Todd Burus is on the same wavelength that I was on in the comments to this post.
God is sovereign. Honestly, I don’t think there are nearly as many people who believe this as there are that say it. Ask any ol’ Baptist biddy why it is that she is maintaining faith even though her health is failing and her husband died and she will say with a sigh, “God is sovereign.” Ask her if she believes that God has chosen for himself a people unconditionally from the foundation of the earth though and prepare to be chastised. “God is sovereign,” as I’ve learned in Southern Baptist vernacular, does not mean that ‘God is sovereign,’ as much as it means ‘I’m doing alright, or at least I’m pretending like I am because I don’t know what else to say.’
But what if we recovered the true meaning of this phrase? What if, instead of saying “God is sovereign” as a default comfort in times of trial we really grasped it as the supreme comfort in all situations, how much impact would that have on how we relate to God?
….
Sure, we say “God is sovereign,” but our theology, and our pride, overrule our words and display what we really think of God: that he is subservient to our “free will” and impotent to do anything unless we open the door for him first. That little seems like a God who is worthy of worship, and even less like the great God we read of in the Bible, who loved us so much that he appointed a worm to demonstrate just how sovereign he really is!
go read the rest of it and see his wonderful example from Jonah 4:7. God provided, prepared, appointed, sent a worm. For his purposes and for his glory.