The Landscape of God's Sovereignty

God exists to make us happy. It seems that I believed this falsehood for far too long in my walk with Him. And, I boldly guess that I have not been the only one. It’s what I call, “The Santa Claus Principle”… that God exists to make us humans happy by giving us everything we want as long as we accept Jesus as our Savior. Not too far into my twenties did I realize, much to my embarrassment, that I believed that God was supposed to give me everything I wanted simply because I love Him. I can see now that I loved His blessings more than I actually loved Him. And yet somehow, there’s still that idea floating around out there that the human heart is ultimately good… uh huh, sure. 

The truth is, God exists simply because He is God. He is the great I AM. He does not exist for our happiness, yet delights to bless us with things that make us happy from time to time. He never promises ease or comfort for us in this world but promises to always be with us and carry us through suffering until we reach His perfect Heaven. That’s the truth. 

One of my brilliant coworkers, who is a counselor like me, recently gave a presentation to our team touching on these same ideas. She likened our existence as humans as something that plays out on “the landscape of God’s sovereignty.” On this landscape, there are deserts, valleys, beaches, mountains, green fields, forests, and hills. Whether or not we acknowledge God or His sovereignty, we are all living on this landscape. And, we all must travel on it as long as we are alive on Earth. 

I would have to say that I am traveling through what seems to be a dark, gloomy forest on His landscape. In this forest, I don’t always feel like a Christian, loved by God, or feel like His promises are true. My pain in my grief weighs me down, steals most all my energy for life, and delights to pull me to my knees as I cry. I have days where I feel God close, and I have days where I wonder where He is and if He’s forgotten me. If I’ve learned anything in my journey through this forest, I’ve learned that God is… He just is… no matter how I feel or don’t feel. My feelings don’t change His truth, His love, and His character. I know this forest is on His landscape for a reason, and I know He wants me to travel through it. As my coworker said, pain is to make us spiritually and morally great. She took it a step further in saying that our goal should never be to eradicate pain but to re-orient ourselves to Jesus as we navigate this landscape of God’s sovereignty. 

I do not claim to know why God allows babies to die, planes to crash, cancer to claim millions of lives, and Dementia to slowly kill my mom. But, I do know that all pain is never wasted and comes with the promise of a purpose. Our God is loving enough for this… for there to be purpose in all pain. So we can know this as we travel on His landscape of sovereignty to His perfect Heaven one day where all pain will be set right.