God Is in Control!/?

By Dale M. Sides

As awesome and powerful as the phrase “God is in control” can be, it can also be grossly misunderstood if it is not explained and discerned properly. This phrase can renew strength, vigor, and commitment to help a stunned victim stay the course and keep pressing toward the mark. Or it could convey that God controlled the circumstances regarding the death of a child. Properly applied, it could serve as a reminder that God will have the final say and has a way planned where there is seemingly no way, but unfortunately, this popular phrase could also be used to communicate that God is responsible for everything that takes place in the world. This phrase must be stipulated to remind us that even though God is omniscient, He has granted freedom of will to mankind. Just because God knows something will happen, does not mean that He makes it happen.

As much trust as this statement may produce, it also can subtly leech away both faith and evangelism. When people sit back and say, “Why should I get involved? God is in control,” they do not understand the importance that God has placed on them and their actions. For example, I recently heard a very wonderful believer say, “Yes, I know my friend has an incurable disease, but we are not alarmed. After all, God is in control.” This statement could have meant to totally trust God, but it could also have implied to take no aggressive action of faith. Similarly, we could say, “Millions of people in India have never heard the name of Jesus, but take heart, God is in control,” meaning that this is God’s fault or that God is the Judge and will have the final say-so at their judgment. Or it could be misunderstood to just sit back and not make any efforts in evangelism. The dilemma that it leaves is: Should people accept everything the way it is or make efforts to change things?

The purpose of this article is not to undermine the belief in God’s sovereignty or to eradicate this phrase from Christian vernacular. The purpose is to properly define the need to take action, or, on the other hand, our need to “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord” (Exodus 14:13).

This certainly will not be the last word on this subject, and certainly is not the first one either. This topic touches on the discussion of man’s will versus God’s sovereignty that was debated between the Pharisees and the Sadducees and between the Calvinists and Armenianists in millennia and centuries past. The purpose of this is to call attention to the fact that the phrase “God is in control” needs further clarification. Can we categorically assert that God is control without stipulating the facts around the case? Does it mean that God is totally in charge of everything that goes on around us? Does this mean that God is responsible for murders, suicides, and abortions? This is the danger of leaving this phrase unchecked. It can lead (and is now leading, in many people’s understanding) toward the doctrine of fatalism.¹ If not explained, these words will bring in a damnable heresy—that God is responsible for everything that happens on the planet. This phrase has just enough accuracy for it to be accepted and yet, erroneous conclusions are drawn when the phrase is not brought into sharp focus with the whole scope of Scripture. The dangerous end is that a false understanding of God is developed in which God is blamed for everything. This leaves no room for the free will of man or satanic plans and ploys.

The problem with blaming everything on God is that it quickly degenerates the good name of God. Romans 8:28, a beautiful verse of Scripture, is more and more often being misapplied to mean that God is working everything out to His own good. When we hear, “All things work together for good to them that love God,” it is being used to mean that whatever happens, God orchestrates it. More recently I have heard, “The devil is a pit bull on God’s choke chain and can do nothing unless God allows him to do it.” All of these concepts have elements of accuracy, but they can also be traced back to the error of not fully disclosing the facts around “God is in control” and not allowing for the free will of mankind or the intervention of Satan and his minions.

The examination of this phrase is not meant to criticize anyone, or even to remove it from the Christian’s vocabulary. The purpose is threefold: to defend the good name of God; to clear Him from the blame that Christians are unknowingly heaping upon Him; and to halt the leeching away of faith and evangelism. This article is not meant to call into question God’s omniscient rule over the universe, or to undermine people’s trust that God can take care of them in any situation. It is intended to be an exposé of the particular phrase, “God is in control,” and to call attention to the need of more fully understanding that God is not the cause, nor should He be blamed for everything that happens in the world today.

Who Is in Control?

Recently a friend of mine, Kevin Porter, a wonderful minister from Stayton, Oregon, commented upon this subject in the best way I have heard it described. He said, “‘God is in control’ is a correct doctrine, but it is not a complete doctrine.” I could not agree more. Whenever this phrase is used, related facts must be stipulated or else it appears that God orchestrated everything to take place at His prescribed time and according to His predetermined will.

