Who Is In Control?

In the business world, there are various methods of finding out how the public would answer certain questions. These methods are called referendums or polls. One of the most famous is the Mori poll. Pollsters are sent into streets with questionnaires. They stop members of the public at random to answer the questionnaire. Governments often use these polls extensively, to find out how popular certain policies are or how well they are doing in the eyes of the public. The problem is that these polls usually cover issues like politics, business, the National Health Service, state of the economy, whether we should be joining the Euro or not (Fiscal Policies).

But these referendums or polls hardly ever cover issues of spirituality. I am sure if you asked a sampling of people in the streets the following question: "Who is in control of your life?" Most would answer: "I am!" If you probed further and asked: "What proves that you are in control of your life?" Most would provide some or all of the following answers: "I make all of the key decisions in my life. I decide when to get up in the morning. I decide when I eat my meals. I decide what to eat. I decide what to wear. I decide what job to do. I decide what to say and when to say it. I decide which friends to have. I decide how to spend my money. I decide when and where to go on holiday. I decide whom I should go out with romantically. I decide to either co-habit with someone or to marry. I decide whether to have children or not. I make all the key decisions in my life, so this proves that I am in control of my life." Did you notice the possible answers? What was the common thread running through these answers? It dealt with worldly physical issues. Like food, eating, clothing, jobs, holidays, money, marriage and children.

When people have control of these things, they foolishly believe they are in control. And if you posed the following question, this would reveal how foolish their answers really are: "If you say you are in control of your life, then answer me this question:

Can you stop yourself from dying?" And not surprisingly, all people would answer: "No. I can't stop myself from dying." So then, WHO is actually in control of your life? You?

We may have control over certain aspects of your life like spending your money, or choosing a life partner, or buying certain types of clothing, or what to eat or drink. But we are certainly not in control. We rely on air to breathe to keep us alive. What happens when you spend too long underwater without air? You suffocate and drown from lack of air. What about our reliance on food? We rely on the earth to produce food to feed us. Any serious problem with drought or flooding and our food supply is at risk. We need animal skins and other natural products to make clothes with to cover and protect ourselves. In fact, we are totally reliant on air, water, food, clothes and shelter to keep us alive. And we are certainly not in control of the most important thing of all. Your continued life or the amount of time you spend here on earth! Rather, the Bible teaches that God is in control of your life! And more importantly not only your life, but your life span! When God created mankind, he intended for us to have eternal life. He intended for us to enjoy an eternal life span. A never-ending life. God did not create mankind for death, but for life. The Bible teaches when sin entered the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve being deceived by Satan in the Garden of Eden, a tragic event occurred.

Our human nature fell and we were separated from God. And the falling of our human nature had 2 serious consequences. The first consequence was that it brought death to all of mankind. The Bible teaches in Romans 6:23: "The wages of sin is death." In other words, the final outcome of a sinful life is death. Since the Garden of Eden, we are all subjected to the influence of sin. The second serious consequence is that it limits our time on the earth. All humans on earth are subjected to time. We can't stop it and we can't control it. There is a famous saying: Time and tide waits for no man. And God himself has set limits on our life span on this earth. So how do I know that God is in control of your and my life span? Because God created life and God also created time. And he decided the laws of how time would work.

Although Methuselah lived to a ripe old age of 969, he still had a time limit placed on his life span and he died. Due to corruption of sin, God placed a limit on man's lifespan, man's time on earth. To prove that God has control over man's life span, here are some Scriptural references on this:

Genesis 6:3 "Then the Lord said, "My Spirit will not contend with man for ever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years." God is control of your life, because He set the time boundaries on the lives of men, not mankind themselves. Exodus 23:25-26 "Worship the Lord your God and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span." God promised the Israelites that if they obeyed and worshipped him, he would reward them with a full life span.

