I know that if I come to posts like mine on Facebook that go on and on, I tend to pass them over, but I encourage you to take a few minutes each day and read my posts fully. They are mostly scripture which I know is tempting to skim over if it’s in a devotional, but again I encourage you to read. He promises that His word will not return back void. It will do your heart good :)

It is my dad’s 81st birthday today. He will celebrate alone in his room as he is in isolation due to the COVID-19 virus. If you think of him, you sure could pray.

Does the Creator of the universe care about my dad? Does he know what’s going in the world ? Is He just standing by watching? Does the Lord know that a dear friend from church would lose her husband a month ago? Does the Lord know that I am sitting on the porch of our little cabin writing?  Does the Lord know that I feel worried, happy, sad, or joyful?  Does the Lord know that His world is on lock down? These are just a few questions we might be tempted to ask during a time like this.  With that, let’s turn to who God is and who we are in Him. 

Who is God? He is SOVEREIGN!

Author and theologian Don Stewart says this, “The God of the Bible is SOVEREIGN. This means that He has an absolute right to govern His creation as He pleases. God has perfect knowledge and perfect power with which He controls everything. The idea of God’s absolute SOVEREIGNTY or control is one of the central truths of Scripture. The Bible is clear that God is in control of all things. Scripture never teaches that things occur by fate or blind chance.”

So, does God know everything? YES!! Does He know my dad? YES!!! Is He in control of the Coronavirus? YES!!!  Does anything happen by chance? NO!!! Does anything happen without God knowing? NO!!!  Let’s look to scripture to show us these truths.

“Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and extol Him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land (Psalm 95:1-5).”

“All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and He does what He wills with the host of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can stay His hand or say to Him, “What are you doing?” (Daniel 4:35).”

“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11).”

“The LORD of hosts has sworn: As I have designed, so shall it be; and as I have planned, so shall it come to pass (Isaiah 14:24).”

Who are you in Him? You are completely known.

Psalm 139

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

    you discern my thoughts from afar. 

You search out my path and my lying down

    and are acquainted with all my ways. 

Even before a word is on my tongue,

    behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 

You hem me in, behind and before,

    and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;

    it is high; I cannot attain it.

Where shall I go from your Spirit?

    Or where shall I flee from your presence? 

If I ascend to heaven, you are there!

    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 

If I take the wings of the morning

    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,

    and your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,

    and the light about me be night,”

even the darkness is not dark to you;

    the night is bright as the day,

    for darkness is as light with you. 

For you formed my inward parts;

    you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.[a]

Wonderful are your works;

    my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

    the days that were formed for me,

    when as yet there was none of them.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

    How vast is the sum of them!

If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

    I awake, and I am still with you.”

So, if God knows everything about me, how can I truly be responsible for anything?

This is a common question to ask as a believer.  How can God know everything and at the same time hold me responsible for my actions?  I am going to let Don Stewart respond again.  He says, “The study of the sovereignty of God is a difficult truth to understand. It is hard to grasp how He can be in absolute control and, at the same time, how humans can make legitimate choices. Yet this is the clear teaching of the Bible. This is one area that Scripture never tries to reconcile. Believers, therefore, should accept the fact that God’s sovereignty and human responsibility are both true even though it cannot be understood how they work together.”

Knowing that God is SOVEREIGN over all is comforting.  Don Stewart mentions this as well and says, “The doctrine of God’s sovereignty is comforting to the believer. Since all things are under his control each believer is secure in his protection. Nothing will happen to any of God’s children without the knowledge and consent of God.”

God knows…HE IS SOVEREIGN.  

If you are not believing or are waffling in your belief, today is the day!  Submit your life to the One who knows you.  

I will post the song, “Sovereign” by Chris Tomlin.

Blessings to you!

When You Pray….

Praise the Lord that you are fully known.

Pray for your spouse that he/she would not be fearful.

Pray for your children that they would be merciful as you are merciful.

It is Wednesday, so pray for your extended family…grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins.