Our LifeGroup is going through Tim Keller's The Reason for God, and it is rock-awesome. Keller examines the popular arguments against God's existence, compassionately exposes their fallacy, and demonstrates how solid, biblical theology can answer our doubts, all in words that a non-Christian can grasp. It's heady stuff, but it fills the soul.
Last night's discussion was on this question: how can a good and all-powerful God allow suffering? We ended up talking at length about the sovereignty of God, a.k.a. His Kingship and ability to rule over all things. I have struggled for a long time with the idea of free will and its relation to God's Almighty-ness...if God is totally in control, then do my choices matter? If I choose not to follow God, is that something I've really chosen, or is it something He's chosen?
I read this verse this morning and it struck me hard. I used to think that our free will limited God's sovereignty, that He has limited Himself to operate only in places where He is welcome. But in light of this verse, that idea seems incredibly prideful. It doesn't say "His kingdom rules over all those who allow it to rule over them"...it says "His kingdom rules over all", and we might add "whether they know it or not". God is the Lord of everyone, and He will utilize everything, even negative choices, to achieve His own will. God is our King whether we acknowledge it or not. He has total rights to our lives simply by His act of creation. And the day will come when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord...everyone will see God for who He truly is. As a good friend of mine used to say, "dead atheists know the truth".
But I think our choices do matter. Many times in Scripture we see where God chose not to work miraculously for a people who didn't trust Him, and Jesus couldn't do miracles because of unbelief. God respects our choice to say "you are not welcome". But He is still King, and He still rules, and He will still use unwelcoming people to draw others to Him. We don't always understand it, but understanding isn't required of a King's subject...only submission is.
Today, Lord, I will trust in Your wisdom, in suffering or in joy. I surrender my autonomy to Your sovereignty, whatever may come. Test me in this, Lord, that I may be shown to be true.
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