Is God in Control?

  •  Let’s look at God's sovereignty vs. His control. Some say God is sovereign but He's not in control of everything. Scripture says God is sovereign in that He rules over all (Ps 103:19), everything God decrees happens (Is 14:24; Jn 10:29; Heb 6:17), and none can prevent His decrees from happening (Is 43:13; Rom 11:29). Scripture also says nothing happens that God does not allow (Job 1:12; Jas 4:15). And, we can see in Scripture that God's control and His will are vastly different (2 Cor 8:17; Acts 7:39; Heb 4:2). Does that mean that God's control takes away our free will? No, it doesn’t.

         Now, let's look at God's control from the Principal of Non-Contradiction that says, 'A' can not equal both 'A' and 'B' at the same time. 'A' can equal 'A' or 'A' can equal 'B' but it can not equal both 'A' and 'B'. If God is not in control that means He's out of control or without control. Self-control is a fruit of His Spirit so we know He's not out of control. If God rules over all, all His decrees are carried out and all things work together for God's good and pleasing will (Rm 8:28; Eph 1:11), then we know He's not without control. Also, we know He never changes so He can't be in control sometimes and out of control other times (Nu 23:19; Heb 13:8). God is a God Who is sovereign, in control, and at the same time allows us to have free will. That means while He is in control of everything, He ALLOWS us to determine our own actions and courses.

         Now, if we believe God is not in control of everything, but that everyone will end up in the same "after death destination" no matter their choices, that in itself is a contradiction. We can't rationally believe that God is not in control and that we have your own free will to decide, but that God also removes that free will in the end and sends everyone to the same place regardless of his or her choices.    

         Some people have a hard time reconciling God being in control as opposed to just being sovereign because it can be difficult to comprehend how our Creator would allow some people to die, get cancer or be injured when He could prevent those things from happening if He were in control. Yet, isn't that way of thinking just mankind needing or wanting to understand God and His affairs? Scripture says we can't understand the unfathomable ways of God and that His thoughts are higher than ours (Isa 55:8-9; Romans 11:33-34; 1 Cor 2:11; Pro 25:2; Job 5:9, 11:7, 36:26). It is because God is in control that He can reach down into any situation at any time and miraculously heal any ailment such as cancer or a terminal illness with one Word.

         Our natural human flesh wants to understand the ways of God just like we want to understand the ways of the world. Yet we must remember, we're the creation, not the Creator and because we do know what God is capable of, we should trust Him and His ways even when we don't understand them.

         "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone - while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'? Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? ... Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this" (Job 38:4-18).

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