God Is In Control??

God Is In Control??

As Christians we have become comfortable using the phrase "God is in control". Yes, that brings us comfort and reminds us of a sovereign and Omni-present God that can bring us through a rough situation, but what does that tell non-believers about our God? A puppet master in the sky controlling everything we do, say, and think does not sound alluring. And with all the bad that happens in this world, saying that God is in control inadvertently puts the blame on Him when things go wrong. 

What would be a better way to talk about God's sovereignty without giving the impression that He infringes upon our free will?

What Does Controlling Mean?

To be controlling means that a person attempts to conform another person to their own needs or desires through some form of manipulation, threat, or physical overpowering. 

The Bible actually uses the words 'controlling' and 'manipulating' to describe the character of a demonic spirit. This spirit is the Spirit of Jezebel. This spirit uses any and all means to control, manipulate, and intimidate for the purpose of gaining power over others and getting its way. 

This does not describe our God. God's character is the complete opposite of the demonic spirits. 

Dive In

The first appearance of Jezebel in the Bible is in 1 Kings 16. The wicked king Ahab married her and assisted her in leading Israel into Baal worship. Jezebel was a high priestess of Baal and could not stand that her new husband's God was not her own god Baal. 

She was cunning and spiritually controlling. We see this in play in 1 Kings 18, when she orders the death of all the prophets of the Lord. She wanted to silence their voices and replace Yahweh's alters with altars to Baal. She pursued these prophets to the degree where they had to be hidden in mountain caves from her!

Her wickedness is also on display in 1 Kings 21 in the death of Naboth. Ahab wanted to buy a vineyard from Naboth, but Naboth refused to sell it to him. He believed doing so would be going against the Lord. Ahab sulked to his queen, but seemed confined to his position of not having this vineyard. Jezebel wouldn’t take no for an answer. She plotted and schemed and had Naboth killed, and they took his vineyard. 

You can read more on these stories here

    It is completely clear from what we know of God's character that He is not like this controlling, manipulative spirit behind Jezebel.

The Bible is full of references to God's character. Below are just a few so that you can see how He is completely opposite from Satan and any of his minions.

Psalms 7:11 "God is a just judge, strong and patient;"

Psalms 103:8 "The Lord is compassionate and merciful: long suffering and plenteous in mercy."

Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." (the Spirit spoken of here is God's spirit and therefore describes the characters of God).

And here is a really important differentiation: 

John 3:16 "For God so LOVED the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life". 

God did not force us to bend to His will, He actually made a way for us to get closer to Him by sending Jesus to take our sin penalty through death. That is our God!

Read more about God's character here!

If God Is Not Controlling, What Is He?

As I sat in the prayer room of our church, listening to a fellow Christian woman talk about a situation where she told herself that 'God is in control', I got that familiar check in my spirit when I hear someone say that phrase, and I went inside myself for a moment to ask God to speak to me about this. 

Not even a few seconds later, I saw in my mind a concert conductor standing in front of his orchestra, dancing rhythmically to the notes being played and swinging and swaying his arms leading his musicians note after beautiful note. 

Yes! That was it! 

What a wonderful analogy that God had given to me at that moment!

That conductor is not controlling his orchestra. 

He is leading them through the musical piece and if they follow his leading the piece will come out fluid, harmonious, and in perfect pitch! 

However, if someone decides they do not want to follow the guiding of the conductor, they will not be forced by him, they are allowed to play the wrong notes, but the mistakes and wrong notes will ruin the song. The conductor is not going to leave his stand and march over to the 'wrong-doer' and force him to play the right notes. No. 

That is not the way with God. 

Instead He lays out instructions, guidance, and warnings for us to follow but it is our free will that lead us to either obey those or to go our own separate way. God will not infringe upon our free will. He created us with free will because that is the only way that we can freely LOVE Him. And that's what He wants!

When we disobey Him and go our own way, His heart is broken but He remains there, waiting for us to come back to Him.

Stephen Covey said "While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions". 

Such a true statement and God, as our loving Heavenly Father, gives us guidance and boundaries to keep us from those consequences because He knows they will hurt us.

We are a fallen people and we are constantly making mistakes and rebelling against God because we are bewitched by the 'here and now' instead of the long term. We are so drawn to the present pleasures and we forget there are consequences until later on and then we get mad at God for letting those things happen to us! 

God understands our humanity, and that's why He sent Jesus; to give us a way

back to Him and back to forgiveness. So we could have a way back to a relationship with Him. So we could repent and even though God does not erase those consequences (because honestly, how else are we going to learn?!), He will be there with us, helping us through those tough consequences that we chose for ourselves.

"He will never leave you nor forsake you". Deuteronomy 31.6.

This is the confidence we have in our God. That even though we reject His guidance, He still loves us, and He will still be there for us to help us through whatever issues, troubles, or consequences we are facing. 

Because He loves us. And you don't try to control what you truly love.

Plain and simple!

Leave a comment and let me know what you think!