A Dethroned Deity

As we continue briefly looking at some ideas contained within the pages of Dr. Lawson’s Made in Our Image, we come to an idea that is often debated and often misunderstood. It seems very few ideas create as much controversy and debate within the evangelical world as does the idea of God’s sovereignty. In an excerpt taken from chapter six of Made in Our Image and posted below, Dr. Lawson discusses various ideas associated with the sovereignty of God.

We seldom hear about the sovereign God today. Even when people speak of God’s autonomous authority, they often do not fully understand what it is. The user-friendly God is like Napoleon—a monarch in exile. A dethroned deity, he appears to have exchanged his throne of sovereignty for a footstool of subordination to the will of his creation.

In the minds of so many people today, even some in the body of Christ, the user-friendly god has voluntarily limited his control and given free reign to the actions of people in order to give them unconditional liberty. This restricted ruler is slightly sovereign—enthroned, but not empowered; presiding, but not prevailing; trying, but not triumphing.

In the views of many, God is always pacing back and forth in heaven, wringing His hands over unfolding events on earth, rubbing His furrowed brow, and losing sleep over His plans, which are being repeatedly frustrated by men. They see him as continually going into emergency session with the other members of the Trinity, strategizing His next move, always reacting to the next hand dealt to Him by man, Satan, or circumstances.

Some believe that divine sovereignty is a sort of coregency—a cosmic stalemate between God and Satan in which man has the swing vote. These well-meaning people spout catchy idioms like, “God votes for you; the devil votes against you; and you cast the deciding vote.” This implies that God and Satan are somehow equals and that man’s will is superior to both, since he is able to cast the tie-breaking vote for heaven or hell.

God is too often perceived as a codependent deity who is always rigging solutions to earthly problems, but who, quite frankly, lacks the clout to pull it off. This is the user-friendly god. But is this God? Has He really chosen to limit the free reign of His sovereignty? Is He limited by the choices of man? Or is God really the supreme ruler of the universe, exercising total control over all the works of His hand?

Rest assured, God is in complete control!

All quotations taken from Made in Our Image, by Steven Lawson.