Someone else once asked me, “If God is not in control, then who is?” Although the question was rhetorical, my response was, “Whomever God put in charge should be in control.” I also added, “Shall we debate who is responsible, the baby sitter or the kids, if the kids sneak out the back door and set the garage on fire?” This is not to negate that God can, and does at times, create situations and place people in them to prove and increase their character. When these things occur, God is in control of the test, but each person is still in control of their will and how they respond. So, is God in control? The answer is both yes and no. We cannot categorically say that God is in control because He has relinquished to each person the control of his or her own will.

God has put you in charge of your will. So is God in control of you? The answer must be stipulated and qualified. If someone jumps off a building and dies, was God in control? If someone smokes cigarettes and dies prematurely, did God stick the cigarette in that person’s mouth? If God is in control of everything, then why does He demand we live a repentant life? If God is in total control of you, then why does He tell you to keep your body in subjection (1 Corinthians 9:27)? If God is in control of you, then why did Jesus say in Luke 21:19, “In your patience possess ye your souls.”

In years gone by there was a reasonably prominent belief system called Deism. Its principle tenet of belief was that God put man on the earth and then took His hands off and let man do whatever he was going to do. In other words, their belief was that God adopted a policy of “non-intervention.” Thomas Jefferson held to this belief. This explains why he wrote a version of the Bible and left out all of the miracles.

This aspect of Deism’s system of belief has a marginal merit for consideration. It goes like this: God does not usually intervene unless we ask for help. He placed mankind on the earth as His authority (Psalm 8:4–8). He allows mankind to manage the planet and usually does not intervene unless He is asked for help. Asking for help is called prayer. This explains situations like those we find in Genesis 18:23–33, when God was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah until Abraham made intercession for the righteous people to be saved. God was also going to destroy the whole nation of Israel for worshipping the golden calf until Moses asked Him not to do it (Exodus 32:31–33).

God intervenes in the schemes of mankind when someone asks Him. God has put mankind in charge of the earth (Psalm 115:16) and will help if He is asked to help. That is why, in Matthew 6:10, Jesus told us to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”

So, who is in control? The answer is simple. Whomever God put in charge should be in control. When God relinquishes the control, whomever He gives it to has it. If the control is neglected, the person in charge is accountable. If the person in charge asks God for help, then God has the right to intervene. Mankind is being tested and graded on how he uses his freedom of will. If he tries to do it by himself, then he fails—not only at the task, but also at the test.

God has put mankind in control of his own will!

All Things Work Together for Good?

A frequently misapplied verse is Romans 8:28. People try to make it say that God is responsible for everything that happens and will make everything good in the end.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

This verse is often quoted to explain everything and anything that happens on the earth. If someone gets hit by a car or some catastrophic event occurs, you can hear sincere believers say, “Now brother, you know that all things work together for good to them who love God.” Then closely follows the next predictable statement: “Relax, God is in control.”

The context of Romans 8:28 shows the ministry of the Holy Spirit working in people to pray for one another. This verse should not be used to say it is God’s will anytime something good or bad happens. Is God in control when a person shoots someone? How does that work together for good?

A while ago, a friend of mine lost his wife and two daughters in a terrible car wreck. It is true that over time he has become stronger because of his dire situation. To say, however, that God is in control, meaning that it was His will for this to happen because it would cause this man to grow spiritually, is a travesty against the good name of God. Without stipulating that God was able to help this man and strengthen him is not fair to God. He did not orchestrate this man’s ordeal, but did help in his healing. Yes, God knew that it would happen, but absolutely did not make it happen. This situation did not work together for good for them who loved God, because the ones who loved God suffered destruction. God is not the Destroyer—Satan is.

What about Satan—Is He in Control?

God gave free will to Lucifer/Satan. In Isaiah 14:13 and 14, Lucifer says in his heart, “I will ascend . . ., I will exalt . . ., I will sit . . . and I will ascend.” He was perfect in the day he was created until iniquity was found in him and he sinned (Ezekiel 28:15). Satan has free will: he operated independently of God then—and he operates independently of God now.

