God is Sovereign, but He isn’t in Control.
(An expounding on the WHY’s of life)
Toxic Myth: #3 Everything Happens For a Reason
I feel The Fear of The Lord very deeply around this subject; my heart is beating quickly and my gut is burning. So before I move any further I want to acknowledge some very important truths about His Lordship.
God is God.
He is Creator.
He is the I AM.
He is Alpha and Omega.
He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
There is none greater than Him.
He is the ultimate authority.
All things are subject under His feet.
God is omnipotent—He is all-knowing.
God is omnipresent—He is all-present.
Nothing is not hidden from His sight or knowing.
He is not restricted in anyway, shape or form—by time, by power(s), or ability.
He is always, fully able, in any situation.
His thoughts are higher than ours, His ways higher than our ways.
If God is for us, who can be against?
He is Lord of all.
He is Adonia; He is Master.
He is ruling and reigning in complete victory.
He is King Jesus.
He is capable of whatever He pleases.
So what does He please?
Jesus, God-himself taking our place in all our pain, torment, sickness, grief and fracture on the cross—is the radical resounding truth that God’s will and pleasing is to unite all things back to Him.
His will is to restore, redeem and reconcile everything back to Him, in Union, sealed in His Lordship and healed with no more separation from His love and entirety.
He pleases to constantly love us first, chose us first and give us the freedom to choose Him back inside our own free-will.
He pleases to never control.
And for far too long, I believe the church has misinterpreted the difference of the meaning between the Sovereignty of God and control.
I am here to simply poke a fire and say, that there is a difference.
“ ‘God is in control.’ Do you know that or do you say that from time to time? "God's in control." What people mean by that is, "Man, I don't really get it, but I know God is in control of this. Good or bad." "God has a plan." You hear that all the time. One critic of this view says it's almost like people believe there's a divine blueprint behind every single event in the story of your life. No matter what it is, good, bad, neutral, in between, something goes down and it's really lousy, but you say, "Oh, God has a plan. I know there's a divine blueprint."
And then, of course, there's the ubiquitous "everything happens for a reason." And everybody says that. Followers of Jesus, people that aren't followers of Jesus at all, that's just out there. "Everything happens for a reason." And a lot of people honestly believe this. People that I love and respect and I think are wrong. I think it is over the top dangerous. Not only do I think this is at odds with the teachings of Jesus, the writings of the Old and the New Testament, but I think it is over the top dangerous.
Because, on the front end, this way of thinking gives you comfort. Like, "Oh, this is really bad. But, God's sovereign. God's in control. Everything happens for a reason. Okay. I just have to wait and see what it is." But then, on the back end, this view gives you a crisis of faith. "God is sovereign. But, my child was born with cerebral palsy." God is sovereign over that? "God's in control." "Okay. But my college daughter was just raped on campus. God's in control of that?" "God has a plan. But, I'm 35 and I'm still single and I'm aching for a husband and a family and I don't see it. It doesn't make any sense to me. God has a plan?" "Everything happens for a reason, but now I've been through a divorce and it's been five years, it's been ten years and I don't see really any good out of it at all. Everything happens for a reason?"
Do you see that? Front end comfort. "Oh, it's okay. It's okay. It's okay." Because we want to know that somebody's in control. If not us, then God. But then, on the back end, God, in your mind's eye, in your imagination, becomes a moral monster. You saw this last week in Job. At first, "The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised." But then he starts to follow that line of thinking through to its logical conclusion and, by the end, he's raging against God. "You are not only amoral, You are immoral," is what he's saying to God. This leads you, in my personal opinion, to a toxic view of what God is like, because you think that God is responsible for all sorts of not only good, but also evil in your life.” - John Mark Comer, Sermon Transcript from June 5, 2016
You want to know what is wild?
If you go to look up a bible verse that says, “God is in control.” You will not find one.
