God is sovereign.

I agree with your sentiment here but perhaps you could be a bit kinder in your wording. The problem of evil is a complex one, but the understanding I've come to adopt is that God gives man free will to choose between good and evil, benevolence or self serving, seldom gratification.

God wants us to choose him, to choose good, but willingly. For if he completely took control of our actions, there would be much less meaning behind what happens/what we choose to do in this timeline. And that's why God allowed Satan to reign on this plane. He wanted to show him that once and for all, goodness would always defeat evil.

"Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory," Romans 9:21-23.

"The vessels of wrath prepared for destruction." Beforehand, too. Before what? Even before their conception they were destined to be evil by GOD'S judgment, not man's. Sinner and saint are made from the same lump and both are under His power. He determines who is and who does what.

I know you hate it because it's true. He very much is in control. As for obedience, you're right. Where you're wrong is making the assumption that one can just obey God. Repentance and obedience require the gift of grace. It's a gift, which means it must be given. If it isn't given, it's all for nothing.

Potter and clay. The steps of a man in Proverbs. Vessels of honor and dishonor. Do you ever read the Bible or do you just listen to congressmen with a pulpit on Sunday?