Is God in Control?
Most Christians have had this experience. They are going through a hard time. Perhaps they’ve just been diagnosed with a chronic illness, or a family member is dying, or they have suddenly lost a job, or they are feeling like their life is in limbo… When another well-meaning Christian puts a hand on their shoulder and says with conviction:
“Take heart. God is in control.”
How true is that statement, really? The Bible seems to tell conflicting tales. The Israelites went through extraordinary periods of being in God’s grace and out of it, from persecution to exile to return to God’s promise to exile to persecution to return, and the Old Testament blames this cycle not on God’s lack of power but the fickle hearts of the Israelites themselves. Thus causing Christians in this day and age to often blame the struggles we face on either our own fickleness or the sins of our forefathers.
Is that fair?
The New Testament also tells the story of the man blind from birth. When asked whose sin resulted in the mans blindness, Christ replied that it was so that God’s glory could be shown. Which causes Christians in this day to ask, “am I being tried for my sins or is this simply to show God’s glory?”
Is THAT fair?
There’s also the fallen nature of our world. In the Old Testament when Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden, not only were they and their offspring cursed, but the labor of their hands and the fruit of the earth and even the insects and animals were cursed. Which causes Christians to ask, “am I simply a victim of the fallen nature of this planet?”
What is true? Is God in control, and do we shun his control with our own hard hearts? Is he in control and he allows us to suffer to later demonstrate his glory? Is the world simply still under the curse of sin and death, and we are victims of it?
Wait… there’s Christ, right, so the curse is broken, isn’t it? Well, it may be broken for you and I but not the entire planet- right? God’s Kingdom hasn’t come, has it?
But we are here, we are faithful, we are bringing the Kingdom… so isn’t God in control?
And the logic circles onward, and the logic circles inward, and like at the end of CS Lewis’s The Last Battle we must answer the call to follow further up and further in. All I know is that I trust my own heart and life are in God’s hands, and he is as in control of my own faith as much as I will allow him to be. And I do have hope, as foolish and pointless as it may be, I still have hope. I believe that I will see God’s love in my life, I believe that as bleak and hopeless as it all may seem I will experience joy. I believe it because I have seen God’s faithfulness in my own life. Not that my life has been “blessed” or “fortuitous”, far from it. But has God been there? Without a doubt.
Was God in Control?
I don’t know. But he was there.
So next time you feel the urge to extend a hand of comfort, next time you feel the religious conviction in your voice, pause for a moment and pick your words with care. Perhaps we shouldn’t throw out the words “God is in control” so carelessly. Instead, I choose to say,
God is with you. So am I.
Rob V. replied:
A great, personal example of the age-old struggle humankind has been trying to wrap its mind around since the beginning. Also: “God is with you. So am I.” Superb response.
(Admit it: you’re just BEGGING for a Calvinism/Arminianism debate, aren’t you??)
May 2, 2008 at 6:22 pm. Permalink.
amberfireinus replied:
LOL just read my post of today… you must be tuned in to me … thank you sweetheart for this post. I am giving it all up to God as I type these words.
May 2, 2008 at 6:49 pm. Permalink.
graceunbound replied:
Do I believe that ultimately God is in control? Yes. Does that raise other questions? Absolutely. Like Rob said, it’s the age-old struggle of humankind.
Would I ever dream of saying that to a hurting person? Nope. That’s a conclusion that we each have to come to in our own time, not forced on someone before they are ready to hear it. “God is with you. So am I.” I like that.
May 2, 2008 at 10:12 pm. Permalink.
e2c replied:
A most excellent post, Shush!
May 3, 2008 at 4:36 am. Permalink.
wvhillcountry replied:
Excellent as always…I need a day or so to think about this before I respond further. But the wheels are turning, can you smell the smoke?
May 3, 2008 at 6:33 am. Permalink.
shush replied:
Rob V: Oh, don’t get me started…
Amber: Great minds and all that.
graceunbound, e2c, and wvhillcountry: Thank you.
May 3, 2008 at 3:47 pm. Permalink.
amberfireinus replied:
Congrats on Harlots Sauce Girlfriend… I loved your article!
May 3, 2008 at 3:54 pm. Permalink.
