Lesson Two
IS GOD IN CONTROL?
(Chapters 2 and 3)
CENTRAL IDEA
God is in control. He has a purpose and a plan for you, and He has the power to carry out that plan.
Examining Trust
God is sovereign (all powerful), and He is good. God’s providence is a term we often use in Christian parlance to acknowledge God’s seeming intervention in our affairs. There are two things wrong, however, with the way in which we refer to the providence of God. For one, we almost always use the expression “the providence of God” in connection with apparently “good” events. God controls both the good and the bad. God has not looked the other way or been caught by surprise when adversity strikes us. He is in control of the adversity, directing it to His glory and our good.
The second problem with our popular use of the expression “the providence of God” is that we either unconsciously or deliberately imply that God intervenes at specific points in our lives but is largely only an interested spectator most of the time.
God’s providence is His constant care for and His absolute rule over all His creation for His own glory and the good of His people. Note the twofold objective of God’s providence: His glory and the good of His people. These two objectives are never antithetical; they are always in harmony with each other.
The Bible teaches that God not only created the universe but that He upholds and sustains it day by day, hour by hour. Scripture says, “The Son is . . . sustaining all things by His powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3), and “in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).
The Bible also teaches that God governs the universe, not only inanimate creation but also the actions of all creatures, both men and animals. He is called “the ruler of all things” (1 Chronicles 29:12) and “the blessed and only Ruler” (1 Timothy 6:15).
Randomness, luck, chance, fate. This is modern man’s answer to the age-old question, “Why?” Even many Christians who accept the concept of God’s sovereignty believe that He chooses not to exercise His sovereignty in the daily affairs of our lives. Christians are often unwilling to accept the fact that God is working because they don’t understand how He is working. They have chosen to substitute the doctrine of chance for the doctrine of divine providence.
I admit that we are often unable to reconcile God’s sovereignty and goodness in the face of widespread tragedy or personal adversity, but I believe that, although we often do not understand God’s ways, He is sovereignly at work in all of our circumstances.
If there is a single event in all of the universe that can occur outside of God’s sovereign control, then we cannot trust Him. His love may be infinite, but if His power is limited and His purpose can be thwarted, we cannot trust Him. He permits, for reasons known only to Himself, people to act contrary to and in defiance of His revealed will. But He never permits them to act contrary to His sovereign will.
One of our problems with the sovereignty of God is that it frequently does not appear that God is in control of the circumstances of our lives. It is difficult to see God working through secondary causes and frail, sinful human beings. But it is the ability of God to so arrange diverse human actions to fulfill His purpose that makes His sovereignty marvelous and yet mysterious.
No one can act and no circumstances can occur outside the bounds of God’s sovereign will. But this is only one side of His sovereignty. The other side, which is just as important to our trusting Him, is that no plan of God’s can be thwarted. God has an over-arching purpose for all believers: to conform us to the likeness of His Son, Jesus Christ (see Romans 8:29). He also has a specific purpose for each of us that is His unique, tailor-made plan for our individual life (see Ephesians 2:10).
I readily admit it is difficult to believe God is in control when we are in the midst of anxiety, heartache, or grief. We must learn to obey God one choice at a time; we must also learn to trust God one circumstance at a time. Trusting God is not a matter of my feelings but of my will. That act of the will must be based on belief, and belief must be based on truth.
We must believe the truth that God carries out His own good purposes without ever being thwarted, and He so directs and controls all events and all actions of His creatures that they never act outside of His sovereign will. That which should distinguish the suffering of believers from unbelievers is the confidence that our suffering is under the control of an all-powerful and all-loving God; our suffering has meaning and purpose in God’s eternal plan, and He brings or allows to come into our lives only that which is for His glory and our good.
Developing Trust
1. a. What is God’s providence? (The “Examining Trust” section may help you answer these questions.)
b. What is the purpose or objective of God’s providence?
c. Describe a situation in your life when God’s will and your best interests seemed to be in conflict.
d. How was this conflict resolved?
2. What do the following verses say about God’s providence?
Psalm 147:8-9
Acts 17:24-28
2 Corinthians 9:10
3. What specific evidence of God’s sustaining presence in the universe is most dramatic to you? (Illustrations from science would be appropriate here.)
4. a. In what ways do people see God’s providence as limited?
b. Do you think of God’s providence as limited? Explain.
c. In what ways do you act as though God’s providence is limited even though you may believe that it isn’t?
5. a. Restate Matthew 10:29-31 in your own words.
b. Think about a person who sees chance or randomness as the explanation for all that happens. How would this philosophy affect his or her life?
c. What would such a person value?
d. How does Matthew 10:29-31 refute such a perspective?
6. a. Do you believe that God is active in the daily affairs of your life?
b. What evidence do you see, from your past or present, for His involvement in your life? (If you have begun keeping a journal, it may help you answer this question.)
7. There is an invisible war being waged between God and Satan, and our lives are often the battleground. What do the following passages say about Satan’s ability to touch us?
Job 1:12; 2:6
Luke 22:31-32
8. God never permits people to act contrary to His sovereign will. How do the following verses support this statement?
Proverbs 16:9
Proverbs 19:21
Lamentations 3:37
James 4:13-15
(For additional study see Proverbs 21:30; Ecclesiastes 7:13; and Revelation 3:7.)
9. What conclusions about God and what He does can you draw from these verses?
Job 42:2
Isaiah 46:10
Daniel 4:34-35
(For additional verses see Isaiah 14:27; 43:13; and Ephesians 1:11-12.)
10. In his book When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Rabbi Harold Kushner concludes that God cannot be both sovereign and good, so Kushner chooses to believe in a God who is good.
a. What do you think about Rabbi Kushner’s conclusion?
b. How do you reconcile God’s goodness and His sovereignty? That is, if God is able to prevent evil, and if He is committed to good, then why doesn’t He prevent evil?
11. We need to be very sensitive in teaching others about the sovereignty of God and encouraging them to trust God when they are in the midst of problems or pain. It is much easier to trust in the sovereignty of God when it is the other person who is hurting. We need to be like Jesus, of whom it was said, “A bruised reed he will not break” (Matthew 12:20). Job lost his children, his wealth, and his health. His friends preached to him about God’s sovereignty. Read Job’s response to his friends in Job 6:14-27.
a. What did Job’s friends do wrong? How did they “bruise” him?
b. If you had a friend in Job’s position, how would you deal with him when he questioned God’s sovereignty and goodness?
- Joseph: Genesis 37; 39–45
- Esther: Esther
- Ruth: Ruth