SO MANY STATEMENTS:
“He/she is a control freak.”
“You need to learn some self-control.”
“I lost control of the car and found myself spinning around and around until I ended up in a ditch.”
SO MANY QUESTIONS:
“Why did our baby die?”
“Why did the tornado rip our house apart?”
“Why do I have cancer while trying to raise adopted children?”
So many more statements, and so many more questions to be heard. There is no doubt that I could go on and on with both and most likely never come to the end of them. Being out of control is a helpless feeling.
In December of 1988, my bride and I left our home early in the morning to spend the time in Indianapolis before meeting our daughter for her flight from Florida. I had a 1996 S-10 pickup and had failed to put the sandbags in the bed of the truck. It was a beautiful day when we left. By the time her flight was delayed arrived late due to bad weather, a snowstorm had blanketed the area. I didn’t give it much thought since we were not near any windows. We left the airport, and it soon became apparent to me that this was not a good situation, especially when the snowplow I was following turned off the four-lane. 🙁 As I made my way up the hill, the rear end of the truck began to fishtail and with the combination of no weight and packed snow ice, I was helpless in keeping it from spinning around and around. We ended up backwards in a ditch.
LOSS. OF. CONTROL.
A spinning truck is a whole lot different than a life that is spinning out of control…and many of us have been there. The above statements and questions are reminders of that truth. I think we are hot-wired to find solutions to life’s challenges and when we don’t, well, it messes with our minds hearts.
WHERE IS GOD?
DOES GOD EVEN CARE WHAT I AM GOING THROUGH?
WHEN WILL SOME RELIEF COME?
You know those kinds of (unanswerable) questions we tend to ask? It all comes down to, as I see it, one vital component:
IS. GOD. IN. CONTROL. OR. NOT?
The hundred dollar word for that is God Sovereign or not? I am going to try to tackle that very question this Sunday in my message about God Is In Control. I believe very strongly that He is. Will I be able to convey that? With your prayers, and the help of the Holy Spirit, the answer is I hope so Yes. I’ll share more with you on Monday morning some of my thoughts, but for now, I covet your prayers. Thanks ahead of time for that.
Now for you: Is it hard for you to believe the whole God is Sovereign thing? Be honest…you are among friends. 🙂 Do you have trouble answering some of the statements or questions people come up with regarding Control? I would like to hear your thoughts.
I’ve chewed on this question a LOT over the last couple of years. I came to the conclusion that I didn’t really trust God. That isn’t a very Christian thing to say…but my heart had been hurt/run over by life and I didn’t really trust anyone.
God has been gracious in showing me that I can trust Him to be who He says He is. I can trust Him to be there when I expect Him to abandon. I can trust Him to protect when I expect Him to leave me in the cold.
2 Samuel 22 has really helped…a lot. PLAN B by Pete Wilson was a great help too (I’ve read it twice). It’s all about allowing my heart to heal – and trust that God isn’t going anywhere.
And oh yeah…letting go of my need to control every little thing in my life 🙂 I’ll break out in song now…Jesus take the wheel…
Great that God has been gracious and shown you that you can trust Him. Plan B was a good book worth everyone’s read. Thanks Craig.
Craig – I’m with your first paragraph in a huge way.
“God is sovereign” seemed like an easy fix to a lot of my issues back in 2007, but I think we sometimes define the word to fit our own purposes, and we sometimes vary the definition to suit the moment.
It’s effectively impossible to claim absolute sovereignty without crediting evil to God and admitting to double predestination. Neither of which have theologically satisfying answers. So I’m still “dealing” with the issue of what all this really means. The origin of “evil” and “sin” bothers me.
I suspect Bernard, that you are a “victim” to spiritual growth. 🙂 What you once thought is not what you now think. That is good. You raise some interesting issues though. Thanks for the comment.
I do not believe God has anything to do with whether we are sick or well, live or die, have good luck or bad, win or lose. I don’t have a Calvinist gene in my body.
I don’t think it is a Calvinist thing Jeff. I don’t believe God does the “puppet” thing but I do believe that He is involved in our lives. Thanks for the comment.
I do believe that God is in control. I also believe that God is love. However, sometimes it is difficult to reconcile those two things based upon the circumstances that I seem to be facing on a regular basis. The Christian catch phrases seem to fall flat.
Please let us know when this sermon is posted on ovcf.org. I know I would like to take a listen.
