The Bible says that God is "sovereign." Does that mean that EVERY event is preordained by Him?

Question

Including every keystroke I make on my keyboard, every step that I take, every word I say, every thought that I have, etc.

Proverbs 21:1
The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

Answer 1

The sovereignty of God means the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the Godhood of God.

To say that God is sovereign is to declare that "He is the most high doing according to His will in heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, so that none can stay His hand or say unto Him, 'What doest thou?' " (Dan. 4:35). "He worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11), not after the will of His creatures.

The sovereignty of God is evidenced in His eternal decree; God, from all eternity foreordained whatsoever will come to pass to accomplish His own purposes. His eternal decree is not conditioned by any act of human will.

Here is a link discussing God's sovereignty in detail:
http://www.reformed.org/books/pink/

Answer 2

the events preceding were he was jealous of God, and he wanted to be God, so he took a third of the angels and rebelled. hence the I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' You see, Satan, was filled with pride, thinking he as the best, and better than God, which is why people say pride is a bad thing. It can consume some of us even to the point where we think we are better than God.

Answer 3

Kidd, I asked pretty much the same thing on another forum a few months ago, and got the response that God decrees, and we fulfill to his glory. The Christian glorifies God by obeying his will, and the reprobate glorifies God despite his unbelief, though he does not realize it or care.

My reformed study Bible mentions "free agency" and making day-to-day decisions on our own while carrying out God's decrees. We do sin, and even though God is not the author of sin, it does not mean that what we do against God's Law is not under His control.

I guess that means that for every keystroke that you made on your keyboard, you have glorified God. You, a Christian, have wanted this to happen and look forward to obeying his eternal decrees. And you rest in His assurance of his care for you, in spite of your frailties.

Answer 4

God is sovereign. To me that means that He has the authority to do whatever He wants, He has the ability to make whatever He wants to happen, happen. He knows our every move just like He knows our hearts. Every event is not preordained by God, we have free will, but every event is known by God and God does create events and change events as He sees necessary.

Answer 5

Feeling very deep today, I see. Oww, my head!

I believe God knows everything in advance of its occurrence, because He is not limited to our time-line. Therefore, everything that happens, He allows to happen. That does not mean He wants it to happen, because He allows people freedom of choice.

I think God is so powerful that He is able to steer the ship regardless of the waves. What I mean by that is that God accomplishes His purposes even through people's wrong choices. He doesn't ordain those wrong choices, of course, because He would much rather we all make the right choices.

But He takes the broken events of our world and weaves them all together into a master plan. His Sovereignty is not found in that He controls everything like a puppet-master, but that He can take shards of glass and glue them together into a magnificent piece of art.

He is powerful enough that He COULD control every single thing and person like an obsessive dictator, but love needs freedom to thrive, and God is all about love.

Some things I think He leaves up to us entirely because He delights in our freedom of expression. By this I mean choosing our clothes and jewelry, creating art, deciding what to cook for dinner, etc. I think He delights in having us talk to Him while we are making these decisions, but as long as we are within certain boundaries, I don't think He wants to dictate every choice to us if only given a chance. I think He likes to see what we come up with. He created us to be creative, and I believe He delights in our good creativity.

Answer 6

Yes i believe it is or didn't it ever happen to you that you just impulsively do or say or answer something without really knowing why you did and why exactly in the way you did? I believe someone somewhere needs to hear or read what you said and God uses you to help them . Sometimes you do something and things doesn't work the way you want to and later you'll see it just had to be like that because something else was in stall or happened for the better

Answer 7

The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all" (Psalms 103:19).

The phrase, "God is sovereign", is thrown around all over the religious world. Unfortunately, those who make this declaration many times intend something far from its true meaning. The "sovereignty" they are referring to is partial, limited in scope, and subject to certain other conditions that can nullify the sovereignty of this God.

For someone to be sovereign means that they have full and complete ccontrol over whatever it is they govern. It also means that they have the inherent power to exercise that sovereignty subject to no one else, and that they have complete knowledge of all that pertains to that which they rule over to the point that they are not blind-sided by any of its actions.

So to say that God is sovereign is to actually declare that He has complete, total, 100% control, power, and knowledge over that which He rules. By the very definition of the word, the One who is sovereign calls all the shots, makes sure everything happens the way He wants them to happen, and is never stymied from anything He desires to accomplish.
You are not controlled or preordained. You have choice--use it wisely.

Answer 8

Do not confuse "ordain" with "permit." God gives each of the 6.5 billion souls on this planet (and each one in all ages past) His first, best gift: free will. God never takes back His gifts (see Samson.) To say that God "ordains" all is to make God the author of evil. What we know from history is that humans are the willing participants in evil that Satan sets up. What God permits is for each human to have what she or he really wants, however briefly (in terms of eternity, how long Satan enjoys his delusion that he's winning is really not relevant.) Thus, a sinner such as the infamous Pharoah is given what his heart really wants: a fight to the death with a rival god (or God.) That he lost is not God's fault. That every sinner who sets him or herself up to oppose God loses is not God's fault: God gives them the ABILITY to choose. Sometimes we see that as help towards sin. So be it. Without that, one would not be able to choose to love and obey God either.

Answer 9

God knows everything that a person is ever going to do before they even think about doing it. He's all knowing. Things may look like chance to us, but He already knew it was going to happen and the outcome. God knew before hand that man was going to sin in the Garden of Eden, and had already decided that Jesus was going to be the sacrifice to atone for us.

Answer 10

One of the biblical subjects that usually occur to my mind is that God is “sovereign”. But I found the following quotes from: How Does a Sovereign God Love? By John Piper so enlightening:

“God, though he hates a thing as it is simply, may incline to it with reference to the universality of things. Though he hates the sin in itself, yet he may will to permit it, for the greater promotion of holiness in this universality, including all things, and at all times. ("Miscellaneous Remarks," Works II, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, P. 528)”

“But God does not fail to show this love to-all men. "He makes the sun to rise on the evil and the good" (Matt. 5:45). "He did good and gave you from heaven rains-and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17). There are riches of divine kindness which beckon all men to entrust their souls to the faithful Creator (Rom 2:4).”

He emphasized that the overwhelming emphasis of Scripture is on the appointment to eternal life and on the true guilt of those who are lost.