Robert replied:
I hate using Job as an example for questions like this because lots of well-meaning Christians have used his story so often and in such glib ways that Job has become something of a big cliche. That being said, take a look at Job:
He definitely didn’t deserve the pain that was visited on him.
God didn’t do these things to Job, but he did allow them.
God put limits on the amount of suffering Job would experience (or, actually, I guess the only limit was, in essence, “Don’t put him out of his misery,” but the point is that God was in control).
Job had a choice to make regarding all the things that happened to him; he could “curse God, and die (thank you my encouraging wife*),” or believe that God was in control and would make things right again. And I think the ultimate outcome was due to a combination of God’s control (of circumstances) and Job’s control (of his reaction to the circumstances).
What if Job had taken his wife’s advice and given up? Instead, he stuck it out. Oh, he made sure God knew that what he felt about the injustice of it all, but that opened the open door to begin an amazing dialog between he and God that left him with a greater understanding of what was going on.
And what was that understanding? That there’s no way we can understand all of God’s purposes, or why he takes obvious control in some situations and seems to let it go in others.
All that to say this: I’m not entirely sure if Gos is in control all the time. But I do love your alternative, “God is with you, so am I.”
* By the way, I used to think of how heartless Job’s wife was. I mean, the guy just lost everything–his children, his land, his wealth, his health. Then I thought about it: what did Job lose that his wife didn’t lose also? Only his health… she lost children, land and wealth also. And the statement, “curse God and die,” doesn’t that really set the tone for the rest of the story? It’s probably what she was ready to do in her grief, but both were redeemed when Job decided not to.
Ramble, ramble, ramble… sorry!
May 3, 2008 at 4:17 pm. Permalink.
Robert replied:
Were there enough typos in that comment for you :o/
May 3, 2008 at 6:29 pm. Permalink.
wep601 replied:
THIS one I am going to remember for sure! “Instead, I choose to say, God is with you. So am I.” Thank you!
Wendy
May 4, 2008 at 10:16 pm. Permalink.
wvhillcountry replied:
Yes I believe that God is in control in the sense that he created every living and breathing thing in this world. But he also created humans to have free will and the ability to work on a level above instincts.
My choices have the ability to affect people beyond myself, like the ripples in a calm pool disturbed by the small stone thrown in, my actions affect those around me.
And yet in all things I can see God working. He is still with us when we choose. So yes I believe that God is in control, but he has also given mankind free will and mankind as a whole has to deal with the consequences of their choices. So maybe it is a blending of the two.
I know God is with me when I make my choices, so I really like that statement that God is with you and so am I.
May 5, 2008 at 4:23 am. Permalink.
M54 replied:
I think Rob gives Job way to much credit.
By reading Job 3:25
“25For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.”
we see that Job spent too much time worrying that he would lose his family and assets. Holy Scripture clearly says not to worry. Job did.
Now as far as God being in control. I have wrestled with that very question on the most personal of levels.
It was 9:40pm February 19th, 2007 when two green US Army uniforms walked up to our front door. We had to stand by as they spoke to my screaming and moaning young daughter. “On behalf of the United States Army we regret to inform you that your husband, Sgt. Buddy James Hughie, has been killed in action.
I was completely and utterly helpless to do anything.
They had only been married twenty months! Buddy had been here for two weeks for the birth of little Cooper and gone back only to be killed by a sniper while rendering aid to a fallen comrad!
I don’t mind telling you and I know it was no surprise to God when I told him “I’m pretty pissed-off at You, God!”
However, I was (eventually) reminded that His ways are higher than mine, that He was not taken by surprise by these tragic events and if we can get (or keep, depending on who you are talking about) our focus back on Him, His back up plan will prove to be profitable.
I will remember “God is with you and so am I”. I like that too.
M54
May 6, 2008 at 7:31 pm. Permalink.
Lindsey replied:
Amber: I am LOVING the site! Patricia is doing a fabulous job.
Robert: Don’t worry about the typos. And while you are right about Job being overused in these instances, the end point you made is very well done. Thank you.
wvhillcountry: beautifully, beautifully said
M54: What an incredibly touching story. I grieve for your family’s loss. But you are right, in that God’s ways are not our ways and he is still God and still love and still good through everything. And isn’t it wonderful that he doesn’t mind us yelling at him from time to time? He always seems to understand.
May 6, 2008 at 9:08 pm. Permalink.