What does it mean to say God is our King? How does He rule over the universe and my life? How may the truth of His Kingship bring comfort to my anxious thoughts? Consider how the psalmist marvels over the Kingship of God and says in Ps 139:16, “… all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
This means firstly, God is neither whimsical nor capricious. The answer to Question 6 of the Shorter Catechism says “The decrees of God are, His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He has foreordained whatsoever come to pass.” God’s decrees are His plans from and for eternity. Everything that comes to pass in our universe has been foreordained by God. This means as Ps 139:16 suggests, His decrees include even every moment of my life.
Secondly, it means God is not remote and disinterested in us. God does not just decree. He also did not just create the world and left it to run by itself. Col 1:17 tells us that in Christ all things hold together. It means He controls and sustains the universe. He rules via His providence to determine how His decrees are executed. And He does so without being an agent of evil, and without violating human free will. Instead, Jas 1:17 reminds us God is the giver of every good and perfect gift and He changes not.
This is reassuring. Nothing happens to us by chance. Luke 12:6-7 says even the sparrows are not forgotten by God. Every strand of our hair is numbered. That is incredible. Remember in the book of Jonah, how God sent the big fish to save Jonah’s life and the small worm to eat up Jonah’s plant to reshape Jonah’s heart. Most reassuring of all, at the right time, God sent us His Son. And He tells us in Rom 8:28 that He works all things in the universe together for our good, that is, for our final salvation in Christ.
However, in our study of the Gospel of Luke, we have learned that many in Jesus’ days rejected His Kingship. They were too preoccupied with the things of this life. They missed the greatest privilege any soul can ever receive from God by not making Jesus their King. And Jesus is King. But that is good news only if we surrender our hearts to Him. Will you make Jesus the Lord and King of your life? Will you give Him the first place in your heart?