What a blessing it is to live under God's direction! The ringing declaration by God in Isaiah reminds us of the One with whom we deal. All the issues of life involving true spirituality, morality, ethics, character, correct conduct of relationships, and using our God-given free moral agency come down to the simple question that confronted Adam and Eve in the Garden: Who will we permit to be the Sovereign of our life? To say that God is sovereign is to say that He is God, almighty over all, doing His will among angels and men, with nobody able to call Him into account for what He chooses to do. He is absolute in power and authority, and at the same time supremely wise and loving in the outworking of His purpose. Some may foolishly or ignorantly challenge Him, but none succeeds. Our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases. He is the Almighty, possessing all power in heaven and earth, and no one and nothing can thwart His purpose or resist His will. The kingdom is the Lord's, and He is the governor among the nations, managing and controlling all. Short-sighted and ignorant human beings think they rule, but they rule only to the extent God permits in the outworking of His purpose. Therefore, God establishes kingdoms and overthrows empires, setting up dynasties and determining the length of their dominion. The sovereignty of God is absolute, irresistible, and infinite, affirming His right to govern the universe for His glory and pleasure. He has power over the clay to mold each person as He sees fit: this one to honor, that one to dishonor, both from the same lump if He so chooses. God is under no rule or law outside of His own will and nature, a law unto Himself, under no obligation to give an account of His matters to anybody. He exercises His power as He wills, when He wills, and where He wills, operating according to His purpose from His perspective, by His plan and time schedule. God is sovereign in the delegation of His gifts, not dealing with everyone in exactly the same way. To one He may give power to do things that He does not give to others, setting the members in the body just as He pleases. He deals with each of us individually, preparing us for what He wants for His Kingdom, giving power to get wealth to establish His covenant. Faith involves trusting God, knowing that He, possessing monumentally pure love, power, and wisdom, is in control. The major issue in life for us is coming to know this, believe it, and by faith put it into practice personally and individually. By God's grace, He has given us the opportunity to reverse misguided choices and wisely choose to allow Him to rule us.

God is working out His purpose, and it is essential to our growth and possibly even to our salvation that we believe this and keep moving forward in our relationship with Him despite the strong pull of this world's attractions on our minds. We know God's will through our contact with Him and must trust what He says in His Word, or the world's allurements may spiritually overwhelm us. The evidence from our observations of God's creation and the experience we gain from living prove to us that we should trust His wisdom and sovereignty over all things. It is far better for all concerned to submit to what God commands than to cave in to the pulls of our flesh. God declares the end from the beginning, establishing that, from before He even began the physical creation, He has been working toward a definite goal for each person He has called into His Family. God does not operate randomly; each of us has been purposely made part of this massive, time-consuming project. We must fully accept God's sovereignty as a reality working in our lives of faith. Our positions as called children of God place us in a position to determine who regulates affairs on this earth, and though the contest has already been decided with God as the victor, He permits satan limited leeway to test and try us. By God's mercy, our minds have been opened for the purpose of freely choosing Him as our sovereign and submitting to Him. Without directly saying it, a major issue in this great purpose He is working out is whether, unlike satan and his demons, we will be loyal and faithful to our Creator God as He governs His purpose for each of us personally. He created all things in the first place, and all, including us, is created for His purpose to be fulfilled. We must live by faith that He is, that He knows what He is doing with our lives, and that by His merciful act He has included us as part of His good pleasure. We must accept that He knows exactly where His creative efforts are headed and what it will take to form and shape us into what He pleases, even though we know His goal for us only vaguely. Despite how we may personally relate to Him in how we live, God cannot deny what He truly is; He is constant and faithful to His character and purpose, which never change. God loves, and because He does, He also judges, and sometimes His discipline can be very stressful, but that is the cost of following Him where He leads. He will act as He truly is, regardless of what we think or whether we allow Him to be closely or only marginally involved in our lives. God has promised to supply our every need, and with His enabling grace, His purpose for us can be accomplished.

The reality of God's sovereignty asserts that unrighteous anger, hostility, and temper contradict His control. When Aaron and Miriam criticized Moses, their hostility and self-promotion revealed a denial of the reality that God is in control, as they attempted to elevate themselves by diminishing Moses. Another facet of this reality is that God places individuals where He desires, assigning them responsibilities He wishes them to fulfill, as seen with Israel and the Body of Christ. God has positioned both faithful and unfaithful leaders, using even the unfaithfulness of some to accomplish His will for the ultimate benefit of His people. Similarly, He allows tares to remain with the wheat and placed unrighteous kings over Israel and Judah, knowing their inclinations and using them to fulfill His purposes. This challenges our perception of reality, highlighting that God acts in ways and for reasons often beyond our immediate understanding. Even Moses, despite his faithfulness and humility, momentarily denied God's reality by focusing on the lesser reality of the Israelites' rebellion, leading to anger, disobedience, and a damaged relationship with God, which God identified as unbelief. Jesus Christ came to bear witness to truth, affirming the reality of God's governance, as all things have been delivered to Him, undergirding everything that is real. Those who hear and obey His voice humbly submit to this reality, even when they do not fully comprehend His workings, while others may reject or overlook God's control, attempting to manage situations themselves, often with anger or hostility. Even the smallest events, such as the falling of sparrows, fall under God's governance, particularly as they impact His chosen people, encouraging us to act with humility and patience rather than anger, living in harmony with the greatest Reality of all.

