God is in Control?
11 November 2026 Hits:33
I just got back from a two-week break. While we were away, we spent time with some old friends who have led their church for years. Their son was with us too. He’s a great young man who recently joined the pastoral team.
During our conversation, he referred to a particular situation and said he believed God is in control. I asked him what he meant and if he thought that was true. We ended up having a good, thoughtful talk that he said he really enjoyed.
Christian Cliches
We Christians tend to use a few clichés that roll off the tongue but don’t stand up to closer scrutiny: Everything Happens for a Reason; God Will Never Give You More Than You Can Handle; God is in control; and more.
We use these sayings to encourage ourselves and make sense of life when things are tough. It’s a way of reassuring ourselves that things will work out. But sometimes they don’t. Occasionally, our life still feels out of control. What should we say about God, then?
Controlling God
I question this statement because I think it’s unfair to God. The God we see in Jesus and the Scriptures doesn’t control everything. God made the heavens and the earth to work by the laws of nature. God usually lets these laws run their course. When God steps in, we call it a miracle because it doesn’t happen often.
When God created humans, he gave us free will—the capacity to make choices and direct our own actions without external coercion or divine intervention. If God wanted control, he never would have granted us free will.
One thing I love about being a dad is when my daughters hug me and tell me they love me. I’m happy to say it happens every day. It means so much to me because their words and actions are not forced or controlled. They come from the heart. I think God, our heavenly Father, also feels deeply pleased when we freely tell him we love him, not because he makes us.
God does not control our freedom. That’s why both beautiful and terrible things happen in the world. God doesn’t cause suffering, but he also doesn’t use control to stop us or others from doing wrong, and suffering often follows. God doesn’t control, but he cares, loves, and wants to help those who have been hurt.
Jesus and Control
Jesus is the image of the invisible God and the exact imprint of His nature. In other words, if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. So, how did Jesus view control? Let’s find out by recalling a story from Matthew’s Gospel.
James and John’s mother asked Jesus to let her sons sit beside him in his kingdom—to be in control. Jesus refused, explaining: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.”
In the past, I’ve had my share of serving under church leaders who liked to control others. It’s never pleasant, and it’s not Christlike. Jesus came to serve, not to control. He is our example.
How God Operates
If God doesn’t DO control, how does he work? The answer is simple: God works by consent, not by control.
Have you noticed that God will never force himself on you? God will not manipulate you. He is loving and gracious, not violent and angry, even though some preachers revel in that image. Consider what Mark Driscoll, the former pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, once said: “In Revelation, Jesus is a prize-fighter with a tattoo down his leg, a sword in his hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is the guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up.”
But that’s exactly who Jesus is: the guy people beat up and nailed to a cross. God, as revealed in Jesus, is neither coercive nor controlling, but infinitely close and caring. Jesus will not force himself into your life or make you accept his love. But he invites you to respond willingly to his offer of a relationship. He initiates, and we consent.
God is Infinitely Caring
When God created the universe, he surrendered control to natural law and human freedom. But God did not abandon his creation.
Rather than abandon or control his creation, God entered it by becoming human. As a man, Jesus experienced all the highs and lows of life. The Word became flesh to endure life’s ups and downs. God experienced what it’s like to be a vulnerable baby, a child, and a teenager growing into adulthood. In Jesus, God experienced our humanity—all of it.
Jesus knows our hurts and heartaches deeply because he suffered too, and he is with us now. He goes through what we go through. He understands our pain completely. He suffers with us, surrounds our pain with his love, and brings healing to our souls.
Here’s how the writer to the Hebrews expresses this truth:
“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”
Mercy means God does not give us what we do deserve, and grace is when God does give us what we don’t deserve!
I know what people mean when they say, “God is in control,” but I think there’s a better way to put it: God is in charge. History is heading somewhere, and the sovereign God is behind the wheel!
Rob Buckingham
Senior Minister
