God’s sovereignty over his people

Not only does Paul show his belief in the deity of Christ, but notice as well his assumption of the sovereignty of God. His request is that God the Father and Son together would direct our way to you. Now, Paul is counting on God to intervene sovereignly in human affairs so as to enable him to return to Thessalonica so that he can minister there. And people will say, As a Christian, do you really mean that you believe that God, the God who runs the universe, who counts the stars—that he is involved in the affairs of your life, and you can pray to him about, you know, details of your schedule? And the apostolic answer is this: You betcha. We believe in the transcendence of a God who is far above us—and who is immanent. Not one of the stars wanders from its course. He keeps track of all of them. He rules them by his sovereign power. And he knows your name. He knows your schedule today. Your burdens are on his heart. Cast your anxieties on him, because he—God, that God—cares for you.

And he is sovereign in your life. Young writes that Paul believed that God’s control over the events of life extended even to the practicalities of travel plans, and consequently, he thought it both right and necessary to pray about such things. And Paul did not think God was too busy to deal with his affairs. It is not just because he is a big-wig apostle. He is a child of God. Let me put it this way: that it was because Paul relied on God’s sovereignty that he put into practice the precept of Proverbs 16:3 that we also should put into practice. What does it say? Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. That is not saying that God is for hire—that if we want something, we just have to tell him—but we say, Lord, I commit it to you now, and he will cause the right thing to happen at his time, in his right way, for his glory and for the advance of his gospel, the blessing of his people. And so Paul believes in a Triune God and the deity of Christ. He believes that God—that one God in three persons—is sovereign. And he believes that he has a personal relationship of love as a child to that God as Father through Jesus Christ, by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.¹

Richard D. Phillips