Sovereignty and Responsibility

A couple of weeks ago, Jonathan’s status on Facebook was “contemplating God's sovereignty, man's responsibility, and excusing one for the other.”  This is something that has been weighing heavily on my mind as I have recently heard people say “I know I did (insert unkind action here), but God is sovereign and he will work through that for good.”  While I believe that to be a true statement, I feel like, at times, it has been used as an excuse.  I know that my small brain is not capable of understanding everything about our enormous God.  I’m pretty sure that I won’t ever fully understand how God’s sovereignty lines up with our responsibility.  I do know though that He is sovereign, but we are also held responsible and accountable for our actions. 

Each night we read out of “The Mighty Acts of God” a family Bible story book by Starr Meade.  I absolutely LOVE this book.  It may be a little over Kadynce’s head for a while, but we really have enjoyed reading a story from it each night as a family.  Kadynce holds her own little bible and looks at pictures while we read.  It’s so sweet.  Anyways, last night we read about how Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, but God used it for good and for His purpose.  If you aren’t familiar with the story, Joseph ended up becoming a great ruler and helped provide food to the people of Egypt during a time of famine.  At the end of the story in this book Starr Meade sums it up this way “The Bible makes it clear that when people intend evil, as Joseph’s brothers did, it is wrong and God will hold them accountable for it.  At the same time, though, the Bible tells us that God is always at work in everything that happens to accomplish His purposes.” 

Do I completely understand exactly how everything fits together?  No.  Do I believe God is sovereign?  Yes.  Do I believe we will be held accountable for our actions?  Absolutely.  Most importantly I believe that God is good and He does good.