He’s Got The Whole World . . .

He’s Got the Whole World . . .

All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth.

Daniel 4:35

The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath: “It will all happen as I have planned. It will be as I have decided. . . . I have a plan for the whole earth, a hand of judgment upon all the nations.

Isaiah 14:24, 26

Because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.

Ephesians 1:11

“He’s got the whole world in his hands. He’s got the whole world in his hands. . . .” Have you ever sung that song? If God has the whole world in his hands, then he can do whatever he wants with it, right? He’s in charge. Jesus affirmed this when he prayed to his father, “May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

People talk about God’s will a lot, and really there are two aspects about the will of God we need to grasp. Both are true, and both are important to understand and believe in. There is the sovereign will of God—what God has planned for history that always comes to pass, without fail. Then there is the revealed will of God—the way God wants us to live—which is clearly revealed in the Bible. This part of the will of God does not always come to pass because of the fallenness of this world and our disobedience.

The will of God is the way he works out his divine plan for all things. That includes small things: “Not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it” (Matthew 10:29). And it includes big things: “The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the LORD; he guides it wherever he pleases” (Proverbs 21:1). Nothing and no one can hinder God’s sovereign will.

DISCUSSION STARTERS

Can you think of anything that God does not have in his hands or is not in charge of?

Can people look back at choices they made or things they did in the past and say that they missed God’s will?

If God is working out his sovereign plan, what is he working all things toward?