I am praying for you and your church this weekend. Have a good one pastor!
I, too, believe it is difficult to reconcile those two things DJ. That is one reason I don’t like Christian catch phrases. Like you said, they fall flat. Thanks for your prayers. I believe Ryan tries to get the sermon up by Monday.
It’s not hard for me to believe He’s in control. It’s hard for me to accept that He allows some things to happen. Clearly I’m not in a position to question Him, but it’s still tough nevertheless.
When I read Job I just keep scratching my head that he was the pawn in a heavenly game of chess. God never told him about that, but clearly He was.
I think we have to realize that God always wins.
your first paragraph represents probably 99 44/100% of all Christ-followers Moe. As for the pawn statement, you again state what many think but are afraid to state. 🙂 Thanks, as always, for insight and “trouble.”
I am a firm believer in the Sovereignty of God and I am a firm believer in Free Will. Now trying to reconcile my two beliefs is hard most of the time to be honest – but I see both taught clearly in the Bible. Here is some of my thoughts: If I say I totally believe that God is control of everything – then God is responsible for things like drunk drivers killing people – I have trouble with this. If I say God has no control at all then I am saying that God does not care and is impotent – I have trouble with this. So because of thoughts like these and more importantly what I read in the Bible – I believe wholeheartedly in both and it is an enigma.
Man, Jim, you state the hardest part of the whole argument-Sovereignty vs. Free Will. I am a very firm believer in the latter but I also believe in the former. The conundrum you mention is truly a puzzle. Thanks for messing with my mind. 🙂
I’ve learned to trust God a lot over the years. To me, there are some things that are out of your control. Things are going to happen. LIFE is going to happen. But for me, I have to have it in my mind that GOD is BIG!
I honestly believe if we truly believe that we serve a God who has everything in His hands we will have a peace in our life like nothing else. Yes, we will still in some ways worry, stress, question… we’re still human. We’re flesh. But to know that in the end… Not matter what it looks like right now… I’m going to be taken care of.
How much to we trust in God? How much to we trust in our salvation and Jesus?
If we are going through tough times. If we are sick, hurting, spinning out of control. The worst that can happen is death, right? But all of the pain we go through, all of the craziness we go though. Nothing can separate us form our God! If we continue to look to Him, trust in Him, believe in Him… our eternity is bright! Our eternity is with Him. (Now these are things I struggle with myself!)
part of me agrees totally with you Joseph, but part of me says, “If that is the case, then why do I wonder if things will work out?” I am showing my humanness there. 🙂 Your statements are correct, don’t get me wrong. It is wrapping my heart around them that is difficult. Thanks for a thoughtful comment.
Hi Bill,
I really appreciate the topics and comments on your blog site because I learn things from you and others and get the perspective and thinking of other Christians.
We all know that God doesn’t come to us at our every whim and prayer, but…. here is some of my thinking. You said be honest….
The scriptures say that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. 1John 1:5
Sin is rebellion. God does not rebel against himself. There is scripture that says that if a house is divided against itself it will fall or fail. God’s kingdom is victorious the scriptures say.
Lucifer,Satan,the devil is the origin of evil and sin. I think that we can say that confidently.
The righteous are always persecuted by the unrighteous, because unrighteous deeds are evil. There is sin of ignorance the bible says and deliberate, contrived, and planned sin.
We do know that God (Holy Spirit)heals. We see this presented in scripture teaching and we have personal testimony from people and from our own lives that give wittness to this fact. This fact is indisputable in my mind.
We can take this idea to include many other areas such as protection, guidance, helps, provision etc, etc. We see examples of these in scripture in the teachings and we can also testify and we have the wittness from others that God does does these same things in people’s lives today. The question is why not all the time and in every difficult circumstance and in life’s every encounter?
For those believers and Christians who are experiencing little if any acts of the Holy Spirit (God) in their personal lives, my first response is to say that something has gone sideways in your relationship with God. This is just my first response and I certainly don’t know it all by any means. I just know what occurs in my own life, and how the Holy Spirit works in my life from time to time.
Thank you for the reference to 2 Samuel 22 Craig. This chapter of scripture is amazing. I going to read it today.
As the old saying goes, Linda: “You said a mouthful.” You have put things very well and expressed yourself clearly. I would definitely agree with your statement about the “sideways” relationship. 2 Sam 22 is a good chapter. Glad I can facilitate some good and healthy discussion Thanks Linda for a great comment.
