An Every Day Sovereign

Now then, you kings, act wisely!

    Be warned, you rulers of the earth!

Serve the Lord with reverent fear,

    and rejoice with trembling.

Submit to God’s royal son, or he will become angry,

    and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities—

for his anger flares up in an instant.

    But what joy for all who take refuge in him! – Psalm 2:10-12, NLT

 

“There must ever be a holy fear mixed with the Christian’s joy…Fear, without joy, is torment; and joy, without holy fear, would be presumption.” – Charles H. Spurgeon

 

Psalm 2 is a fitting part of the introduction to the prayers and songs of the book Psalms, because it reminds us of the final realities in light of which we must live. God’s Son, the King of kings will rule and reign over all. Human rebellion is not a real threat to His Sovereignty. He is not challenged in the least by the most powerful human rulers. He laughs at their ‘show of strength’ and their carefully conceived plots for ‘freedom’ from His reign. Every day, we can trust that no matter how it seems, rebels will lose in their attempt to subvert God’s will. That is the kind of consistency we need to build our lives around obedience and humble service to King Jesus. I don’t have to make anyone pay for their rebellion or met out my own retribution for their subversive activity. I can simply leave that in the hands of an all-capable Sovereign.

There is another side of this that is a bit less comfortable to consider. In saying that God is an ‘every day Sovereign’ we cannot be casual about His Kingship. Or in other words, every day God is Sovereign is another day when I must choose obedience to Him and fall upon His grace and mercy for the ways I fall short of living fully in line with His rule and reign. Any rebellion is trouble. Open rebellion is courting disaster. Every day, I must check my otherwise rebellious heart with fresh submission to a King who is worthy of my service, worship, and devotion.

 

Questions for Application:

1.      How can you use the truth of God’s everyday sovereignty to calm your anxious heart?

2.      What will change in your relationships to those who live under the wrath that Psalm 2 promises for those in rebellion to King Jesus?

3.      Where in your life are you most likely to find rebellion? How will you daily submit to the rule and reign of King Jesus?

Harvest Lane Alliance Church