New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional

by Paul David Tripp

I don’t know whether you have ever thought of this before, but God’s promises are only as good as the extent of his sovereignty. He can deliver what you need only in the places where he rules. If his rule is not firm and unchanging, his promises are not either. I think that many of us fail to make this connection, and when we do, we allow ourselves to celebrate his promises while subtly resisting his rule. He is your sovereign Savior. If he were not sovereign, you would have no guarantee that he could exercise the authority necessary to be your Savior. Think for a moment about the flow of biblical history. Think of the many generations of people that existed between the fall of Adam and Eve and the birth of Jesus Christ. Think of the myriad situations and locations in that span of time. Think of all the human governments that rose and fell. Think of all the decisions, great and small, that people made. Think of the constant life-and-death cycle of the physical creation. Now consider this—in order for Jesus to be born as was promised, to live as was necessary, and to die and rise on our behalf as he said he would, God had to exercise absolute rule over the forces of nature and complete control over the events of human history so that, at just the right moment, Jesus would be born, live, die, and rise again for our redemption. Without the rule of the Almighty, there would’ve been no prophets predicting the birth of the Messiah, no angels announcing it to the shepherds, and n...