A Restful Life: Finding Peace in the Sovereignty of God
As another year comes to a close, I often find myself thinking the same thought: another year gone.
And with that thought usually comes reflection, on family, work, church, community, our nation, and the world at large. Looking back can be both beautiful and painful at the same time. For many of us, this year carried real weight: strained relationships, difficult diagnoses, unexpected loss, grief that still feels fresh.
For our church, it was a heavy year of care. Funerals marked the calendar, young and old, expected and unthinkable. In our broader community, we’ve witnessed tragedy that still feels hard to process. National headlines seem dominated by violence. Globally, Christians continue to face persecution, suffering, and death for their faith.
And unlike any generation before us, we carry all of this at once. We see it instantly, constantly, relentlessly, through screens in our pockets. We bear burdens we were never meant to carry, and the result is often a low-grade, persistent stress that makes rest feel impossible.
So the question becomes: How do we live restful lives in a restless world?
The answer Scripture gives us is not denial, escapism, or distraction, but trust in the sovereignty of God.
God’s Sovereignty: The Ground of Our Rest
God’s sovereignty is one of His central attributes. To say that God is sovereign means that He is supreme, possessing absolute authority, control, and purpose over all creation. He rules as the unchallengeable King, working all things according to His will, for His glory, even while interacting with human choices in ways that often remain mysterious to us.
As we step into a new year, my prayer is that we would do so with hope and confidence, grounded in the unshakable reality that God is in control.
To understand this more deeply, Scripture shows us three facets of God’s sovereignty that help anchor our souls.
God Is Sovereign Over Nothing
Genesis opens with words so familiar we can forget how staggering they are:
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
The early church described creation as ex nihilo - “out of nothing.” That phrase is easy to say and nearly impossible to comprehend. We struggle even to define “nothing.” We can imagine empty rooms or silent spaces, but even those contain something: space, time, matter.
Yet God exists outside all three.
What is incomprehensible to us is effortless for Him. Where logic says, out of nothing, nothing comes, God simply speaks: “Let there be.”
Scripture tells us that by His word, the universe came into existence (Psalm 33:6-7), light, land, seas, stars, galaxies. Nothingness itself bows to His command.
And here’s why this matters: if God can speak galaxies into being from nothing, then surely He can speak purpose into emptiness, hope into despair, and rest into weary hearts.
One of the great dangers for believers is becoming distracted by activity, programs, and noise while growing apathetic toward the majesty of God Himself.
My desire for you, reader, is that your wonder and awe of God would awaken again, maybe for the first time in years. That you would slow down long enough to consider the reality that God spoke the universe into existence simply because He willed it. He wanted it. He delighted to do it.
And in the middle of that great creative work, if you are in Christ scripture tells us that God was already thinking of you. (Ephesians 1:4) Before there was light, before there was sky or sea or stars, “before the foundation of the world” He knew you.
He made us not because He needed us or because He was lonely. But because He wanted us for His glory.
2. God Is Sovereign Over All Things
This truth is easier to affirm, until life hurts.
Scripture gives us a vivid reminder in the book of Job. After unimaginable loss, Job begins to question God’s justice. And in response, God does not explain Himself, He reveals Himself. (Job 38 - 40)
From the whirlwind, God asks Job a series of piercing questions:
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Who set the boundaries of the sea? Who commands the stars, the storms, the snow?
The point is not cruelty, it is perspective.
Job trusted countless realities every day without understanding them. Gravity. Sunrise. Seasons. Order. Yet he questioned God precisely where his pain intersected mystery.
And we do the same.
We trust God with the complexity of the universe, but struggle to trust Him with the complexity of our own lives.
But if God governs the foundations of creation, if He commands lightning and upholds galaxies, then He is sovereign over your story, your suffering, your questions, and your fears.
As surely as the sun will rise tomorrow, God can be trusted with what you know and what you don’t.
3. God Is Sovereign Over the Unknown
There is nothing unknown to God, but much that is unknown to us.
Job’s story reminds us that there is often far more happening in our lives than we can see. Conversations, purposes, and realities exist beyond our awareness. God’s silence is not absence.
When God finally speaks to Job, He does not answer every question. Instead, He reveals His character. And that is enough.
When people read the book of Job they often come back asking the same question “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
One of the most helpful reframes comes from R. C. Sproul, who once said:
“Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once, and He volunteered.”
Jesus, the only truly good person, suffered not for His sin, but for ours. The real mystery is not why suffering exists, but why grace does. But grace doesn’t mean that suffering won’t exist.
But take heart, God does not waste suffering. Even sin committed against us can be used to shape us into the image of Christ. This is not optimism, it is sovereignty.
We live in God’s universe. He is in control. And we are not. And that is very good news.
Living a Restful Life
So how do we live restfully in a broken world?
Not by ignoring reality. Not by burying our heads in the sand. And not necessarily by unplugging from everything, though wisdom and limits certainly help.
Instead, Scripture invites us to lift our eyes.
“I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121)
When we turn our eyes upon Jesus,
look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth, however loud, painful, or overwhelming they may feel,
will grow strangely dim
in the light of His glory and grace.
So praise Jesus, and live boldly in a world that is completely under his sovereignty.
Discussion / Reflection questions:
As you reflect on this past year, what moments stand out as especially heavy or difficult for you?
How have those experiences shaped your view of God, either drawing you closer to Him or causing you to question Him?
Where do you notice stress, restlessness, or fatigue showing up most clearly in your life right now?
Here is the link to the sermon that produced this blog post:
(Message starts minute 27:20)
