No Sovereign

“We serve no sovereign here.”

1 Samuel 20:12 ESV

“When I have sounded out my father,”

The American value of personal autonomy is coming home to roost. The independent streak of Americanism has found fertile soil in the hearts of modern man desiring to reject all sovereignty but their own. As our founders rejected the sovereignty of the King of England, they replaced it with the revolutionary idea that we would govern ourselves. In more recent days this has mutated into the abhorrent theology of “I will be sovereign over myself” governing all aspects of my life, from my gender to my death bed.

This personal sovereignty over death itself has caused much debate and recently many states have chosen to agree that man is sovereign over his death. In so doing, I am curious how many follow this to its final conclusion. Even as they paint the picture of pained and dying individuals wanting to end their suffering, we see “mental trauma” being used as justification for Physician assisted suicide in Europe. As millions in this country declare that they have sovereignty over life and death, even over the life and death of others who have not been born. Yet, I wonder about the young men recently in the news, the shooters in Dayton and El Paso. I do not know all the facts, I have heard that racism and hatred played major rolls in the latest shootings, but I have to wonder if they had any hope of survival? I find it difficult to believe that they started these endeavors with hope of survival, this rightly being a suicide mission, like the vast majority of these events that have, like meteors, briefly lit the sky of public awareness.

Christians rightly condemn these men for what they have done, but what of those who demand Choice and personal sovereignty? These men suffering mental/emotional trauma have elected to end their lives in the same way they have re-enacted multiple times on their video games, and scene in movies. They take the lives of others in so doing, yet, if it is their choice to die in an adrenaline rush and pool of blood can a godless society really reject their choice? The idea that the cancer patient, or Alzheimer’s patient, doesn’t harm anyone in choosing to end their lives rejects the web of connections that exist and makes the bolder claim that they are aware of what the future holds. Only one who is sovereign could rightly know who is “harmed” by any action and the full scope of the ripples on the water.

Jonathan sought to plum the depths of his fathers’ heart on a particular issue. He found anger, pride, and death, and he only scratched the surface of one who thought himself sovereign. As Americans try and grapple with the evil that is coming out of young men in droves, we must wonder is it not a struggle over who is sovereign? John Guest noted the Revolutionary slogan “We serve no sovereign here” and wondered how he could preach God’s Kingdom to such a people. I hear of such a thing and I wonder how can we survive? Only in God’s sovereign choice do we have assurance and hope for the future. Only in God’s sovereign hand do I know that somehow “all things work to good, for those that love him”. Only in God’s sovereign judgment can I declare evil, evil, and that stands for both the invalid and the youth, who wish to make themselves “like God”, sovereign.

Coram Deo