God is in control?

I’ve heard it as long as I can remember. “God is in control!” The phrase is usually used when one has come to the end of their understanding and they just can’t figure things out. Sometimes it is used in a good way, like when someone is genuinely putting their faith in God to take care of an important matter in their life. Other times it is used by people to humbly hide behind God, putting all of the responsibility for a matter on Him, and shunning any responsibility that they should be taking. So let’s examine this from the scriptures. After all, everything we believe should be scriptural, and if you want your beliefs to be scriptural, there is one thing you must have ... scripture.

Is God in control? When that statement is made incorrectly, it assumes that the direction of people, churches, nations, governments, etc., is always guided by God. People believe that whatever happens is God’s will, and if it is God’s will that always happens, then you and I have to accept everything that comes our way as ultimately coming from Him — bad or good.

When we consider the amount of abortions performed in America, is God in control in this country? When children are molested, abused and abducted, is God behind all of that? If God is in control here on planet earth, then He sure has it in a mess!

What is the truth then? I can tell you this, that when the truth is found, it always makes you free. Jesus said in John 8:32 that “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Truth always liberates, even when it is contrary to our thinking and believing. The truth about God’s will being done in the earth is a liberating truth. It can be found by looking at the life of the Master, Jesus Himself. One needs to look no further.

Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus, as He lived and demonstrated among humanity for over three years was “the express image of His person.” That means if you want to have any of your questions about God the Father answered, you have to look at Jesus. He expressed the Father perfectly. He even said to His disciples that if you had seen Him, you saw the Father. So what was the message of Jesus? What did He preach? He preached the good news of the Kingdom of God. Have you ever thought about what the kingdom of God is? It is the place where God’s will is done.

Kingdom comes from two words: king and dominion. A kingdom is the domain of a king, where his will is able to be carried out. When the will of the king stops being done, his kingdom cannot be made manifest.

Jesus taught His disciples to pray in what we call the Lord’s prayer “Father, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” There is nothing stopping God’s will being done in heaven. But there is here in the earth. If it wasn’t, Jesus wouldn’t have told us to pray that way.

Why did Jesus preach the good news of a realm where God’s will is done? So that the people would respond in faith. There faith was the environment that He was looking for, because faith is an environment that God’s will can be done in.

In Mark 6 Jesus went in to His own home town of Nazareth and could not do mighty works there. The son of God couldn’t. Not wouldn’t, but it says He couldn’t. Why? Verse six says “He marveled at their unbelief.” If unbelief stopped God’s will and His power from being able to be done then, it will stop it today!

To say God is in control assumes that His will can be done in any and every situation. That’s like saying that a person can become a Christian and be saved without responding to God in faith. No man can be saved without hearing the gospel and responding in faith by calling on the name of Jesus. (Romans 10:13, 14) God is only in control, when we are believing and trusting Him. To say that God is guiding and controlling everything is tantamount to blaming Him for things that we do and for things that our adversary satan is doing.

We must believe, pray, vote and obey so that His will can be done, and so that He can be in control. What do we believe? How do we pray? We must find out His will that is revealed in His written Word. Once we know His will, we can boldly believe, pray, vote and obey without hesitation, and we can invite Him to be in control of our lives and of an earth that He gave us control over a long time ago. (Genesis 1:28)