All things after the counsel of His own will

God is in total control of all things. He is Sovereign and everything, good or bad, is according to His sovereign will or He wouldn't be GOD.

We tend to forget that when things aren't going our way.

As Kenneth Gentry says in his book, HE SHALL HAVE DOMINION:

"This sovereign control by God includes even the free acts of men. Man has 'free moral agency'. But he cannot do just anything by an act of his will; he is limited and can only act in terms of his nature. Man is not floating about in a vacuum with nothing to 'push against'; he operates within the all-encompassing plan of God. It is up against the plan of God that he gets his'footing'. God's control of man, however, is not 'across the board', as our control of another would have to be. Rather it is a control that cuts across planes: God above and man below. Such a control guarantees man true significance (he is no automaton), while guaranteeing God's true sovereignty (all things issue forth under the direction of His wise counsel). This is not contradiction but mystery - mystery rooted in God's transcendence."

I think that we Christians are so influenced by humanism and false theology and doctrine, that we can't separate it from the true Word of God.

We think that our free will is outside of God's reach and we're free to do what ever we please, even as a redeemed child of God.

The attitude some Christians have makes God look like some "cosmic genie" up in the sky with no real plan for his children or this earth that he created.

But if God is Sovereign, and if He is a personal God, which He is, and we are fallen sinful human beings that, before His Saving Grace were dead (not sick) in our sins, then He has to be in control of everything or life would have no meaning. There would be nothing good because man can only operate according to his sinful nature. It would mean that the evolutionists are right in their assesment of life.

But they are not right. God is good and He works through fallen man.

Hebrews 1:3

Jesus Christ upholds all things by the word of His power.

Colossians 1:17

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Isaiah 45:7

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Jeremiah 23:23-24

Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?

Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

Proverbs 15:3

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Acts 17:28

For in him we live, and move, and have our being.

Hebrews 4:13

Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

Ephesians 1:11

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Psalm 33:6-11

By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.

Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.

The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

Isaiah 46:10

Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

Isaiah 55:11

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Psalm 33:4-5

For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.

He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

Lately I have been thinking of the Sovereignty of God in all the little things that happen in our life.

Not that I don't ever think of His sovereignty; it's just that sometimes we don't think of His sovereignty in the small things.

Those things aren't necessarily any big happening. It might just be a small thing, like, waiting in line for something or maybe dealing with a tiny infraction of a small child, or your car won't start, etc.

A friend forwarded this little gem, which made me think about His Sovereignty even more:

The' LITTLE' Things~

As you might remember, the head of a company survived

9/11 because his son started kindergarten.

Another fellow was alive because it was

His turn to bring donuts.

One woman was late because her

Alarm clock didn't go off in time.

One was late because of being stuck on the NJ Turnpike

Because of an auto accident.

One of them

Missed his bus.

One spilled food on her clothes and had to take

Time to change.

One's

Car wouldn't start.

One couldn't

Get a taxi.

The one that struck me was the man

Who put on a new pair of shoes that morning,

Took the various means to get to work but before

he got there, he developed a blister on his foot.

He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid.

That is why he is alive today..

Now when I am

Stuck in traffic

,

Miss an elevator,

Turn back to answer a ringing telephone

...

All the little things that annoy me,

I think to myself,

This is exactly where

I'm meant to be

At this very moment..

Next time your morning seems to be

Going wrong

,

The children are slow getting dressed,

You can't seem to find the car keys,

You hit every traffic light,

Don't get mad or frustrated;

It may be just that

Someone is watching over you.

May you continue to be blessed with all those annoying

little things and may you remember their possible purpose.