Is God in control? That is a good question to start with, but unfortunately the question and popular answers may mislead us in understanding the way God works. When we think about “control”, we may think about robots, missile systems, video games, or radio-controlled models: you press the button or move the joy stick and the object has to do what it is programmed to do. For others, if God is in control, then there is nothing they can do to affect anything - they may as well be puppets. They become passive fatalists thinking that God will move all the chess pieces on the chess board, including themselves, but having no real involvement except to grin or bear it. The truth is different from both of these. In fact, the Bible never says that God is in control! Even though some versions use the word in Philippians 3:21, the sense is of being under the rule of law. Instead, the Bible says that God is sovereign over everything and has the right to do whatever He chooses and the right to command as He chooses. So it is probably more accurate to say that God is ‘in command’. So, when God commanded light to appear at the beginning of creation, there was light. When Jesus commanded the wind and waves to be still, they were. It was not so much that these physical elements were obedient; under God’s sovereignty they had no option but to respond to His command. But human beings have been created by God to be in a non-robot relationship with Him. He wants us to interact with Him knowing His commands and obeying willingly. God is still sovereign, but because He has created us in His image, we have abilities and responsibilities which are very different to the material world, the plants and the animals. We have been given the privilege to relate with God personally, to love and make choices. The Garden of Eden witnessed a wrong choice after which the close relationship between God and mankind was broken. But God was still sovereign. He could have eliminated the sinners instantly, preventing the human race. Instead He preserved the human race in order to redeem people who would belong to Him and love Him for ever. So He commanded them to leave the Garden and, in case they chose to disobey that command, He also commanded cherubim to prevent them re-entering. The story from that point is of God commanding people, who either obeyed or disobeyed. As we live the Christian life, there are many choices to make. When we make wrong choices, He commands us to confess and repent and receive His forgiveness. When we do not know what to do, He commands us to ask for guidance; and when we receive He commands us to give thanks. At every point, we have to choose to obey because we love. Will God not change circumstances if we ask Him? He has promised to work all things together for our good and has commanded us to ask Him for those things that we need. How He responds to us is completely dependent on His sovereign wisdom. Often we cannot see the big picture and how we fit into it, and so it may appear that God refuses to answer our prayers when He has a bigger objective and higher purpose than we can see at the time. At the end of time, God is still in command. That is the point at which nobody will be able defy the commands of God. His majestic sovereignty will be so obvious that everybody will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So do not think of yourself as a puppet dangling on heavenly strings. You are created by God to enjoy His blessings if you obey His commands. Along the way, many things will not be perfect, but God will use everything so that as we choose to obey His commands we will receive His blessing. So today is a good day to obey.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 00:24:19 +0000
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