Is God Really in Control?
Carol Higgins, missionary in Uganda, East Africa
“God is in Control.”
Tell me that little cliché and I want to box your ears.
“Well, He is in control,” a Ugandan pastor friend told me recently.
“Oh, that is what you say when you want to encourage a brother/sister in the
Lord,” I said, challenging him.
If I’m depressed that comment is not an encouragement to me.
Let’s look at a few practical examples here in Uganda.
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Rebels attack your house. You escape with one child and come back to find your
wife and other children hacked to pieces. Your house is burned and your crops
destroyed. “Well,” someone says to encourage you, “God is in control.”
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You have tried for a year to get a license renewed. Every month – sometimes
twice a month – you go to the office to see if the right signatures are there.
After a year of this, the officials tell you they have lost your file. A friend
comes to you and says, “Well, be patient, comforted and at peace. God is in
control.”
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It is near Christmas and the traffic police pull you over for no good reason.
They need money for holiday gifts and demand a bribe before they will let you
go. Upon telling your friend, who seems to know only Christian clichés, he
reminds you that God is in control.
If God is in control, why is the man’s wife dead? Why are his children burned
alive in his hut, and his crops and his whole way of life destroyed? Isn’t God
full of compassion? This is an act of violence from evil men.
If God is in control how can a company be so disorganized as to take forever to
process your documents and then lose them? God is a god of order.
If God is in control, why does he let those that are put in authority insist on
bribes and corruption? Men in authority are supposed to be obeyed, not scoffed
at for their crooked ways.
As a missionary and pastor’s wife I have struggled with people sounding so
spiritual, telling me God is in control. Where is the truth? Where is the
balance behind this common spiritual blabber? How do we balance God’s control
and man’s freedom of choice? If God is in control does that excuse me from
having to pay the consequences for my stupid decisions?
A.W. Tozer sheds some light on the subject in his book, The Knowledge of the
Holy One, chapter 22.
Here’s an example: A ship is headed to Liverpool from New York. The navigators
know they will arrive in so many days. On the ship are hundreds of people
exercising their free choice or free will to eat, sleep, swim, play tennis or
go dancing.
A wife might choose to eat food she knows will make her sick. Her husband is
affected by the wife’s poor choice by having to care for her and miss the party
that night on board. But the ship is still on course for Liverpool.
A man gets out of the ship’s swimming pool only to discover that someone has
made off with the watch and wallet that he hid under his towel. Those wrong
choices do not affect the fact that the boat is still set to arrive in
Liverpool.
God is sovereign. And in His sovereignty He has granted us control over
ourselves – or free will. If we didn’t have free will how could we be held
responsible for our actions? Why should we ever need to repent of our
wrongdoings? Why would we ever need a savior to take our place and our guilt on
the cross?
God is sovereign. Yes, He chose to provide the gift of salvation. He is coming
again. We will rule with Him and live with Him in eternity. The course is set.
These things will happen. But God in His love for us gave us the choice between
good and evil. People suffer at the hands of people who have chosen evil ways.
That wife was hacked to death, not because God was in control of the situation
but because evil men chose to plunder and kill. My file was lost because the
people wanted a bribe, as did the policeman. It is amazing how quickly files
can be found with the right kind of handshake.
These incidences of misbehavior do not happen because God is in control. They
happen because He gave men a choice. Yes, God is sovereign, but He has chosen
to not control our free will. It makes Him happy when our will fits in with
His.
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If I’m going to blast the cliché then I need to offer an alternative: “I’m
sorry, my friend, about what has happened to you. Evil men caused your
suffering. God still loves you and I will be here to help you through this time
in your life.”
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“Friend, I know you are trying to serve God in a country where disorganization
and corruption are the rule. Stand by what you know to be right, and don’t cave
in to bribes just to get your papers signed. Do what you know to be right and
God says he will be the avenger.”
This theological difficulty has been a theme of Christian debate for centuries.
But this is the thought that helps my understanding: God loved what He created
in us so much that He wanted us to freely love Him in return. If God wanted
total control He could have forced us to love Him. Instead, He loved us so much
that He wanted our love from a heart that could chose.
Some choose not to love Him and by their wrong choices others suffer. Then the
lesson and experience of giving and receiving grace and forgiveness must be
learned. Is there ever an end to the greatness of God’s way of life for us?
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