Sovereign Plot Twists

American DNA

Somewhere somehow, us Americans got the idea that we are the authors of our own destiny, and this idea is written into the American DNA. That's where we get the classic rags to riches story, the destitute man works hard and pulls himself out of poverty by his own bootstraps. That's why America is called the land of opportunity. The thinking goes that if you just work hard enough and get that opportunity, you can scrap your way to the top.

And American Christianity has swallowed this idea whole. If I am in control of my financial destiny, then logically I'm also in control of my eternal destiny. I can chose whether or not I respond to the Gospel. God may foresee my response, but ultimately I am the author of my own destiny. The Gospel is thus reduced to a message of opportunity. Which to a race of depraved sinners is not good news.

You Aren't The Author

The Bible, however, presents an entirely different picture. You are not the author of your own story. You are simply a character in God's story. But to you, His people, He has given a unique privilege; He wants you to know how to read the story you're in. He wants you to be able to understand the story you're in. But to be able to understand the story, you have to know the author.

The Pharaoh of Egypt could not understand the story he was in, because he did not know the author. Israel often struggled to understand their story for the same reason. You and I struggle to understand our stories, because we do not yet know God as we should.

But that is why God gave us His Word, so that we would know Him. The Bible has one central theme running throughout; who is God? Who is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Who is the God who descended upon Mount Sinai? What is He like? What matters to Him? Why does He do the things He does?

The more you come to know Him, you more you will know yourself, and the more you will understand the story that you are in. You will understand your marriage, you will understand your parents, you will understand your kids, you will understand what is happening in our nation, and you will come to see the role that you are to play in God's story.

Reading the Story

Step 1: Drop the Script

So, how do you learn to understand the story you're in? The first thing you must do is trust Jesus' sovereignty, and trust it backwards and forwards.

It is not an accident that you were born in this age. Jesus has hand-crafted you for this time and this place, and He has specifically ordained the circumstances of your life and of our nation. He has set the stage and put all the characters in their spots, all you have to do is play your part. You don't need to know the entire script, only your lines. You don't need to know the deep why's and what's going to happen, the all-mighty all-good sovereign God has it all worked out, all you need to know is that He is sovereign, and that you have no idea what He's going to do tomorrow.

This also means that all forms of DIY salvation are out. As one author put it, stop trying to pick up grace, you have no hands. Grace picks you up and sets your feet on the rock. And God decided to do this for you before you existed. He has sovereignly arranged every sentence and every word of your life to bring you to himself. Do you really think He needs your help?

Step 2: Embrace Your Part

Secondly, embrace your part to play. Once you've surrendered that desire to know the entire script beforehand, all you have to do is stick to your lines. And you didn't write these lines, God wrote them for you, He created the good works ahead of time for you to walk in, He gives you the grace to do them, and then He rewards you for doing so.

So God doesn't need you to change the world, He wants you to be faithful where He's put you, to embrace the part you have to play, however large or small, whether you are a husband, father, or son, or a wife, mother, or daughter. And guess what happens when you mess up? When you fail and sin and hurt others? That was sovereignly ordained too, He wrote that into the story because He's a master story-teller and He has already provided the means of salvation, forgiveness, and resurrection through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Step 3: Wait on the LORD

And Lastly, wait for deliverance. If God is sovereign, which He is, and if you can't save yourself, which you can't, and you're at the point in the story where everything looks like its falling apart, then that means that God is preparing an absolutely incredible plot twist. So when things are at their darkest, be still, and know that He is God. His plans cannot be thwarted, neither the sins of the wicked in their pristine conference rooms nor the sins you commit in your heart can disrupt the good that He has in store for you.

So, when things are at their darkest, expect God to act. It’s false humility to think that He won't act. "How can I expect God to act? I can't presume on his grace." No you can't presume on His grace like your actions have no consequences, but you can look to what He has said He will do, and believe that He will do that. Has He said he will feed you, clothe you, shelter you, and guard you? Yes. Has He said that He will forgive your sins if you confess them? Yes. Has He said that all things work for good for those who love Him? Yes. Can you save yourself? No.

But the good news is that the sovereign God who rewards the faithful has promised to save you. He wants to make the story a masterpiece.