The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else (Acts 17:24-25).
The name of God we are studying today is “God of Heaven and Earth”, a name that describes his sovereignty. God has supreme power over EVERYTHING – everything on the earth and everything in the spiritual realm.
In this world, having power completely concentrated in one person is often a bad thing because it can be used for evil purposes. It doesn’t take a lot of thought to come up with a list of dictators who’ve used their power for evil throughout history (Stalin, Hitler, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot…). One of the best things about the federal government of the United States is that it is designed to avoid this – by balancing power across three branches (executive, legislative, judicial) no branch can become too powerful and use it for bad purposes.
How can we have confidence the sovereignty of God is a good thing? Consider these verses that give us insight into the nature of God –
- God is love
- God is good
- God is unchanging
We serve a sovereign God who is love, who is good, and who is unchanging. In the face of the uncertainty and fear being caused by this pandemic, we can be confident God has it all under control. He will work it all for good. That’s who he is.