What Does it Mean That God is Sovereign
Disciple U
1 Chronicles 29:10-20 God’s Sovereignty
Which of one of these makes you adore and worship God the most?
a) His greatness b) His power c) His glory
d) His victory d) His majesty
Which three of God’s attributes do you need right now? Why?
What is your favorite truth in verse 11? Why?
a) Your, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty.
b) Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours.
c) This is your kingdom.
d) We adore you as the one who is over everything.
How would your life change if you meditated on this verse daily?
Why is this verse so powerful and necessary in your life?
What is your favorite truth in verse 12? Why?
a) Wealth and honor come from you alone.
b) You rule over everything.
c) Power and might are in your hand.
d) At your discretion, people are made great and given strength.
Why do we place such a high value in our place in the universe?
What is your favorite truth in verse 14-15? Why?
a) Who am I that I could give anything to you?
b) Everything we have comes from you.
c) We give you only what you gave us first.
d) We are here only for a moment.
e) Our days on this earth are like a passing shadow, gone without a trace.
Is this depressing or liberating? Explain.
BeOne2MakeOne
*LearnHisWords FollowHisWays TrustHisWisdom
*1 Chronicles 29:10-20 God’s Sovereignty
What surprises you the most about God? Why?
a) He examines our hearts. (17)
b) He rejoices when he finds integrity in your heart. (17)
c) God sees our motives before He sees our behavior. (17)
d) God makes people want to obey Him. (18)
Define integrity. Why do you think integrity pleases God so much?
Why do you think David says in verse 14, “Who am I?”
a) He cannot stand up to the Lord’s attributes, nor does he want to. (11)
b) He recognizes that it was God who made him great. (12)
c) He knows God is eternal and he is here only for a moment. (15)
d) He is at the end of his life, and he fears and reveres the Lord’s power. (17)
e) He wants Solomon, his son, to understand his place in God’s kingdom. (19)
What do you think would be your last prayer before you die?
What have you learned from your life about God and yourself?
What is the greatest leadership principle in the passage?
a) A good leader acknowledges their source of strength. (10)
b) A good leader creates a culture of wisdom and humility. (13)
c) A good leader knows his place in the universe. (14)
d) A good leader seeks and values integrity. (17)
e) A good leader has a succession plan. (19)
Where in your life do you need leadership like this?
What time of leader are you? What type of leader do you need to be?
What’s the greatest lesson in this passage? Why?
a) We must learn our place in the universe—the kingdom belongs to God. (11)
b) God is the source of all wealth. (12)
c) God is in control over all that is seen and unseen. (12)
d) There is no one above Him, around Him, or like Him. (13)
e) God is worthy of all praise, admiration, exaltation, honor, and worship. (13)
f) Wisdom creates gratitude and humility. (14)
g) All wealth, strength, power, and position come from God. (14)
Do you spend more time worshipping God’s greatness or asking Him for His help?*
*BeOne2MakeOne
LearnHisWords FollowHisWays TrustHisWisdom
READ: 1 Chronicles 29:10-20
LEARN: What are the themes, truths, commands, and promises God wants you to learn?
EXAMINE: What is the Holy Spirit telling you?
APPLY: How does God want you to change?
PRAY: How can you pray these principles back to Jesus?
GOT QUESTIONS: What does it mean that God is sovereign?
God’s sovereignty is one of the most important principles in Christian theology, as well as one of its most hotly debated. Whether or not God is actually sovereign is usually not a topic of debate; all mainstream Christian sects agree that God is preeminent in power and authority. God’s sovereignty is a natural consequence of His omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence. What’s subject to disagreement is to what extent God applies His sovereignty—specifically, how much control He exerts over the wills of men. When we speak of the sovereignty of God, we mean He rules the universe, but then the debate begins over when and where His control is direct and when it is indirect.
God is described in the Bible as all-powerful and all-knowing (Psalm 147:5), outside of time (Exodus 3:14; Psalm 90:2), and responsible for the creation of everything (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1). These divine traits set the minimum boundary for God’s sovereign control in the universe, which is to say that nothing in the universe occurs without God’s permission. God has the power and knowledge to prevent anything He chooses to prevent, so anything that does happen must, at the very least, be “allowed” by God.
At the same time, the Bible describes God as offering humanity choices (Deuteronomy 30:15–19), holding them personally responsible for their sins (Exodus 20:5), and being unhappy with some of their actions (Numbers 25:3). The fact that sin exists at all proves that not all things that occur are the direct actions of God, who is holy. The reality of human volition (and human accountability) sets the maximum boundary for God’s sovereign control over the universe, which is to say there is a point at which God chooses to allow things that He does not directly cause.
The fact that God is sovereign essentially means that He has the power, wisdom, and authority to do anything He chooses within His creation. Whether or not He actually exerts that level of control in any given circumstance is actually a completely different question. Often, the concept of divine sovereignty is oversimplified. We tend to assume that, if God is not directly, overtly, purposefully driving some event, then He is somehow not sovereign. The cartoon version of sovereignty depicts a God who must do anything that He cando, or else He is not truly sovereign.
Of course, such a cartoonish view of God’s sovereignty is logically false. If a man were to put an ant in a bowl, the “sovereignty” of the man over the ant is not in doubt. The ant may try to crawl out, and the man may not want this to happen. But the man is not forced to crush the ant, drown it, or pick it up. The man, for reasons of his own, may choose to let the ant crawl away, but the man is still in control. There is a difference between allowing the ant to leave the bowl and helplessly watching as it escapes. The cartoon version of God’s sovereignty implies that, if the man is not actively holding the ant inside the bowl, then he must be unable to keep it in there at all.
The illustration of the man and the ant is at least a vague parallel to God’s sovereignty over mankind. God has the ability to do anything, to take action and intervene in any situation, but He often chooses to act indirectly or to allow certain things for reasons of His own. His will is furthered in any case. God’s “sovereignty” means that He is absolute in authority and unrestricted in His supremacy. Everything that happens is, at the very least, the result of God’s permissive will. This holds true even if certain specific things are not what He would prefer. The right of God to allow mankind’s free choices is just as necessary for true sovereignty as His ability to enact His will, wherever and however He chooses.
