Is God In Control - Part 1 Series

NOTE: New Light Faith Ministries and Barry Johnson Ministries, founded by brothers Rodney V. Johnson and Barry O. Johnson, respectively, are partnering to offer Bible studies for Christians who are seeking to grow in their relationship with Jesus. This is a Bible study lesson, not a sermon. The Bible studies teach foundational truth that are designed to challenge, encourage and, most importantly, flame the fire of hunger in the Christian who wants to learn more about who they have become in Christ Jesus. The Bible studies you find on this site contain the written version of the lesson. However, these lessons also include a video and an audio file of the study, a PDF version of the lesson and a sheet for note taking. If you would like any of the additional resources for these studies, please email us at newlightfaithministries@gmail.com or bjteachingltr@gmail.com for more information or contact us at the email provided on both of our Sermon Central pages. Be blessed.

Is God in Control Part 1

(Rev. Barry Johnson and Rev. Rodney Johnson)

Introduction

Several weeks ago a son stabbed his parents to death. In the aftermath of this tragedy, people wondered how God could allow something like this to happen. How could a good and righteous God not protect good parents from a son who desired to do them harm? Could our all-knowing God not have done something to either stop the son or protect the parents before this happened? Even after they were stabbed, couldn’t God have stopped them from actually dying? The general questions that are asked in situations like this are “Why did God allow this to happen?” Or “Why didn’t God do something to stop it?” Since that time, there have been several mass shootings that have left people wondering where was God when these shootings happened.

When hurricane Katrina, a category 5 hurricane hit Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama in 2005 causing over 1800 fatalities and $125 billion in damages, people said that God was punishing New Orleans (one of the hardest hit cites) for its sin. Some Christian leaders actually said that God was in control and that He was pouring out His judgment on the city for all of the sin the city is known for. If you believe this, then that would mean that those who were serving God faithfully without participating in the sin died or lost their possessions because God was “punishing” someone else for their sins and they were collateral damage. Does this make sense?

One last thought: How many funerals have you attended where the deceased was either very young or died at a young age due to a sickness, accident or some horrible way? When you attended the funerals, how many times did the minister say that “God called the person home”? Or “God needed a new angel.” Or “We might not understand but God had His reasons.” As you sat there contemplating what you had just heard, did you wonder why God allowed a baby to die or a young person to die from cancer? And why did He choose that way for the person to die? Couldn’t He have chosen a more humane way for the person to die – a way that didn’t require long-term suffering? Or, why did God choose that specific person versus all of the other “old” people who had lived their full lives if He needed a new angel? How can someone be comforted when they lose a loved one and are told that it was part of God’s master plan because He was in control? What kind of God plans for His servants to be killed for no good reason or to get sick with a deadly disease because it’s a part of a plan that we know nothing about and should just accept?

Why do people need to believe God is in control or that He allows things to happen? The issue of God being in control rarely or is never vocalized when good things happen; it’s only when bad things happen that we do not understand and therefore cannot explain it. When we say God is in control it’s our way of trying to explain or make sense of something that we don’t understand. We say things like “God has His reasons.” Or “We don’t always understand God’s ways.” Or “We just have to trust that this was God’s will.” Or “God is using this to teach us a lesson.”

The theology surrounding God being in control is that He controls everything that happens and nothing happens without His permission. But is this true? Is God truly in control in the way that we say He is? Does everything that happen do so because He has signed off on it or He has given His expressed permission for it to happen? Is everything truly a part of His plans and we only think that we have free-will when, in actuality, we really don’t? So, how do we make sense of this?