What Does It Mean To Say, “God Is In Control?”

"Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don't."   -Steve Maraboli

What are you in control of? 

At the height of a difficult time in my life, when everything seemed to be crumbling around me, dreams were being dashed, and hope was slowly but surely escaping like air from a punctured balloon, I was asked this exact question by the Sr. Pastor I was working under at the time. He could tell I was struggling and called me into his office one morning. Without thinking I started to vent anything and everything that was on my mind. I talked about how this or that wasn't working the way it needed to, how this plan or that plan wasn't panning out how I imagined it, and how life kept seeming to push me down the second I got any momentum going. He was silent for a minute, then calmly asked me, "What are you in control of?"
That was it. He told me to think about that for the rest of the day, then politely ushered me out of his office to start the workday. Well, I thought, that wasn't very helpful! Here I was confiding in the guy and all I get is a random question and a pat on the back. 
This sermon series, "Clarifying Christianity," is meant to look at some of the most common sayings and phrases in our faith and examine what they truly mean. Not the superficial, surface-level meaning. But the true, life-tested, and scripturally sound meaning. Far too often I've heard and used the phrase, "God is in control," in response to someone describing a life-altering circumstance or situation they're in. It has, unfortunately, become a placeholder, filler for the conversation so there is no awkward silence to have to bear. It's a nice placation we say to each other when we have no idea what else to say. God is in control, so why isn't this plan working like I need it to? God is in control, so why is the patient getting worse and not better like we want? God is in control, so why am I working my tail off and still barely making ends meet financially? It would seem the phrase brings more questions than solutions. 

That morning I left my boss's office with more questions than answers. If this horrible situation I find myself in, that I can't seem to right no matter how hard I work or what I do, is God being in control, perhaps it'd be better if He took a sabbatical and let me take over for a while. If you've ever felt that way, at your highest or your lowest, please know you are far from being alone in that feeling. 

I think the biggest misconception about faith that I correct most often has to be the idea that life becomes easier once you accept Christ and choose to follow Him. The conversion experience, no matter how young or old you were when it happened, can be so powerful and moving that it wipes away all your fears, doubts, and worries instantaneously. You live on cloud 9 for a short time, soaking in all the excitement that comes with finally choosing the grace of Christ. But eventually, and I hate that this is true but it is, life returns to normal. You're faced with difficult times, difficult people, and difficulties in general. Suddenly, it feels like you got shortchanged by faith. You gave your life over to God, but your life still has struggles. It's right here, at this exact junction, where I point people to one of my favorite verses, "Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matt.16:24). Notice here that Christ does not say to pick up your memory-foam pillow, but instead your cross. At no point did Christ ever try to sell us on a life free of obstacles, trials, and setbacks. Quite the opposite. He promoted and highlighted the fact that those who follow Him will still struggle, and may even struggle more! What He did promise is that nothing that happens to us, not the greatest victory or the worst defeat, can ever separate us from Him and His will for our lives. 

That very same day of the office visit to my Sr. Pastor I was called to a hospital bedside to be with a family from our church. I arrived at Medical City Dallas and took the elevator up to the room in ICU where they were gathered. The diagnosis was not good and the room was so full of anxiety and fear that you could almost feel it on your skin. I listened to the nurse explain the situation to the family and then watched them do what each one of us would do in that situation, ask, "What do we do next? What can we do? What are our options?" The answer was the last thing they wanted to hear as the nurse responded, "There is nothing to do at this moment but wait and see." As the stunned silence permeated the room I could feel the mom and dad move closer to me until finally they were on either side and had me wrapped up in the biggest hug of desperation and fear I'd ever experienced. It's interesting how in times of fear, we all seem to want to feel some sense of control over the situation. They asked me what I thought they could or should do since the medical side was of no help then and there. Suddenly, all at once, the question I was asked that morning made perfect sense. 
I am not in control, you are not in control, but we are assured that God is in control, and if we have faith in Him, true, undeniable, and unshakeable faith in him, that is all the guarantee we need.
Hear me when I say, that doesn't mean the outcome will always look how you want it, and it certainly doesn't mean all endings are happy, at least not in our limited human scope. But, it means that even as life throws its hardest challenges at us and tries to knock us to our knees in submission, we stand on the promise of an eternal God who loves and cherishes us so much that He walks with us through the darkest valleys of life.

When I told the family, "God is in control," it was no longer just a placeholder to avoid awkward silence, it was a battle cry of epic proportion! One that restates the promise given by Jesus Christ himself as he ascended into heaven before his disciples' teary eyes, "...And remember, I am with you always. To the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20)

God IS in control friends. Do you believe it?