August 2 – The Sovereign God (Job 42:1-6)

“I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.”(Job 42:2)

IN WORD:
At the end of his trials, Job affirms God’s sovereignty. This is a knowledge at which we do not arrive easily. Faith and experience may bring us to it, but before we arrive at such a statement, we are plagued with numerous questions of doubt. Will this turn out for good? Will God show up or just leave me hanging? Has my sin caused me to miss out on God’s plan?
We know the right answers to these questions, but our trials invariably cause us to doubt the right answers. Circumstances can be awfully persuasive. We see negative things, and though we know the Word of God is more trustworthy than the vision of our eyes, we tend to put more faith in the latter. When God calls us to walk by faith and not by sight, He wants us to believe in the invisible more than the visible. He wants us to trust His Word. He wants the questions to be answered for us.
God’s will is not undone by our trials. It is not even undone by our sin. We may lose out on participating in it and enjoying it if we are persistently disobedient, but His purposes will be accomplished. No plan of His can be thwarted. We may take the long and painful way to fit into it, but God has accounted even for that. He has seen all things from the beginning. He knew ahead of time what your crisis would be and how you would respond to it. He has had a plan all along to bring you into a deep, deep faith.

IN DEED:
We may ask our questions of God, but we must know in the end: He can do all things and no plan of His can be thwarted. Job’s repentant confessions in chapter 42 were the most accurate he had yet uttered. God is God, and he knows what He is doing. He has a handle on our future. He calls us to participate in it willingly, but it is already well planned. Take heart in that, and know that God is sovereign.

“It has often been my delight to approach God, and adore Him as a sovereign God.” -Jonathan Edwards-