I just spent four hours (haha) doing an exegesis over the word “control” in the Bible starting with a google search “God is in control Bible Verse”
What I found was so confirming to what I’ve felt in my spirit for years and in how I have encountered God specifically around subjects of grief and pain.
I clicked on a link that said “185 bible verses about God being in Control” and realized that NOT ONE of them actually said, “God is in control.”
Let me give you an example of the first four verses that came up:
Romans 8:28
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.”
Isaiah 55:8-9
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares The Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 35:4
“Say to those who have an anxious heart,
“Be strong; fear not!
Behold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God
He will come and save you.”
Genesis 50:20
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”
Then this continues for another 181 verses, where I read and double read to make sure. Then, I went to Blue Letter Bible and word searched ‘control’ in the Bible in the NKJV, ESV, NASB 95’, RSV, HNV, NLT, CSB, LSB, ASV, NASB 20’, NET, DBY, BBE and the NIV.
What I found, was even more beautiful and fascinating.
Out of all the references of control in the Bible, through all the above translations only about 3-4 verses (that I’m about to go after below) mentioned even in slight —besides ONE verse— to God having or being in control.
All 100+ concordances of the word control in the Bible were referencing to the importance of our own self-control or were referring to rule and authority…Sovereignty.
Definition of Sovereignty: “Supreme power or authority”
Quick interesting side-note: it was so fascinating to see which translations had the most references of control. The top three translations was the NLT, written by Drs. from Northern Seminary, a Private Baptist Seminary in Illinois, then there was 54 results in the NET, written by professors from Dallas Theological Seminary. With the last one being the BBE, with 62 results written by Professor Samuel Henry Hook in 1965 from the University of London. Though precise, this translation only uses the 850 words of English vocabulary restrictive in nature to the exact parallel to the Greek and Hebrew definitions. Just intriguing to note, how all three here are very controlled-conservatively rooted in doctrine.
AND even so, with…
64 results of the word control in the NLT — still none said, “God was in control” but all were referring to self-control or rule and strength, authority.
Ex. Judges 11:21 “But the Lord, the God of Isreal, gave his people victory over King Sihon. So Isreal took control (Strong’s H3027 - yād, meaning hand…into the hand of) of all the land of the Amorites, who lived in that region…”
Okay, this is fun…let’s dive deeper into the verses I found out of 100’s that mentioned God being in control even in the slightest.
Revelation 16:9 NIV “They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.”
The word control here is Strong’s G1849 “Exousia, meaning: power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases.
A. Leave or permission
Physical and mental power
The power of authority and of right
Acts 1:7 BBE “And He said to them, it is not for you to have knowledge of the time and the order of events which the Father has kept in his control.”
This word in the Hebrew here is again:
Strong’s G1849 “Exousia meaning: power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases.
A. Leave or permission
Physical and mental power
The power of authority and of right
2 chronicles 17:5 NLT “So The Lord established Jehoshaphat’s control over the kingdom of Judah.”
The Hebrew word here is Strong’s H3027— “Yad, meaning under His hand or strength.”
And….. *crickets* that’s literally about it…besides, these two verses that got me jazzed, below.
The ONE verse that mentioned God being in control.
Hebrews 2:8 ESV
“Putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.”
I love this verse, oh boy oh boy! Giddy up and yeehaw. :)
Now check this out: the Hebrew word here for control is Strong’s G506 anypotaktos, meaning “that is not put under, not made subject, [actively] that cannot be subjected to control, disobedient, unruly.”
And then I found this and said, “Oh wow.” out loud.
NIV 1 John 5:19 “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”
Stay with me further——the word control here is the Hebrew word, “Ponēros, meaning: full of labors, annoyances, hardships, bad nature or condition… this word is from a derivative of Strong’s G4192 meaning, hurtful, further more, indicating a degeneracy from original virtue, passively ill.
Now let’s quickly go back to Hebrews 2:8— “He left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.”
There is nothing that is outside of His rule and reign—or ability to subject under His control, though at present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. For the world is degenerate from original virtue; full of labors, hardships.