And in a remarkable case, God announced a time limit on King Hezekiah's life span. But the king pleaded for more time. God had mercy on him and actually extended his life. Read 2 Kings 20:1-11. Again, this goes to prove that God is in control of time and our life spans. Do you remember the possible answers I suggested at the start of this article? And the common thread that ran through the answers? Let me remind you again. It dealt with worldly physical issues. Like food, eating, clothing, jobs, money, marriage and children. When people have control of these things, they believe foolishly that they are in control. Wrong! Even God is in control of these worldly physical things as well.

Exodus 23:25-26 "Worship the Lord your God and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span." God even controls your food and water. The Bible teaches that God controls diseases and sickness. And He can ensure children are born or he can withhold children.   And yes, God eve controls your life span. So if you take all of this together, one fact is clear. God is in TOTAL CONTROL! Let us look at examples from Old Testament events. When God's people were obedient, then God blessed his people with abundant crops, cattle, prosperity and times of peace. But when they turned against him, he blighted the land with drought, famine, disease and war. Because God is IN CONTROL!

Read Deuteronomy Chapter 28 - Blessings for Obedience or Curses for Disobedience. So after you've read these things, if I posed the question: "Who is in control of your life?" There is only one answer you can provide: God is in control. In fact, God is in TOTAL CONTROL. Some cynics might say: Okay then, if your God is in control, why then does suffering occur? Why are there wars and droughts and floods? Why do the innocent die? It doesn't SEEM as if He is in control. The fact that wars occur and people die doesn't mean that God is not in control. Rather, he allows these things to occur because he refuses to take our choices away from us. He created us as creatures of choice, and he respects our ability to choose. And most times, but not every time, many of the troubles in this world, including wars and suffering come through poor choices on our part. A notable exception to this is the situation with Job, where God allowed suffering to come upon him for a special reason … to test his faithfulness and righteousness.

Let me give you 3 examples of how suffering and pain could be caused by poor choices of decisions: On a national or country level - one nation chooses to invade another nation due to greed for power or wealth - example of Iraq invading Kuwait. Wars start and people die, including the so-called innocent people, and many children. On a family level - a family decides to disobey God and live sinful lives. Their choices and decisions are based on sinful motives. This results in trouble coming to that family, and often suffering occurs because of this, even to the children. On a marriage or individual level - a man or a wife decides to break their marriage vows and have an affair. The affair is discovered. It causes incredible pain and suffering. This develops into a lack of trust. It often causes a break up of the marriage, with the consequent suffering to the children. And in many cases, hatred develops between different members of the estranged family. We make the wrong choices and often choose to live in sin, so in many cases, the outcome and consequences of our choices brings about suffering. Remember the passage in Deuteronomy about the curses of disobedience. So who should we trust with control of our lives?

Psalm 31:14-15 "But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hands." The Psalmist tells us that all the events of our lives, all the activities and circumstances of our lives are in the hands of the Lord. We have to realize that we are not in control of our own lives. God is in control of our lives. Let me give you another example. We all know what a goldfish bowl looks like. It is a round orb of glass, visible from all sides. The goldfish swimming in the bowl is totally visible to the viewer from all sides. Nothing is hidden. You can see everything inside the bowl, including the goldfish's every move.

We are living in the equivalent of a goldfish bowl. A larger version, but nevertheless, a huge goldfish bowl. And the One who can see everything is God. He can view everything we do, just like we can see everything the goldfish does. However, we can only see the outside of the goldfish, the exterior. And this is where God shows his amazing power and control. God not sees us on the outside, he can see right into our hearts and minds. God can discern and understand our thoughts, our motives, our desires, our ambitions, our feelings and our emotions. In fact, every inner thought and desire is open to God's sight. God is TOTALLY in control. So if God is in control, what should we do? Trust in God and follow his ways.  We must heed the words of the Scriptures to make sure we are found to be serving the Lord. 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 "As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. For he says, "In the time of my favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." I tell you, now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation." Make sure you serve the Lord now and every day into the future.   Because He has control over your life here and he has control over your soul in the afterlife. And He can decide how long you live here. And He will decide the fate of your soul and your eternal life. 

If you would like to discuss this article feel free to contact the Weston Favell Church of Christ Northampton via our contact us page