In his sermon 'Attitude Toward the Sovereignty of God,' Paul Carrington discusses the struggle believers face in aligning their attitudes with the doctrine of God's sovereignty. He reflects on Psalm 46, which emphasizes God's role as a refuge and strength, and stresses the importance of being still and knowing God. Carrington highlights the gap between acquiring knowledge of God's sovereignty and truly understanding it, drawing from Job's experience as an example. The sermon underscores the importance of maintaining faith during adversity and the challenge of submitting to God's will. Carrington emphasizes the test of one's attitude, which becomes evident not when times are easy, but when facing hardships and disappointments. The speaker shares his personal struggle with this concept, acknowledging that it's a common issue for believers.

Well this morning my task is to speak to us about our attitude towards the sovereignty of our God. And if you remember yesterday we started off with quoting a scripture found in Psalm 46. Do you remember what that scripture was as we began? Mr. Brown started us off.

Does anyone remember what that word was? Be still and know that I am God. And that whole Psalm, Psalm 46 is such a beautiful Psalm, you know, it starts off with these amazing declarations of who God is, and the psalmist speaks of God, who is our refuge and our strength. And then he goes on to say how he's a present help in time of trouble. And he says, therefore, on the basis of that, we shall not fear.

How far can God carry us? Well it says, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. And then he goes on to say, although the waters shake and roar and are trembling and so on, and then he goes on to say that there is a river whose stream shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. And he concludes that little section by saying God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved.

God shall help her just at the break of dawn. And so on the basis of all of God's faithfulness and sovereignty, we come to verse 10 a little bit later on, which is really the conclusion of the matter. On the basis of who God is, our attitude towards that is to be still and to know that I am God. And so I want to talk to us about our attitude because this is really where the struggle is, right? If you were to just think about it, we've already yesterday covered quite a bit about the doctrine of the sovereignty of God just in those two sessions.

And if we were to have a written test this morning, my bet is that a lot of us would score very high marks. And if we were to give some of the dads the floor today, or just to kind of get into a discussion and debate around the sovereignty of God, chances are we could probably go on for hours debating, discussing, and just having conversation around God's sovereignty. But we should never imagine that getting information, Getting information and actually understanding something is the exact same thing. What do I mean by that? Well we never quite grow at the same pace as our knowledge, do we?

We get knowledge, but there's a lag between what we actually believe in practice. And a perfect example of that might be a man like Job, who at the very end of the book, after he had gone through the most difficult of circumstances, he says to the Lord, I have heard about you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. There was a gap between what he heard and what he actually knew, but now that gap had been closed through this experience of terrible loss. And so Sometimes our growth in the Lord is slow and it's almost imperceptible. You can't even tell, just like a child growing up, you can't really tell the growth.

You just see them growing and before long you're looking at them eye to eye. But sometimes there's a growth spurt. Sometimes they go through a time of intense growth and you can almost see it. It's you know six inches in a year kind of thing. Well this morning I just want to talk to us about our attitude and how we can grow in aligning our knowledge with the way that we actually live.

And if you just think of a faithful saint that you know, think of somebody maybe you've read about, or someone maybe even in your own life, a family member who's been buffeted. They're a believer and they've been buffeted by the strong winds of God's providence, things that they might not have ever designed for themself. And then you look at this person, what is it that strikes you when you consider this person as they go through these trials? They're still singing. They might even be still worshiping God in just an enthusiastic way.

And when you try to encourage them, it's actually you that is getting encouraged by them because of the things that they're sharing. Well, what is it? What is it that's so attractive about that? It's almost as though this person is like a portrait of what it means to be under submission to the living and active God. It's a beautiful thing when you see someone going through hardship and difficulty, and yet they're doing it, not fake, but they're doing it with just an appreciation that not waiting for the thing to be over but even in the midst of it God is is carrying me through and that's their conviction and and deep deep faith it's their attitude That is the thing that's most attractive and the thing that really gets you.

And so this gap is really where the struggle is. What we know in our heads and how we respond when adversity strikes is really the challenge, isn't it? And so that's why I think it's so important that we consider the doctrine of the sovereignty of God, but specifically around our attitude towards it. And so why is that so important? Well, because the doctrine of the sovereignty of God is the doctrine that says that God is God, that He rules, that He has right to do whatever He pleases.

It's us bowing to that very acknowledgement. And can you imagine, just think for a moment with me, the unbeliever who has no understanding of God at all. Everything is random to them. Everything is so fearful. You know, you look around even in our day-to-day and you've got people just frantic saying our world is going to end in 12 years unless we take action and do something about it.

This is the clarion call of the unbeliever, this frantic pace of, we don't know what's happening, but those who know their God and have this rest in God, that's really the best place to be. But even as Christians, we falter, don't we? I mean, I can say that about myself. Even the best human example, a man like Job, he wrestled with this doctrine of the sovereignty of God and it's one thing when the Sun is shining in its strength to believe in God but what do you do when the the dark storm clouds begin to block out that Sun how do you How do you respond in circumstances and situations like that? And so our attitude is really where the struggle is.

And there will be a test. There will be a test. And the first question on that test is going to be a question that you're going to ask. And what is that question? Yes, I know God is sovereign, but...

And you ask your question. How do I know that? Because I've often asked myself that question in the test. And it's a good thing to ask, have those words really ever come out of your lips? Or if they haven't come out of your lips, have they been in your mind as you look at your life, as you consider your future?

I know God is sovereign, but that's so often the case. And the test of our understanding of this doctrine isn't going to be when all is well, but it's when our self-will is crossed, when our fair designs are crushed, and when hardship, disappointment, or delay, or something, some sort of suffering, it strikes us. That's when the real test comes upon us. And so when the elders were discussing the topics for the father-daughter retreat specific to the sovereignty of God, I specifically asked to be able to talk about the attitude, our attitude towards sovereignty of God. And I asked because, not because I've mastered it, but because it's so often been a struggle for me.

And I've oftentimes failed the test. I've failed the test.