So what does all of this mean?
God is Sovereign.
No if’s, and’s, or but’s—He is absolute supreme authority.
There is NOTHING that is not under His feet; nothing that cannot be subjected to His control.
Yet, are world is under control of many other factors that have not yet been subjected to Him—not yet been united back to Him—which was His will on the cross—to unite all things back to Him.
Though, He does not control you—he humbly invites you to the table, to yield the areas you are holding onto control to Him.
There is so much outside of our control, though, our ability to relinquish control isn’t.
For in it all, who is in authority over the world? God, our King Jesus.
This is our choice, wether we yield our life and circumstances to His Lordship or not.
Sovereignty and control are two very different things.
God is Sovereign, but God is not in control.
God is not a chess player. He is NOT a gamemaker like in the hunger games. He does not merely sit back and say, Night to B37, as He sits back and lets a tornado wipe out a city or an ailment fall to a family member or even yourself—leaving you to watch a pawn in your life fall over.
He is not in control like that. God is not in control in this world. He does not have the world or people or situations on His hands like puppets on strings. Everything does not happen for a reason.
You stubbed your toe on door, because you walked into it—not because the stars aligned and wanted to teach you something from it. You tore your ACL playing soccer and are now out for the next six months. Nothing reached down like “the claw” and said, this one needs to be disoriented for a season to grow further. No, it just happened. For lack of better words—we live in a world that is “passively ill”, shit happens and will continue to.
Though, you can always choose to learn from anything and allow The Lord to tend to your heart through the trials for He truly is Emmanuel—but He never the one that pushes you down, and to learn or grow, that is your choice, never a force.
*To be noted—there are significant moments in life God uses trials or circumstances to chastise us.
We could be stuck in thousands of dollars of debt and praying for God to provide—yet nothing is coming through. So we give up on Him ever providing, when the whole time it was never on Him to come through but on us to change our damaging relationship with responsibility and money, where we keep committing to things we cannot afford.
A lot of times in life, the areas of seemingly “unanswered prayers” or “prophetic words that haven’t happened” are opportunities for us to surrender further to His purification, to be corrected in ways of living outside of alignment to Him and harmful belief systems that have us stuck in toxic patterns—The Lord is a provider but not an enabler.
You must yield, growing towards—aligning in prayer, co-partnership and stewardship with the words on your life—they do not just happen like magic because it’s been spoken over you and it is never God’s fault if they “haven’t come to pass.”
Belief and choice, are two very powerful things in this life.
You are never a victim to circumstance or the why’s of life.
For, there are many factors at play to the why’s of this life—I would say three main ones in fact.
First, before I lay those out. Want to know what came up over 100 times when I searched the word ‘control’ in The Word?
The exhortation and importance of self-control.
Ex. Quick look at the search of the word control in the ESV in the Word:
Proverbs 25:28 “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.”
1 Corinthians 7:5 “Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
1 thessolians 4:4 “…that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,”
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
—
You know what is amazing to me here too, is that there is ONE verse that mentions what is in control of this world…yet then, there are 100’s exhorting us of own ability to choose self-control. We live in world that has a spirit realm, there are many princes of the air that real, and things against us— YET, the spirit realm is one of legalities: things can only “control “ or more rightly so, affect or influence when we give them permission. When we choose to let them and when we do not choose self-control which keeps us safe, under His authority.
Leading me to the three factors that are at play to the why’s of this life:
#1 Free-will
God has given us free-will to choose. We have, self-control.
We can choose wether or not to make good decisions or even more on a mundane level, choose our own vocations, paths, then on a heart level, to love a friend, to say sorry, to repent, to choose reconciliation, to surrender OR we can choose to avoid, making bad decisions because of the pain and trauma experienced in this life that causes hardships, blindness, fracture from the heart and self, altogether degenerating further from original virtue. This affects our world, this is what we see in breaks in relationships, in disillusionment, etc.
