God the Almighty – Part Two

God's Sovereignty Over the Inner Life and Over Evil

In the first part of this article, we considered God's sovereignty over the cosmos, over nations and history, and over the affairs of individuals. In this second part, we turn to two more intimate dimensions of God's almighty rule: His sovereignty over the inner life of the human person — body, soul, and spirit — and His sovereignty over Satan and the forces of evil.

God's Sovereignty Over the Body:

The human body is not outside the care or the authority of God. The Scriptures are emphatic that God fashioned our physical nature with infinite wisdom: "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." (Ps. 139:13–14). The intricate complexity of the human body — every organ, every cell, every molecule — speaks of a Creator who is both all-knowing and all-powerful.

God's sovereignty over the body is not merely creative but also sustaining. He holds every breath: "In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind." (Job 12:10). Our hearts beat because He wills them to; our lungs expand because He permits it.

This has profound implications for how we relate to illness and death. The believer who is sick does not face his body as something alien and hostile — he faces it knowing that the God who made it has not abandoned it and has promised its ultimate redemption: "…we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." (Rom. 8:23). The resurrection of Christ is the pledge of the resurrection of every believer's body — the same body, transformed and glorified.

God's Sovereignty Over the Soul:

If God's sovereignty over the body is remarkable, His sovereignty over the soul — the seat of emotions, will, and relationships — is even more so. He knows every thought before it forms: "Before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether." (Ps. 139:4). He searches the heart and tests the mind (Jer. 17:10). Nothing in our interior life is hidden from Him.

But God's knowledge of the soul is not cold surveillance — it is the attentive love of a father. He knows our griefs: "You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle." (Ps. 56:8). He knows our longings, our fears, our secret hopes. And He acts in the interior life: "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." (Prov. 16:9). The Holy Spirit works within the believer's heart, shaping desires, convicting of sin, drawing toward God, and conforming the believer to the image of Christ.

God's Sovereignty Over the Spirit:

At the deepest level — the spirit, the innermost sanctuary of the human person where God is encountered — God is supremely sovereign. He draws whom He will (John 6:44), He regenerates whom He wills (John 3:8), and He seals those who belong to Him with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 1:13). The new birth is not the achievement of human spiritual effort — it is the act of God in the innermost being of the person: "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8)

This sovereignty over the spirit does not eliminate human freedom — the New Testament consistently calls people to believe, to repent, to choose life. But the ability to respond to that call is itself a gift: "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13). Even our desire for God is God-given.

God's Sovereignty Over Satan:

One of the most important and least appreciated aspects of God's almighty rule is His absolute sovereignty over Satan and the forces of evil. This is not a sovereignty of approval — God neither approves of evil nor wills it — but a sovereignty of control: Satan can do nothing without God's permission.

The book of Job makes this explicit at the outset. Satan appears before God and accuses Job. God permits Satan to test Job but places careful limits on what he may do: "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand." (Job 1:12). When that permission is extended: "Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life." (Job 2:6). Satan is not a rival to God — he is a creature operating within limits set by the Creator.

The same pattern appears in the New Testament. When Jesus spoke to Simon Peter before His betrayal, He said: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail." (Luke 22:31–32). Satan's access to Peter required, as it were, a request — and the response was not absence from trial but prayer for perseverance.

This truth is meant to be deeply comforting. It means that the suffering which enters the believer's life through the agency of evil forces is not chaos — it is permitted by a God who knows what He is doing and who has promised that all things, including suffering caused by evil, work together for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28).

The ultimate declaration of God's sovereignty over evil is the cross of Christ. There, Satan did his worst — and the worst became the best: the death of the Son of God became the source of eternal life for all who believe. God was not surprised or defeated by the cross — it was His eternal plan (Rev. 13:8). And the resurrection declared that death itself, the last weapon of the enemy, has been permanently defeated.

To every believer facing the power of evil in any form — temptation, suffering, spiritual oppression, or the dark powers that operate in the world — the confidence of Scripture is this: "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet." (Rom. 16:20). And again: "Greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world." (1 John 4:4)

Dr. Jamil Najib Soliman