The role of God's control is central to understanding His interaction with the world, the church, and individual lives. The Bible presents God as the Prime Mover, actively creating and shaping circumstances to achieve His purpose. From the very first chapter of Genesis, God is shown actively creating a suitable environment for mankind to live and flourish, not merely observing but performing His work with intention. He is the Mover, Shaker, and Shaper of all things pertaining to man's purpose, preparing the physical environment and then forming man in the image of His holy, spiritual character. God's sovereignty reveals Him as proactive rather than reactive. He does not wait for human action before responding; instead, He initiates events and circumstances. As seen in Isaiah 45:4-13, God raises up figures like Cyrus, king of Persia, to fulfill His plans, even inspiring prophecies over a hundred years before their time. He takes the initiative, choosing antagonists and defining the parameters of what can be done, demonstrating that He is not merely permitting trials but actively directing them. In the context of the church's scattering, it is clear that such a massive event could not occur without God being aware of it and, at the very least, allowing it to happen. Given His power over creation, it is impossible to believe that anyone could force such a thing on Him. He knows exactly where He is headed, moving the world's nations and the church toward the end He has in mind. As Matthew 6:8 states, He knows what we need before we ask, showing the intimacy of His interest and watchful care over every situation. Furthermore, God's creative activity extends beyond physical creation to include events, happenings, and circumstances. He creates trials and calamities, as illustrated in the narrative of Job, where He actively tests His children to see what is in them, even directing challenges to carry out His designs. These trials are always for the purpose of producing righteousness and glorifying God, offering hope and encouragement through the assurance that He oversees every burden with a path to overcome it.

God's sovereignty stands unchallenged over all creation. No one has the power to stay His hand or turn Him from the successful completion of His purpose at the exact time He has determined. He is not delayed by human readiness or lack thereof, nor does He sit on His throne wringing His hands over our actions. His counsel shall stand, as declared in Isaiah 46:10, with prophecies ringing with positive assurance that no force can stop Him from acting precisely as He purposes. God has ways of causing us to yield, molding and shaping us into what He desires, ensuring we are ready for our place when the Kingdom comes. He always has alternatives to ensure His will is done without taking away our free moral agency. If we do not cooperate, He can replace us with someone better, yet He uses every means at His disposal to prepare and save those called into His purpose on schedule with the return of Jesus Christ. Unlike human builders, God always meets His deadlines, as seen in the precise fulfillment of the promised birth of Isaac in Genesis 17:20-21 and the exodus of Israel exactly 430 years later. His active governance is evident in Psalm 22:28, where He rules over the nations, managing and directing everything according to His purpose. He did not create and then step aside; He sustains, maintains, guides, and propels His creation continuously, as Hebrews 1:3 illustrates through the power of His Son. God's involvement is not limited to impersonal laws but is deeply personal and active. He shapes and manages His creation, as shown in Genesis 1:3 when He speaks light into existence and in Genesis 6:17 when He brings the flood. His sovereignty extends to the affairs of men and nature, using His powers to bring about His will, whether through plagues in Egypt or prophecies of increased famines and earthquakes in Matthew 24:7. He actively exercises His authority daily, as Psalm 147:15-20 reveals, sending commands that govern both good times and bad. Even in remarkable instances, God's dominion is clear, from causing Balaam's ass to speak in Numbers 22:28-30 to directing animals in the affairs of men, as seen in I Kings 17:2-6 with ravens feeding Elijah. He selectively exercises His power over tiny organisms and great disasters alike, as Malachi 3:11 and Amos 4:6-9 show, blessing or cursing according to His purpose. His spiritual purpose always overrides everything, ensuring that He remains Sovereign over all, moving things at His pace, not ours.

God sets deadlines for the completion of His purposes and works toward them without being held back by any man or group of men. No one can stay the hand of God or turn Him from the successful conclusion of any purpose. God has scheduled the appearance of Jesus Christ to take place at a certain time, and it will come off exactly when He has set it. God has ways of getting people to yield so that He might mold and shape them into what He desires. If people will not cooperate, God can replace them with somebody better. God always has alternatives and uses every means at His disposal to prepare and save those He has called into His purpose right on time. God made a covenant with Abram and brought Israel out of Egypt exactly 430 years to the day later when the sun went down. God set the time for the birth of Isaac after Abraham and Sarah waited twenty-five years. Joseph's release from prison came exactly when God set it on the Feast of Trumpets after thirteen years of trials. God overrules and manages the creation from His position on high. When mankind sins, God reacts by tweaking the creation so that the land no longer brings forth its produce and weather patterns change. God stepped in at the tower of Babel and stopped the people by confusing their tongues. God sustains the universe by maintaining, guiding, and propelling it with continuous power. God governs the inanimate aspects of creation by speaking and causing light to appear and by directing the movement of water and land. God brought the Flood in response to the sinfulness of man. God exercised His authority in the plagues of Egypt by sending hail in one place and darkness in another while protecting the land of Goshen. God controls the wind, which blows where He pleases, and Jesus spoke to calm the wind and sea. God will purposely increase earthquakes in frequency and in areas not normally associated with them. The church will be ready for the return of Jesus Christ exactly when God is ready because He will have worked within her to prepare her.