It’s funny how when we feel out of control that we think maybe God isn’t in control either. I’m as guilty as anyone, but faith brings us back to the bedrock truth of Who God is even when we don’t understand fully what’s happening in our lives. Thanks Bill.
It all seems to come back to faith doesn’t it? I, too, find myself guilty of not always trusting as I should. Think I would learn. 😀 Thanks for the comment jason.
Yes, I’ve struggled with this notion of control before. I do think it’s part of our human nature to question and doubt God’s Sovereignty. Even people in the Word wrested with their faith. Yet, it’s about continuing to have the faith even when there’s things that you can’t answer. If God is in control, then He is control no matter how dire the situation may seem.
There is nothing wrong with struggling and questions. It is where we end up that is the issue Jon. You put it well. I pray I always come back to “he is in control.” Thanks.
My Bible teacher once said that he never trusted anyone who said s/he never doubted God. I guess, so do I. But the important thing here is to search for truth and not give up with simply asking questions without listening to the answers – because the answers are there in abundance. Most of the time we prefer to ignore the answers because they don’t fit what we think…
Have I ever thought that God wasn’t in control? Yes, I believe there were times. Lately, it became more of “God, I know perfectly well You’re in control… c’mon, share with me what’s going on.” I don’t worry because I know He’ll figure something out, but at the same time, when I know that He knows the answer, it drives me up the wall sometimes when He decides not to share the answer with me (yet).
Regarding the questions people ask… Thankfully I am not in pastor’s shoes (at least yet), so I can simply listen to people and let them talk it out. I have asked the same questions, many times, like “Why did my friend have to die of cancer when she was just married for a year, still so young, and so on fire for You?”… I still don’t know the entire answer… But I know that He’s going to use Morgan’s life and especially those two last years. He used those to encourage me already.
Anyway… I got a bit carried away.
Prayers coming your way – may God speak through you on Sunday. I’ll be waiting for the podcast 😉
You made me smile in your second paragraph because I can see my own conversations with God in that very same vein. Sort of like “show me your glory.” That is tough about Morgan. And no…you didn’t get carried away. You made some good observations and I appreciate it. Thanks for your prayers for Sunday.
When it comes to trusting, I am a bit shy of trusting others, but not God.
As far as me being in control, I am definitely not when it comes to God. He has total control. It is not for me to question His actions as He is much more aware of the end results for His actions so I trust in His choices.
I can only trust in His decisions as they may effect others around me.
Over the years, I have been in positions that could have cost me severe harm or my life but He was always there in total control teaching me lesions of His saving grace.
I would think your experience with the S-10 pick up and the snow storm is a prime example of his control preventing harm to you and your wife.
It is not ours to question but to give thanks for what we are given in His grace.
We would be foolish to be completely trusting of people, but not God. Unfortunately, we often treat God like we do people. I will trust you “if.” Good point about the accident. Thanks Larry.
Good thoughts, Bill!
I wholeheartedly believe in the sovereignty of God. Don’t have a problem trusting in that. It’s when I try to add my efforts into the mix is when I struggle a little bit…
Yeah, adding our efforts into the mix does get us into a heap of trouble. thanks Dustin for coming by.
I believe God has the ability to control, but I also believe he doesn’t use it. I tend to think he created the world and put it into place so that it could run independent of him. He’s not pushing the leaves in the wind. He’s not manifesting the guy interviewing me for a job in order to decide who gets it (yet I still pray to God “please give me this job”).
Can I hope he tells the guy to hire you? 🙂 I think you make a valid point Charlie about He can but doesn’t. Free will and His own laws of nature apply in many cases. Thanks. And I am still praying about a job for you.
I apologize for being so late in commenting to all of you. Thanks so much for being so faithful. Friday is my day off and while I was able to approve comments on my phone when I had a few moments of down time, my day was packed with other things. It was non-stop from 4:00 am until 10 last night. So…thanks again for being patient.
I used to find it so hard to believe that God is Sovereign but now I’m beginning to see His sovereignty in everything I do. I believe I’ll mess things up if I was given the control so I let him take control of my life and everything I do. I also believe God is involved in everything in my life whether big or small and everything that happens or will happen to me has to go through His hands.
I’ll be praying for you and the church community.