Sovereign

“God is sovereign. His grace cannot be tamed.” — R. Kent Hughes

It is amazing to me that a story so familiar can still startle me with a new insight. It is refreshing in profound ways to consider the original Christmas event from new perspectives. It really shouldn’t surprise me when there are new holiday movies and stories every season that all reflect a similar thought or quality in humanity.

I think about a God who is never surprised but who loves to surprise us. I think about all the surprised people in the Christmas story alone, for whom  God showed up in visible and audible ways. I wonder what Mary’s mom and dad thought when their daughter came to them? I wonder how Zechariah and Joseph shared about the angels who visited them… and the shepherds too. I wonder if they recognized that Jesus was the same as the babe they had worshipped at the beginning of his earthly life as at the end.

I am sure, based on what we read in the text, that Herod was surprised to find sojourners of important status on his doorstep, asking to meet a king that was not himself or Caesar! And I think about others in the crowded streets of Bethlehem, paying taxes and noticing their relatives getting so much attention after giving birth. What were they thinking – especially when the genocide of baby boys was the reaction?! There are so many surprises. I think of the old song lyric from the ’70s by an early christian performer, “Doesn’t That Surprise You?”, which says,

“That a King would come the way He came – No marching bands and no parades
But he came anyway – The stall the hay
And the people shook their heads in sad dismay”

Perhaps that is the biggest surprise of all, that people don’t see or hear or believe in a God who loves and surprised us with the best gift of all!

God knows. God Cares. God is in charge. He is the Supreme Ruler. The other word is Sovereign. It comes from the latin roots for super over and above. Sovereign has everything to do with power. It often describes a person who has supreme power or authority, such as a king or queen. God is the one who has supreme power and authority; in addition to being the Powerful One, He HAS sovereign – absolute – power—that cannot be checked by anyone or anything. He is exalted. Paramount. Highest. The First and the Last. The King Kings. The Ultimate and Awesome One.