God’s Sovereignty: Soothing or Scary

Several years ago, as some of you reading this may know about me, I began a tremendous struggle with anxiety. This included panic attacks (night and day), as well as a general sense of anxiety that plagued me almost continuously throughout each day. It was debilitating. One of the key truths that I encountered that changed my life during that time was a better understanding of God’s sovereignty (there is nothing outside of His influence and authority). When I truly realized His infinite love for me and how it was coupled with Him reigning supreme over all things, I also realized that there was nothing to worry about.

Now, I am not saying that I would always believe this, 100% of the time, but it became a common thread in my outlook on life, and, over time, that was enough to relinquish the control that the anxiety and panic had over me. Please understand that I am not implying this as a “quick fix” for any of you struggling with anxiety and/or panic attacks. Much interaction between God and I took place for this kind of truth to take hold in my life.

I had learned incorrectly through life that God was not a safe God. For instance, where was He in the midst of hardship? Experiences in this world had sent messages about Him that were not true, and I eventually bought into them enough that in my twenties, the dam broke and all the fears and anxiety became overwhelming. Of course, at the time, I did not see it this clearly and simply thought I was losing my mind. It’s not a pleasant experience to think such as this.

But back to my main point here, the revelation in my life of God’s loving, sovereign rule made a huge difference. It was miraculously soothing to me. I was so thankful for His rule and control.

Fast forward to recent months…

I have been noticing some things about myself lately with which I am not content. There has been more anger and definitely more of a tendency for me to try to control things…and of course anxiety. Peace has been evasive. It’s hard to explain, but I have noticed many seemingly small things going wrong in my life to the point that it almost felt like something was out to get me. I found my anger progressing past me getting frustrated with people in my life, and becoming more obvious that my anger was towards God. What was He doing with all this control He has over things? Obviously not watching out for me! It sounds ridiculous, knowing what I know about Him, but something had happened to my view of Him that had changed my emotional state and actions. But what?

Yesterday, God made it abundantly clear to me through the story of Joseph being sold into slavery in Genesis 37. His own brothers sold him into slavery, but later in the book of Genesis Joseph was able to see how God was in control, not his brothers, when they sold him into slavery. He had become an authority figure in Egypt and was instrumental in saving many lives, including those of his family, from starvation during a famine. It hit me hard that Joseph was not controlled by his brothers, the circumstances, or anything else. No one or nothing could steal God’s authority.

The one thing that was so soothing, so precious to me, I had come to reject. A rebellious spirit had come up in me that was not accepting God’s sovereignty. The key, though, to this deception in my life, was that I was still believing in His sovereignty, but leaving out His love for me. It’s all too easy to lose sight of His love when I get focused on things of this world. Without love, authority is just cold and I don’t want it. I don’t think anyone truly desires that kind of authority. How can you trust someone over you that doesn’t care about you? Our faith in Him slips when we don’t believe in His unconditional love and acceptance of us. Without love backing it, authority can be downright scary. God’s huge reminder to me yesterday was to remember His love for me, first and foremost. When that is a reality to me, I am able to accept His sovereignty…and the peace comes with it.