It has been said, “The devil is a pit bull on a choke chain that God is holding. He cannot do anything that God does not allow him to do.” I challenge that statement. God has not put you on a choke chain and the devil is not on one either. Satan certainly has limitations, just as all created beings do, but God does not hold him and then release him to commit mayhem. This is another example of taking a single section of Scripture and building a doctrine upon it. This misapplied doctrine is running loose because of a misunderstanding arising from the book of Job—that Satan got permission from God to attack Job. No, he got limitations from God, not permission. Satan has permission to attack God’s people because he has freedom of will.

We learn from the first two chapters of Job that Satan got limitations from God concerning the attack on Job. From this section of Scripture we understand that God, because of His omniscience, uses Satan to test us. There is also little doubt that God limits what Satan can do to us. Proponents of the theory of “a pit bull on a choke chain” left out the first five verses of the book, which introduces the whole subject of Job and his dilemmas. These five verses lay the foundation for the book of Job.

Something happened in Job’s life that caused him great consternation and perhaps fear (Job 3:25). It was related to his sons and daughters. The Bible says they were eating and drinking. (This phrase also describes what the children of Israel were doing when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments.) Were Job’s children being promiscuous? Were they taking part in idolatrous practices? Job was afraid they had cursed God. It is interesting that his children were repeating the same practices (for which Job had been offering sacrifices) when the snare of Satan was sprung on them (Job 1:4,13). In other words, there was sin in the camp. Job’s children had sinned and Job had a break in his wall of protection—He feared retaliation.²

Some Christians have developed the idea that God “sics” the devil on a person because He is bored and wants to see what the person will do when the devil attacks. This is the same concept of the pit bull on the choke chain. In Job’s case there was a cause that allowed this scenario to develop. God is a righteous God and does not use people for entertainment. It is true that God initiated the conversation about Job, but this was because Satan, in his going to and fro on the earth, had not been able to touch Job up to that point. But when Job had fear in his life, either the door opened for this attack or God wanted to strengthen Job’s character (by removing the fear and possibly a little pride, too) while building more patience and humility.

God allows Satan to do certain things to us in order to prove us. This allowance is not to cause our destruction, but rather for us to learn and grow stronger. In Judges 3:1 and 2, God left several nations to test the children of Israel so that they could know war. God tests us and we need to be aware that He does it. God put parameters on Job’s test, but Job opened the door for Satan to do more than what God allowed by giving Satan permission himself.

God allowed Satan to attack Job’s soul and body, but not to kill him. It is very clear that God did not authorize Satan to take Job’s life, but there is another possibility in the scenario—that Job authorized the taking of his own life. After the tests were administered, Job grieved for seven days and nights without saying a word. After the test was given, if Job would have raised up his voice and praised God, it would have been over with, but that is not what happened. By his will, Job personally opened the door for Satan to come against him.

After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day. Job 3:1

When Job cursed his day, Satan did not need to go to God and get permission to attack. Job personally granted it to him. When Job cursed the day of his birth, Satan began to work Job over. Satan was limited to not taking Job’s life, but when Job cursed himself, it opened the door for Lucifer to tempt Job into taking his own life. (This was the purpose of Eliphaz’s vision. See Job 4:12–21; 6:8,9; and 7:14–15.)³

The important principle is this: Yes, at certain times God allows Satan to prove us, but not destroy us. When we, by our own will, use our mouths against ourselves, we give Lucifer permission. At this juncture, God is not in control—we are because God relinquished control to us. The devil does not need to go to God to get permission if we personally grant it to him because God put us in charge of our own lives with our own free will.

Was God in control of Job’s temptations? The answer is both yes and no. God allowed Satan to test Job, so Job was not in control of the test. However, Job was in control of his own will and how he responded throughout the testing. Job relinquished control of his will when he—not God—cursed the day of his birth. So both God and Job were in control at various points.

Even if someone holds to the idea that the devil is a pit bull on God’s choke chain, consideration must be allowed for someone walking inside the range of the chain and sticking his leg in the dog’s mouth. If a person does this, is God responsible? No. Likewise, was God in control of Job’s mouth? Certainly not! When Job cursed the day of his birth, he personally gave Satan permission to come against him. Every time Satan comes against someone, it is not because God allowed it. It could be, and often probably is, because the people involved issued an invitation through their own words or actions (sins).

