Is God Really In Control?

When I first became a believer in Jesus Christ, I wanted Him to be Lord of my life. What I didn’t understand is that, while Jesus needs to be Lord of our lives, He doesn’t have any desire to lord over our lives. Meaning, He’s interested in a surrendered loving relationship with us. He’s not controlling our every move and doesn’t want to. So I fell into legalism with a God who I treated like a dictator instead of a relationship based on freedom with my loving Father. Thankfully, He showed me the way and showed me His love and freedom. But getting to the root of this key question was a big part of finding freedom in Christ: “Is God really in control?”

Free Will

Free will is one of the absolute greatest (and most costly) gifts that the Lord ever gave us. Giving us free will cost the purity and life in the Garden of Eden. Giving us free will cost the Father the Son. But giving us free will also afforded a relationship that is based on our own free will to love and obey and trust God the Father, instead of our every move being controlled. When a relationship is based on control, that’s no relationship at all, that’s a dictatorship. And thankfully, the Father in Heaven has no interest in that. He gives us the choice to freely love Him back. He gives us the choice to turn away from Him as well.

We sing all these songs about God being in control. But I’m sorry. I can’t find that in the Scriptures, at all. I’m teachable, so correct me if I’m wrong. I’ve read Scriptures about God directing our paths, but directing someone still affords their ability to change course. (Eh hem… Jonah. Abraham. David. They all had moments of exercising their own free will, many times in faith and sometimes out of fear or self-gratification. And probably you and me have used our free will the wrong way a few times too, if we are honest.) 😉

Power vs. Control

God is all powerful, but that’s different than being all controlling. This is where so many get it all mixed up. There are verses about God’s creative power and how He holds the world in place. You can find verses about His presence in our lives and how He can redeem anything. There are verses about His purposes prevailing. And His rule over nations, but even that is not a control thing. As nations have free will to obey the Lord or disobey, as we see in all of history. You can rule over a nation and still not have control over all the decisions and choices and moves of its people. (And the countries that try to gain increasing control seem to leave their people lifeless and desolate and fleeing refuge elsewhere.) So there’s that.

So why do we sing “God is in control”? I have no idea. God is still on the throne, yes. But God is in control? When people believe that God is in control of everything, then they quickly and easily are duped into believing that every evil thing that happens is God’s plan too. But death, murder, sickness, theft, affairs… NONE of these are God’s plan for His people. These are consequences of the fall of mankind, consequences of the first time Adam and Eve exercised their free will in self-serving ways. And it opened up the door to death, murder, sickness, etc. These were never part of God’s original plan.

Yet, God can redeem anything, and therefore, He set a plan in motion to redeem us from the downfall of our own selves and our own free will used selfishly. He sent His only son, Jesus, to take on the punishment and the curse for us and our sins. He paid the price we owed. And Jesus set us free, conquering death and the grave.

Blaming God

If you believe God is in control of everything, then you’ll believe He planned the death of your loved one, the rape, the murder, the hateful things people do… and of course you’ll become bitter toward God. That’s been the enemy’s plan all along.

But God loves us too much to control us. He gave us free will out of His great love for us and it cost Him so many tears, so much heartache. But it’s also given Him the greatest gift of a true, freely chosen mutual relationship between Himself and those who become children of God by their freely chosen faith in Him.

The Root of Control

The root of controlling others is witchcraft and slavery, and God the Father has nothing to do with that. Every controlling relationship you’ve ever been involved in has likely left you feeling lifeless, deleted, hopeless… If you see this in your own life, trying to manipulate or control others, repent right now and be set free! And confess it and wash all witchcraft off of you in Jesus’ name.

Freedom & Self-Control

The enemy tries to control us and tries to get us to control others, usually laced in fear and manipulation. But Jesus! Jesus gives us a friendship that’s based on freedom! It is for FREEDOM that Christ has come to set us free!

The only person you are meant to control is your own self. So when we surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, we exercise our free will and our freedom to place ourselves under His direction and guidance. When we submit to God’s ways, we freely choose the safety of His boundaries. When we operate in self-control, we choose God’s ways instead of self-gratifying ways, trusting that God’s ways lead to a better harvest.

Self-Control & The Cross

Father God is our example of self-control. The devil lined up the death and murder of His only Son, and God the Father used every bit of self-control to hold back and not just pull Jesus out of that situation. Jesus could’ve called on ten thousand angels in a moment and got Himself out of the lashing, the mocking, the beating on Golgotha.

But Jesus exercised self-control and despised the shame and endured the cross because He knew that self-control and self-sacrifice, laying His life down for His friends, would reap a much greater reward. He operated in self-control, holding back all the saving power heaven could send Him, so that He could send all the saving power of heaven to us instead.

This is the kind of relationship that doesn’t control others, but operates in self-control in order to set captives FREE.

Freedom vs. Slavery

Is it even Scriptural to say “God is in control?” and how does this belief affect our relationship with God, the Word, and others? Where you land on this topic is far-reaching. So dig into the Word and press in prayerfully.

Your mindset and belief structure about “control” matters so much more than you think. It affects how you treat those around you, how you live your life, how you relate to God. It’s foundational. So settle the matter in your heart. Think through God’s power and His self-control. Think through what dictatorship looks like vs. what a healthy Father-Child relationship looks like. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you any crooked way in your beliefs about God and freedom and control.

Be set free. Stay set free. Don’t get tangled up in the yoke of slavery, the despair of witchcraft, nor the hopelessness of religion. Instead, enjoy the freedom of being a child of God, enjoy the freedom in a relationship with Christ Jesus, and operate in self-control that leads to an abundant harvest of righteousness.

It is for FREEDOM that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1