MacDonald on Divine Sovereignty

One of my favorite pastors is James MacDonald who serves in Chicago, IL.  He has had a major influence in my life and I have had the joy of meeting him and even visited his church once.  I highly recommend his book Gripped by the Greatness of God in which he walks us through a number of passages in Isaiah and discusses how what the text says about God affects us today.  What we believe about God is central to all that we are and believe.

One of the chapters in the book is on the Sovereignty of God.  MacDonald, like myself, holds to a high view of God's Sovereignty.  Therefore, MacDonald suggests that Divine Sovereignty means:

• God is the Ruler of all.
• God answers to no one.
• God can accomplish whatever He wants – in all things.
• God sees history from beginning to the end.  No obstacle or adversary can hinder His plan from happening.
• God is afraid of nothing.  Ignorant of nothing.  Needing nothing.
• God always knows what’s best, and He never makes a mistake.  (69)

MacDonald then adds the following:

Sovereignty means God is in control of it all.  He’s over things we see and things we don’t see.  Stuff we understand and stuff that if we even glimpsed it for a second would blow us away. Sovereignty means it’s all His.  Nothing can stop what He purposes from happening.  Not people, events, or time.  Get it?  What God plans, He delivers.  What God wants, God gets – His way and His timing, on time, every time.  That applies to what you’re going through today . . .  (69)


For more:
GBC - Charles Hodge on Sovereignty 
GBC - God's Sovereignty Defined:  AW Pink on God's Sovereignty 
Theology - Jim Wallis and Open Theism 
Theology - The Sovereignty of God 
GBC - Weekly Recommendation - "Restore My Soul"