In a similar vein of logic, if God is the one who unleashes the devil and demons against us, then why did Jesus give us authority over demons (Matthew 10:1; Mark 16:15–18)? Theoretically, if these demons are doing God’s will (if they are working for God), then Jesus went against the Father’s will by giving us authority over them. We know this is not true (John 5:30).

So, is Satan in control? It is true that Satan is allowed by God to do certain things, but just because something happens to us does not mean that God sent Satan to do it. Satan operates as an independent agent apart from God because he has free will. Are we to believe that Lucifer went to God and got permission to deceive a third of the angels into following him (Revelation 12:4), and then consequently that God threw Lucifer out of heaven for doing what God gave him permission to do? No! Satan had, has had, and still has free will. God will chain him for a thousand years (Revelation 20:2), and God knows what he will do when he is released (Revelation 20:3, 7–9). Does this mean that God is going to make him do it? No!

Satan has free will; we have free will. We will all be judged for what we do with it. God, by His sovereign design, has allowed each of us to control our destiny by operating our own free will.

Summary

It is good to be reminded that the ways of God are past finding out. He does not need us to tell Him what He can or cannot do. We are aware that He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:9,10). Because God knows the end already, He is therefore prepared to make a way for us to escape. No one is denying that God is omniscient. In the end, God is the one who will ultimately be in control because He will have the last word on the Day of Judgment.

We need to be aware that doctrines of fatalism may come upon us when we blindly say, “God is in control.” It is often convenient for people to just accept everything that is happening to them and attribute it to God, because they do not want to accept responsibility for their actions. Nor do they want to invest the effort to separate truth from error, or attack from trial.

Certainly, we all should want God to be in control to perform His perfect will. We can do our part to see this come into fruition by yielding our wills to Him. We also know that there are things going on around us that are not according to His will because many people do not yield to Him, so let us please not attribute Satan’s mayhem to God.

We can rest assured that God has never been fooled (Galatians 6:7) or taken by surprise. Therefore, God always has an escape route planned for us (1 Corinthians 10:13), even if we transgress His will. With all this knowledge, we need to accept that God placed our destiny in our hands. Based upon the exercise of our own will and our own decisions, we will one day stand before Him to give an account of ourselves. We hope to hear Him say, “Well done.”

As we humble ourselves to do God’s will and place ourselves under His mighty hand, we want to submit to Him and place Him in control. However, with all of this in mind, we cannot simply say that just because something happens, God made it happen and He is in control.

We need to fully operate the God-given sanctity of free will by defending the good name of God. He is light and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). There is none good but God (Matthew 19:17; Mark 10:18; Luke 18:19). We also need to become strong in faith. We need to not accept everything that comes along as the will of God and blindly say, “All things work together for good to them that love God.” We need to be aware that we have an enemy—and Jesus gave us authority over him. We need to remember our God-given, joyous responsibility of holding forth the Word of Life to others, and not just commit their salvation to fatalism and say, “God is in control.”

When using the phrase, “God is in control,” don’t forget that God’s integrity weighs in the balance of your statement. Don’t forget that God gave you faith to call upon Him to bring His will to come to pass on the earth. If you don’t call on Him, how will it come? Don’t forget that God gave you a mouth to speak His word and reconcile men and women to Him (2 Corinthians 5:18–20). If you don’t speak for Him, how will they hear (Romans 10:14)?

Is God in control? Make sure to stipulate your answer, because God in His omniscience gave you control over your own free will and will hold you accountable for the decisions you make, including statements about Him. God does not make everything happen, but, praise the Lord, He knows what will happen. Even though we have free will and control of our lives, God makes a way for us in the midst of adversity.

Endnotes

1. Fatalism is a belief that mankind’s destiny is forever sealed and therefore can never be altered.

2. There are 26 usages of the word “iniquity” in the book of Job (listed only behind Psalms and Ezekiel in frequency). This could also show a generational curse of fear or promiscuity working behind the scenes.

3. An unpublished article entitled “The Significance of Eliphaz’s Vision” by Dale M. Sides is available from LMCI upon request.