O Father, You Are Sovereign

Several years ago a dear friend introduced me to the hymn,"O Father, You Are Sovereign." Written by Margaret Clarkson in the 1980s, the hymn writer affirms God's hand in all the affairs of life. The first verse looks at the creation, a Genesis approach to the power of the Word. Verse two defies the deist idea that God wound the universal clock and then walked away, leaving men's minds to keep the world running. Instead, as the disciples marveled, "Even the winds and waves obey Him"; nature submits to the power of the Word. Verse three strikes personally as it considers what C.S. Lewis wrote about in The Problem of Pain. What does God accomplish in the anguishes that accompany this life? Again, the power of the Word transforms pain and grief. Finally, without having answers to everything that assails us in this life, we trust and worship the One we know possesses all power.

O Father, You are sovereign
In all the worlds You made;
Your mighty Word was spoken,
And light and life obeyed.
Your voice commands the seasons
And bounds the ocean's shore,
Sets stars within their courses
And stills the tempests' roar.

O Father, You are sovereign
In all affairs of man;
No powers of death or darkness
Can thwart Your perfect plan.
All chance and change transcending,
Supreme in time and space,
You hold your trusting children
Secure in Your embrace.

O Father, You are sovereign
The Lord of human pain,
Transmuting earthly sorrows
To gold of heavenly gain,
All evil overruling,
As none but Conqueror could,
Your love pursues its purpose-
Our souls' eternal good.

O Father, You are sovereign!
We see You dimly now,
But soon before Your triumph
Earth's every knee shall bow.
With this glad hope before us
Our faith springs forth anew:
Our Sovereign Lord and Savior,
We trust and worship You!

The winds bluster outside today, but the Holy Spirit calms my heart, confident in God's sovereignty. May you find peace in the knowledge of Colossians 1:15-17

¹⁵We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. ¹⁶For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. ¹⁷He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. ¹⁸And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body. He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. The Message