Week 4 History Essay
The mighty Lord shows His sovereignty in many ways. I am going to tell you about some of the situations God shows sovereignty in the Biblical Patriarch’s lives and my life. First, I will start with Abraham.
In the first Patriarch’s life (Abraham), God shows sovereignty in many situations, but here are two that stood out to me. The first situation was when Abram was moving to Canaan, and part of the land was going through famine. Since the crops were not growing well, Abram moved to Egypt for a while. After some sinful events in Egypt by Abram, God had him kicked out of Egypt, instead of being killed. I think God showed His sovereignty by showing Abram that He wanted Abram and his family to be in Canaan, not Egypt. However, God is great and merciful, so he was kicked out of Egypt, instead of killed. Another way (and probably the most famous way) God showed sovereignty in Abraham’s life takes place much later. God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Issac. Although God does not accept human sacrifice and Issac was supposed to be the promised sun, Abraham obeyed. He took his son, Issac, and some servants, and whenever someone asked, “Where is the ram?”, he would say, “God will provide the ram.” Finally, when Abraham was about to kill his son, an angel stopped him, and provided a ram with its horns caught in a bush. Turns out, God was testing Abraham’s faith, and he passed.
Next is Issac, Abraham’s son. One of the situations I think God show sovereignty in his life is the story where Abraham must sacrifice Issac that I mentioned before. When they were on the top of the mountain, without the servants, Abraham told Issac that God told him Abraham was supposed to sacrifice him. However, Issac did not fuss or try to fight his father, but he must have been shocked. He allowed Abraham to tie him onto the altar easily. Because of their faith together, no one was hurt. Much later, when Issac was an old man and he had children, Jacob and Esau, God showed sovereignty in a different way. When Jacob stole Esau’s blessing, I think the Lord was trying to tell Abraham that this is what He wanted.
Finally, there is the last patriarch, Jacob, the son of Issac, son of Abraham. I think God shows sovereignty many times in Jacob’s life. Here are two situations in his life where I think God shows sovereignty. First, when Isriel is going back to his childhood home to apologize for everything he did to his brother Esau. At one point on the way, Jacob wrestles with God, and God breaks his hip. I think God is showing authority by basically showing Jacob that He is in control of everything, and that He rules, not Jacob. Much later, after Jacob had eleven sons, (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, and Joseph) and one daughter (Dinah) God showed sovereignty in another way. This was when his favorite son, Joseph, was sold to the Egyptians and his brothers told Jacob that he was killed by a vicious animal. Later he finds out that his son is alive. Even though Jacob thought his son was dead for many years, Joseph became second highest in authority, and he saved many people’s, including his family’s lives. This is what God wanted.
Like the patriarchs, God show His sovereignty in my life in many ways, but I sometimes see it when something happens that I don’t want to. For example, I did not want my dog to pass away, but now I know that God is in charge. My dog, Bella, played her part and did a great job at it. What I mean to say is that she was meant to be in our family for many good reasons and she did good doing her job in life to be the best dog ever. There are many other ways God shows His sovereignty in my life, and most of it is good (that was just an example).
I am so glad God is in charge instead of us, for if we were in charge, the world would be falling apart right now. God always knows what is best for us, and even if we do not like what God has done or will do, He has the perfect plan for all our lives. Altogether, God is God, and God is Good.