WEDNESDAY: Dostoevsky and the Sovereignty of God
- Ken Kalis
- Dec 3, 2025
- 5 min read
SOVEREIGNTY means a. supreme power and b. freedom from external control.
We speak of it in nations, each one independent in governing itself and making its own laws.
But God has given sovereignty to every soul He has created.
“Ye are not your own… for ye are bought with a price.” — 1 Corinthians 6:19–20
When we come to Jesus, we give up our sovereignty. We lay down the illusion that we belong to ourselves and bow to the truth that we are “not our own… for we were bought with a price.” That price was paid at Calvary, and the One who bought us has every right to rule us in love.
Few writers have wrestled with this more deeply than Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881).
His whole life, and every great novel he wrote, circles this question:If God is sovereign, what does that mean for my suffering, my freedom, and my responsibility?
A Man Rescued from the Firing Squad
Dostoevsky knew something about sovereignty because he knew something about being helpless.
As a young man, he joined a circle of intellectuals who questioned the Tsarist system. They were arrested, sentenced to death, and taken out to be shot. The soldiers loaded their rifles. The condemned men were tied to posts.
Then — at the last moment — a messenger arrived. Their sentence was commuted. They were spared and sent to hard labor in Siberia instead.
Imagine that: one moment facing death, the next moment given back your life.
Dostoevsky never forgot it.
He wrote to his brother afterward that everything had changed — every minute was now a gift, every breath a mercy. He knew in his bones: his life belonged to Another. He had been “bought back” from death.
Isn’t that what the Gospel tells us?
“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”— 1 Corinthians 6:20
We were not rescued from a firing squad, but from something far worse. From sin. From judgment. From eternal separation from God.
If Jesus has done that, then He has the right to say: You are Mine.
Dostoevsky in Siberia: Finding Christ Among Criminals
In Siberia, Dostoevsky lived among murderers, thieves, and desperate men. He saw human depravity up close. He also saw something else: grace.
He later wrote that the Gospel came alive to him there — not in pamphlets, but in people. He watched hardened criminals weep over their sins.
He saw simple peasants cling to Christ with a faith that humbled him. He discovered that God’s sovereignty was not a cold doctrine, but a warm, living reality in prison barracks and frozen fields.
There, among the least and the lowest, he began to understand:
God is sovereign over evil, yet not the author of it.
God allows suffering, yet uses it to humble, awaken, and redeem.
God is free — and so are we — but our freedom becomes real only when it bows to His will.
Freedom Without God — Or Freedom Under God?
Dostoevsky’s great novels are filled with characters who try to claim absolute sovereignty over their own lives:
Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment murders a pawnbroker in the name of a higher “idea.”
Ivan Karamazov in The Brothers Karamazov rejects God because of the suffering of children and dreams of a world where man is his own master.
The revolutionaries in Demons (or The Possessed) try to burn down the old order and build a new one without God.
In each case, the result is not freedom, but torment. The more they insist, “I am my own,” the more they sink into guilt, madness, or despair.
By contrast, Dostoevsky gives us Alyosha, the gentle, Christlike brother in The Brothers Karamazov. Alyosha bows to Jesus. He accepts that he is not his own. He lives under God’s sovereignty and finds something the others lack:
peace in suffering
love for broken people
hope beyond the grave
Dostoevsky is not preaching a tidy sermon. He is showing, again and again, that human sovereignty is too heavy a burden for sinful men. Only God is big enough to rule a universe. Only Christ is wise enough to rule a human heart.
Bought with a Price: The End of My Little Kingdom
Our modern world tells us:
“Be true to yourself. Follow your heart. You belong to you.”
The Gospel says something quite different:
“For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord:whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.”— Romans 14:8
Dostoevsky saw the tragedy of a world that tries to keep the benefits of Christianity (dignity, meaning, morality) while denying the Christ who purchased them. That’s what makes his books feel so modern: he watched the birth of our age — an age that wants freedom without God.
But true freedom does not come from being sovereign. True freedom comes from surrendering to the only good and wise Sovereign.
When we come to Jesus, we sign over the deed of our little kingdom:
Our plans
Our rights
Our future
Our reputation
We say, “Lord, I am Yours. You bought me. Rule me.”
Dostoevsky would not always say it so smoothly. His characters rage, protest, argue, and suffer. But underneath it all lies this conviction:
If there is no God, everything is permitted.If there is a God, then everything — even suffering — has meaning.
When Life Makes No Sense
Perhaps you are in a “Siberia” of your own right now:
A diagnosis you never saw coming
A prodigal child who will not come home
A door that slammed shut when you were sure God was opening it
Dostoevsky will not tell you, “Cheer up, it’s all fine.”He will stand beside you and say:
The world is tragic.
Life is hard.
Evil is real.
But he will also say: Christ is here. Christ is Lord. Christ is worthy of your surrender.
God’s sovereignty does not mean we always understand His ways.It means we trust His heart — especially when we do not understand His ways.
“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”— Genesis 18:25
A Prayer of Surrender
Lord Jesus,I confess that I am not my own.You bought me with Your precious blood.
Forgive me for trying to rule my own life,for acting as if I were sovereign and You were my servant.
Teach me to trust Your wisdom in my suffering,to believe
Your goodness when nothing makes sense,and to rest in Your sovereignty when my heart is afraid.
Take my plans, my fears, my future —they belong to You. “Not my will, but Thine, be done.”In Your holy Name,Amen.
Question for Reflection
Where in your life are you still trying to “be sovereign”?What might it look like, very practically, to hand that area back to Jesus and say,“I am not my own — I am Yours”?
********************
All to Jesus, I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence, daily live.
Refrain
I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Savior,
I surrender all.
All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.
Refrain
All to Jesus, I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.
Refrain
All to Jesus, I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power;
Let Thy blessing fall on me.
Refrain
All to Jesus I surrender;
Now I feel the sacred flame.
O the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to His Name!
Refrain
Judson W. Van DeVenter, 1896:
Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33
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