How does God rule heaven and earth?
God rules with gracious regard for the well-being and salvation of all, to the glory of his name.
Catechism for the Global Methodist Church, question 6
6The LORD passed before his face and called, "The LORD, the LORD, a God compassionate and gracious, slow of face and abounding in kindness and truth."
104:31May the glory of the LORD be forever; may the LORD rejoice in his deeds. 116:5The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is merciful.
13And tear your heart and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in kindness, and relenting concerning the harm.
18Who is a God like you, lifting iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, for he delights in kindness. 19He will return; he will have compassion on us; he will subdue our iniquities; and you will throw into the depths of the sea all their sins. 20You will give truth to Jacob, kindness to Abraham, which you swore to our fathers from days of old.
16For God so loved the world that he gave the unique son, in order that everyone who trusts in him should not perish but have eternal life.
4But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5and when we were dead in the trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you are saved 6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus,
9The Lord does not delay the promise, as some count slowness, but has patience toward you, not planning that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Question 5 confessed God as Sovereign. This question asks what kind of sovereign he is, and the catechism answers with the next clause of Article I of the Confession of Faith, which says that God "rules with gracious regard for the well-being and salvation of men, to the glory of his name." The catechism says "of all" where the Confession says "of men." ¶102 of the Book of Doctrines and Discipline calls this the universal love of God: Christ died for all people, and salvation is available to all persons through the Holy Spirit.
Gracious regard is the character God announced to Moses on Sinai: "The LORD, the LORD, a God compassionate and gracious, slow of face and abounding in kindness and truth" (Exodus 34:6). Joel calls Israel to return to a God who is "gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in kindness, and relenting concerning the harm" (Joel 2:13). Micah says of the God who is "lifting iniquity and passing over transgression" that "he delights in kindness" (Micah 7:18). The psalmist sums it up: "The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is merciful" (Psalm 116:5).
The well-being and salvation of all is the New Testament's account of why God gave his Son. "God so loved the world that he gave the unique son, in order that everyone who trusts in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Paul says God is "rich in mercy" and acted "because of the great love with which he loved us" (Ephesians 2:4), (Ephesians 2:5), and Peter explains the delay of the last day as patience, God "not planning that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). ¶102 calls the grace that reaches every person before any response "prevenient or preventing grace," the first dawning of grace in the soul. To the glory of his name keeps the order right: God saves for his own glory, and the psalmist prays that "the glory of the LORD be forever" (Psalm 104:31).
For a Methodist this rules out despair over anyone; no neighbor and no prodigal child stands outside the gracious regard of God. It also rules out fear that God's rule over one's own life is grudging. The Sovereign of heaven and earth is the God of Exodus 34:6, and his rule is exercised for the salvation of the very people he governs.