God is NOT in control of this. He is not control of what we chose.
He has given us all that we need, Himself, The Word and MORE. Yet, we are still free to chose and these choices constantly affect our world and those around us.
Control…Hebrew word, “Ponēros” in 1 John 5:19 meaning: full of labours, annoyances, hardships, bad nature or condition… this word is from a derivative of Strong’s G4192 meaning, hurtful, further more, indicating a degeneracy from original virtue, passively ill.
#2 The Spirit Realm, the demonic.
I am not going to give much attention to this, as honestly the demonic is as small and lacking of power as an ant on a skyscraper.
Though like I said above, the spirit realm is VERY real and there are many influences in the air and at play. Though, it is extremely easy to get free of these influences in stepping into and under the authority of King Jesus who is altogether sovereign over all things.
The why’s of life that this realm affects is: suicide, torment, fear, panic attacks, sickness, etc.
These things above are never because of God. His will and His heart burns against them and the cross has given us authority over them and everlasting hope in them, yet God is not in control of these things. And it is NEVER because The Lord pleases for them to happen.
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
There are princes of the air and people who have let them influence them, altogether losing self-control because of undealt with pain and fracture.
This is where we can fracture so much internally from trusting God, by saying…well, if God is in control than why did I have to lose a family member to suicide?
God was not in control of that.
He is sovereign, but He is not in control of this world and the affects of its fractures, pain and hardships.
He is Emmanuel and is with us and with Him we are radically available to experience overcoming in all that we face.
Here is where we also see mass shootings to the radical dissension within our political world. God is not in control of these things, there are many other influences and people making choices within them causing fracture and much pain. God is in supreme authority but God is not in control of these things.
#3 Mystery
Mystery is a beautiful thing and it breathes within the fabric of our existence. Lately, this reality has caused me radical joy as I realized deeper….He is God and I am not and things sometimes simply just don’t have to make sense. And inside mystery, I can be a child in wonder and fully trust Him.
This area of why is where a lot of pro-longed suffering can hang.
Like why has my mom never been healed of chronic illness. If He is has all authority and is the Healer? And I have prayed for her since I was a child? When I’ve experienced radical healing; I’ve been washed in His overwhelming healing power—delivered from chronic fatigue. I’ve seen broken ankles healed, migraines gone in an instant, a woman fully delivered from OCD, washed in radical peace. Why one person and not the other? Why one situation but not the one that has had me on my knees the most? When I’ve broken off everything generationally yet there is still fracture here? Why?
These are questions I have quite literally pounded against the chest of Jesus in grief, until I have stepped into His wounds and found a peace like I’ve never known. A liberty in letting go of understanding.
As well as a revelation of His eyes in tears filled with overwhelming care and love—His arms holding me, His voice telling me that He isn’t in control of everything in this world but that even while there is so much that I could never understand on my own, He is victoriously pursuing to reconcile everything within every layer and nuance held within this existence that we get the gift to experience.
And that—when I encountered that, when my soul touched THAT—HIM, it settled my heart more than anything.
Decades of grief were met inside of me—He is Emmanuel, He is comforter, He is God and He is with us.
He is God and we are not.
Praise God that there are many things we will never know or understand.
But what we do know is that inside this great mystery—what He continually affirms over and over and over and over and over and over again, is that He is good. That He is for us. That He loves us. That He never abandons us. That Jesus was sufficient for our sins, our everything we ever experience or face, and is truly our living-hope in everything.
So, in all of this, where is God in control?
Where we let Him be.
Where we surrender to His authority, Lordship, His majesty, His sovereignty. Totally, in our understanding, in our pain, in our longing, in our desire, in our joy, in our weakness, in our anxiety, in our callousness, in our need, in our wonder, in all things—yielding our being to His overwhelming goodness and beauty until we are lost in Him outside of this world and inside Him, in union, completely.
Life-changing recommended teaching — “Why” by John Mark Comer
