April 10: Conform to the Lord’s purpose

Steve Smartt is pastor of Moultrie Baptist Church in St. Augustine.

God’s sovereignty has been defined this way: “The right of God to do as He wishes with His creation. This implies that there is no external influence upon Him and that He also has the ability to exercise His right according to His will.” A more developed definition says that sovereignty is a “term used to describe the fact that God is the supreme ruler of everything. God created the world and all that is in it. He sustains the entire created order in existence. He guides the affairs of human beings and nations. He providentially interacts with all that takes place … Because He is God, He has the absolute right to work His will.”

God’s Word spoken to Judah through the prophecy of Jeremiah in chapter 18 boldly proclaims this sovereignty. Just as the potter created the pot and has authority over it, the Lord is the Creator of all things and has the authority to be sovereign over His creation (18:1-6). Though there is a tension that seems to exist between His sovereignty and our free will, it is resolved in accordance with His purpose, which is for His glory to be known.

When the Apostle Paul instructed Timothy to “fight the good fight,” he followed with a charge “to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time” (1 Tim 6:14-15a). For that reason, when we speak about the sovereignty of God, we should speak in terms of our need to conform to the purposes of God within His will for our lives.

This means that we must remain conscious of the significance of our choices and be determined to yield to His will and not to our own (18:7-10). Like the clay that was marred in the potter’s hands and the clay that was reworked according to his desire, our choices to obey or disobey the will of God will have definite consequences for our lives.

Realizing the absolute nature of God’s sovereignty, common sense should dictate a decision to repent. The people of Judah, however, were stubborn. Their refusal to repent was deliberate and caustic (18:11-12). Yet the merciful God, the sovereign One who is not subject to the decisions of any man, offered the rebellious an opportunity to turn and to reform. Issuing a clear warning of a definite calamity, He presents His invitation to repent. Their response, however, shows their rejection and their persistence toward evil.

Such is the inclination of our sinful hearts apart from the faith which the Holy Spirit has shaped in us. In the sovereignty of God’s providence, He calls His own to salvation and scatters those who wander in their disobedience. We must, therefore, avoid these consequences by yielding to His sovereignty and obeying His Word.

Charles Spurgeon said, “There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God’s sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that sovereignty overrules them, and that sovereignty will sanctify them all. There is nothing for which the children ought to more earnestly contend to than the doctrine of their Master over all creation—the Kingship of God over all the works of His own hands—the Throne of God and His right to sit upon that throne … for it is God upon the Throne whom we trust.”

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever” (1 Tim. 1:17). May God be glorified in our submission to His sovereign plan, and may we find peace in its realization.