The Most High God
“Confidence in the sovereignty of God in all that affects us is crucial to our trusting Him. If there is a single event in all of the universe that can occur outside of God’s sovereign control, then we cannot trust Him. His love may be infinite, but if His power is limited and His purpose can be thwarted, we cannot trust Him. You may entrust to me your most valuable possessions. I may love you and my aim to honor your trust may be sincere, but if I do not have the power or ability to guard your valuables, you cannot truly entrust them to me.” So writes Jerry Bridges in his book Trusting God. He then goes on to demonstrate that the Scriptures abundantly testify of the absolute sovereignty of God over our lives as the foundation for our trust.
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)
“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” (Proverbs 19:21)
“No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord.” (Proverbs 21:30)
“Consider the work of God: who can make straight what he has made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13)
“Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?” (Lamentations 3:37)
“Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” (James 4:15)
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.” (Revelation 3:7)
“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)
“Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” (Psalm 115:3)
“For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?” (Isaiah 14:27)
“Also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?” (Isaiah 43:13)
“[D]eclaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’” (Isaiah 46:10)
“[A]ll the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:35) [Note the repetition of the title “the Most High God,” a title declaring His sovereignty, in chapter 4 of Daniel.]
Again, Bridges encourages us to trust in the God who alone mingles His sovereignty, wisdom, and infinite love and goodness together for His glory and the good of His people:
No plan of God’s can be thwarted; when He acts, no one can reverse it; no one can hold back His hand or bring Him to account for His actions. God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, and works out every event to bring about the accomplishment of His will. Such a bare unqualified statement of the sovereignty of God would terrify us if that were all we knew about God. But God is not only sovereign; He is perfect in love and infinite in wisdom.
This is our God! Please pray with me that He may patiently teach us what it means to trust Him–the Most High God.
