The Whole World in His Hands

"If it weren't for the sovereignty of God, I wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning."

That's a statement my favorite theology professor from Bible College would say all the time. What he meant by that was that if God wasn't in control, he would be hopeless and crippled with anxiety. Conversely, he was also saying that because God is in control, he can get up each day and move forward, trusting in the Father's care.

This is the understanding that each believer must have. This is the worldview that each believer must have. The Lord knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10) and His purposes could never be thwarted (Job 42:2). God's wisdom established His will to play out in time even before there was time (Acts 2:23, 1 Corinthians 2:7). For the Creator, a thousand years are like yesterday (Psalm 90:4) and all things that come to pass flow from the counsel of His will alone (Ephesians 1:11).

What assurance! What hope! What confidence! All we must do is seek the Lord by faith, obeying His gospel and seeking to fulfill the law of Christ, without worrying about all of the details. The way others treat us, the status of our health or wealth, whether we live or die -- those are all just details. God is in control.

My theology professor, Timothy Smith, died young. He was just in his early 60s when I got the phone call a few years ago that he had a heart attack at his local gym. He got out of bed that morning and set out to live the day for the Lord just as he did every other day, knowing that God is sovereign. He was proven right yet again, and now he's home.