Can Influence Him
Many years after His covenant with Noah, God established a covenant with Abraham. In Genesis 17:4-5 we read, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
The Abrahamic covenant was eternal, just as the Noahic covenant was. Verse 7 reads: And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. Galatians 3:29 connects you and every believer to Abraham’s covenant. It says, if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
As Abraham’s seed, you can expect Abraham’s blessings; one of which is the ability to influence God. When God wanted to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18), Abraham boldly questioned Him, asking, Will the God of all the earth, the judge of all the earth, do right?
God listened to Abraham because of His covenant with him. As a believer in Jesus, you not only get the benefits of God’s promises to Abraham, but you also have a better covenant sealed in Jesus’ blood!
Despite God’s sovereignty, you have a say in what happens. God gave authority to men and women on this earth when He said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:26)
So, let’s stop blaming everything on God’s sovereignty! Boldly use the authority God has given you as a covenant son or daughter by the blood of Jesus!
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