God’s sovereignty is good news because it means he has the power to undo, fix, and heal the mess that we have made of ourselves and of his world. You see, while we don’t know why God allows the evil, painful, and unjust things that he does—the Bible does tell us what God can do with those things. God can take what we do out of sinful and self-centered motives and use it for good.
God has a plan.
Has anyone ever said that to you? Perhaps something didn’t work out the way you wanted, and someone told you not to lose heart because God has a plan. Maybe someone has said this phrase to you when you were suffering and in pain. Or, as you grieve a loss somebody said, “God has a plan.”
Do these words bring comfort?
In my experience they often don’t. It doesn’t comfort me to hear that God planned for me to suffer. Often, I don’t find comfort in knowing that God planned my life. I want to know why he has allowed me to suffer. I want to know why God has allowed not just me but also the world to experience so much suffering, sickness, injustice, evil, and death. The past year has given us more than enough awful situations and events to ask, “Why, God?”
- Why did God plan for COVID-19 to sweep the globe taking lives and crushing economies?
- Why did God plan for Ahmaud Arbery to be chased down and killed while he was going for a jog?
- Why did God plan for George Floyd to be killed by a police officer who knelt on his neck for over eight minutes?
- Why does God’s plan include rioting, looting, and murders in cities around our country?
I could keep going. But you get the picture. Our nation and our world are experiencing multiple, serious crises at the same time. This means that many of us are feeling worry, anxiety, frustration, anger, sadness, and more.
In the midst of these feelings we cry out to God: “Why is this your plan?”
Would you like to know the answer to this question?
Here it is: I don’t know. You don’t know. Nobody knows.
God has not and does not reveal to us all the reasons behind his plan. He doesn’t tell us why he allows the suffering, sickness, injustice, and death that we see and experience. But God does reveal to us that he is in control over all events. Psalm 135:5–6 says,
For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
God is sovereign. He is all powerful, second to none. His will is totally free. No creature can tell him what to do, God does whatever he pleases. His dominion extends over all creatures, from the angels in heaven to the fish deep below the ocean’s surface and everything in between.
