The Sovereignty of God - A. W. Pink

Every once in a while you run across a book that makes more than a usual impact on your life. Whether it was the unique season of life you were in when you read it, or simply the superiority of its content when compared with others, this book for some reason left a marked impression on you, an impression you remember to this day. I remember G. K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy having this long lasting effect on me as did C. S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man and Puritan Richard Sibbes's The Bruised Reed. Not only were they each excellent books, but the unique moment of my life when I read them contributed to their impact. In many ways I was prepared for their teachings at the moment of my reading, and I believe God has used several, often long dead writers, to encourage and strengthen me throughout the last few years.

I have recently read a book which I truly hope will have a similar effect on my life. The Sovereignty of God by A. W. Pink is a short book, unlike anything else I have read on the topic.

There have been times in the past where I have had a reluctance to venture thoroughly into this doctrine of God's sovereignty. For some reason I had feared that if I peered too deeply into the "God who accomplishes all his purposes and does all he pleases" (Isaiah 46:10), I might come out "fatalistic" or "passive" in my outlook in this life. Who knows how much comfort and joy I had missed in doing so! Everything recorded in the Scriptures is "profitable" for us (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and any portions we ignore or pass over without proper treatment, we do so at the peril of our own joy and comfort. As Charles Spurgeon stated so well:

"Many of the fears of Christians would be driven away if they knew more. Ignorance is not bliss in Christianity, but misery. Knowledge sanctified and attended by the Presence of the Holy Spirit is as wings by which we may rise out of the mists and darkness into the light of fall assurance. The knowledge of Christ is the most excellent of sciences. Seek to be masters of it, and you are on the road to full assurance."

This is assuredly the case with the doctrine of the total and complete sovereignty of God. As Pink begins the book: 

"God must either rule, or be ruled; sway, or be swayed; accomplish His own will, or be thwarted by His creatures. Accepting the fact that He is the 'Most High,' the only Potentate and King of kings, vested with perfect wisdom and illimitable power, the conclusion is irresistible that He must be God in fact, as well as in name."

Written in 1928, Pink laments how popular Christianity has weakened God to someone who is trying his best and failing, someone who is attempting to figure out how to clean up this mess. He calls for a needed correction: "Present-day conditions call loudly for a new examination and new presentation of God's omnipotency, God's sufficiency, God's sovereignty. From every pulpit in the land it needs to be thundered forth that God still lives, that God still observes, that God still reigns."

Pink tackles the Sovereignty of God in human affairs, the sovereignty of God in salvation, the sovereignty of God in prayer, the sovereignty of God and the human will--among other topics. In each he shows how God is the one who alone is working all things out according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11), who none can stay his hand or say to him 'what does thou?' (Dan 4:35), and who alone--what His soul desireth, even that He doeth (Job 23:13). And while on the surface the carnal heart finds this doctrine a difficult pill to swallow, like Ezekiel's scroll it proves to be sweet in the end:

"Our God is not only infinite in power, He is infinite in wisdom and goodness too. And herein is the preciousness of this truth. God wills only that which is good, and His will is irreversible and irresistible! God is too wise to err and too loving to cause a needless tear. Therefore, if God be perfect wisdom and perfect goodness, how blessed is the assurance that everything is in His hand, and moulded by His will according to His eternal purpose!"

No tear is needless. God is working all things out, the tumult in the world, the pain in your life--it is accomplishing His glory and your very best. If we could change in anyway God's plan in the earth we would diminish this very best God has for us. I believe Pink to be right when he says: "The doctrine of the sovereignty is a divine cordial to refresh our spirits. it is designed and adapted to mould the affections of our heart, and to give right direction to conduct. It affords comfort for the present and a sense of security respecting the unknown future. It is, and it does, all and much more than we have just said, because it ascribes to God...the glory which is His due, and places the creature in his proper place before Him--in the dust."

Oh that we could cling to this truth with our whole hearts and live life in light of its implications!

As this is the first Pink book I have read cover to cover, I was impressed by the force of his argumentation, the clarity of his writing, and above all the perfuse use of Scripture throughout. He was truly a gifted theologian and writer of his day, and drew the praise of one of my favorite 20th century heroes Martyn Lloyd-Jones (who, I was informed on Twitter was a subscriber to Pink's Studies in the Scriptures). Perhaps he said it best: 

"Don’t waste your time reading Barth and Brunner. You will get nothing from them to aid you with preaching. Read Pink."

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For additional thoughts see my 11 minute video: