Divine Sovereignty in Job

The entire narrative of Job is a declaration of God’s sovereignty. Within that narrative are many examples of his sovereign power, of which this is one:

By His sovereignty, God has determined the precise number of days and months each person will live upon this earth. Nothing can circumvent the lifespans allotted by God according to His sovereign will:

“His days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass.” —Job 14:5

Even when life appears to be out of control, as it certainly did to Job, God remains in complete control. This transcendent truth is evidenced by the fact that the duration of a man’s life upon this earth remains fixed in the unchanging, eternal plan of God. Henry writes, “Three things we are here assured of—(1.) That our life will come to an end; our days upon earth are not numberless, are not endless, no, they are numbered, and will soon be finished, Dan. 5:26. (2.) That it is determined, in the counsel and decree of God, how long we shall live and when we shall die. The number of our months is with God. . . . It is certain that God’s providence has the ordering of the period of our lives; our times are in His hand. . . . (3.) That the bounds God has fixed we cannot pass; for His counsels are unalterable, His foresight being infallible.” What Henry writes is absolutely true. Despite the uncertainty of life, we must acknowledge that God has decreed the number of our months, having set limits that we cannot exceed.

—Steve Lawson, Foundations of Grace (Reformation Trust, 2006), 125.