Season of Preparation Day Fifteen: God’s Sovereignty

New parents dream of what it will be like to welcome a baby into their lives with the birthday parties, Little League games, and graduations to follow. Rarely does the parenting experience go as planned.

But with Jesus, everything happened exactly as they—the prophets of old—said it would.

We know this because God used the words written in the Old Testament to tell us beforehand everything that would happen in the birth, life, and death of his Son.

God’s sovereignty—his supreme authority over everything—is on display in its finest in the details of the life of Christ.

I wonder if Mary got chills when she remembered the words of the prophet Isaiah. “Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son . . .” (Isaiah 7:14). Was she overwhelmed, stunned, numb with amazement to know she was the virgin written of seven hundred years before? Did she and Joseph comb through the ancient prophecies on their knees in a state of humble wonder at the role they’d been given.

For once, when new parents were told what to expect, it went exactly as planned.

God orchestrated the plan for man’s redemption, and it is part of his sovereign will.

The be sovereign means to be in control of everything. No matter how hard man tries to manufacture his own sovereignty, attempting to control the details of his life, he fails.

Because by the very definition of the word, there can only be one who is sovereign.

Man looks to many things to try to make sense of his life. He works to exercise his own authority over his circumstances. And he finds himself frustrated when all his efforts fall short. If he is wise enough to humble himself, he understands only God has authority, and our circumstances are guided by God’s sovereign rule. Only then does his life make sense.

But refusing to accept this, many turn to manufacturing their own truth. How useless it is to follow the “truth” created by one with no authority over their lives. The list of things they cannot control is eclipsed only by the things they cannot understand.

We may choose to spend our entire lives outside of God’s will, but we will never be outside his sovereignty.

This truth comforts me. God is on control. There is a better way than me navigating this life in my own will.

How humbling it is to think about the birth of Christ and understand that a newborn baby had more control over my life than I do. Of course, this wasn’t just a baby. It was the One through which all things were created and for whom all things were created (Colossians 1:16).

God’s will is sovereign and in it all things will work for good. The question isn’t if it will happen as told to us in God’s Holy Word. The question is whether or not I will fulfill my role or run from it like a toddler with a forbidden cookie.

There are no small roles in the sovereign story God is telling.

We know the ending, but do we know our lines? Or are we too busy trying to rewrite the script to our liking?

This Christmas I want to find the peace of knowing God is in control. He’s as present in the smallest of details as he is in the grandest of plans. And the birth of an infant who was at the same time a helpless baby and a mighty conqueror is proof of what a sovereign God can do.