God's sovereignty (Part 2)

I believe God is managing affairs and that He doesn’t need any advice from me.  –HENRY  FORD 

                                                                                                                                     

I may move my arm as I please: shall God be unable so to move His?  –GEORGE MACDONALD

To understand why God’s sovereignty has been so divisive and to see why such division is unnecessary, consider the following analogy:

One day a king decides to build two new cities, one each on the northern and southern borders of his kingdom. He personally selects one thousand people to inhabit each city; then he instructs these citizens to live according to his laws. In the northern town the king allows the citizens complete freedom to choose to obey him, and every one of them in varying degrees fails to do so. In the southern town, however, he places one thousand guards—one for each inhabitant—who provide 24/7 surveillance of every activity in the city. The king, through these guards, is able to control the events of the city and dictate the actions of its inhabitants. None of the free will granted to the northern citizens can be found in the south.

One day the king orders a joint conference between the two cities at his royal palace. True to form, the representatives from the northern kingdom are chosen by the townspeople, while those from the south are selected by the king himself. The topic at the conference is whether or not they serve a sovereign king. Within minutes, major disagreements arise. The northerners consider him sovereign enough to allow freedom of choice on all matters. The southerners counter that he is sovereign only when he dictates each and every event in his kingdom. Unable or unwilling to see the other’s point of view, the two groups leave the conference at day’s end divided. What they have failed to realize is that each serves a sovereign king. When all is said and done, it is his choice to grant free will in the north and his choice to deny it in the south. He is in both places equally sovereign, because his choice stands, whether or not the citizens understand it or agree with it. His sovereignty is a function both of the power he possesses and of his final say-so on how that power will be used.

Likewise, God created us and placed us in a habitation called earth. To some of us, He seems to be similar to that northern king, allowing us complete free will. To others He seems more like the southern ruler, guiding (i.e. preordaining or predestinating) our actions toward His ultimate purpose. Either way, God is sovereign. In all honesty, I am not certain which view of Him is right and have to admit that my present opinion may be proven wrong in time. But I am adamant in my belief that it’s His choice how to rule and not mine. He is sovereign, and if sovereignty means anything at all, God has both unlimited power and the complete freedom to use it as He well pleases.

One day, in the transparency of the afterlife, I will discover the truth. But will it matter then, and should it matter now, whether my opinion is right or wrong? If I am from the “northern” camp and find in heaven that He is more like the “southern” description, my presuppositions will fade and His nature remain. If I picture Him as “southern” and He turns out to be “northern,” the same lot will befall me. If the truth lies somewhere in the middle, we all will bow in compromise before Him. We will change our tune; He, the Unchangeable, will not. He will be to us then what He should be to us now: the Sovereign Ruler of the universe. And we will then, as we should do now, bow before Him in common worship.

                              Dear God, You Sure Don't Act Like You're Alive (Day 14)