WHO IS IN CONTROL?

Who Is In Control?

By Pastor Mark Taylor

(October 30, 2015)

I watch too much News on TV and listen to too much of it on talk shows on the radio.  I have been getting a little discouraged with what I hear and see regarding our nation and the world.  At times I ask myself: "Who Is In Control?"

Today, God reminded me that He is aware of and is in control of everything that happens on this Earth.  It is not His will that there is world hunger, disease, and wars.  But He has a plan, and He has had that plan since He created the “Heavens and the Earth” in the first chapter of the book of Genesis.

Through the history of mankind, He has shown us that nothing is going to work the way it is suppose to without Him.  It will only work right when He is in Control.  This includes nations, political leaders, and individuals. 

He has temporarily given some of His control to men and women and this is called “free will”.  God has shown us we cannot handle it without Him being present in our lives. Our God is all powerful, all knowing, and is present everywhere.  Our God is omniscient.  Omniscience is the capacity to know everything that there is to know.  Our God is omnipotent.  Omnipotence is the quality of having unlimited power.  Our God is omnipresent.   Omnipresence is the property of being present everywhere.  These qualities of our God convinces the Christian that God is in control.  We may not understand why He allows things to happen on this Earth, but He reminds us of Who He is and who we are.  “For as the heavens are higher than the Earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”  (Isaiah 55:9).

He has shown us that a perfect environment will not stay perfect without His presence.  In the Book of Genesis, God left man and woman alone for a few hours and they did the one thing He asked them not to do and ended up losing their perfect environment.  By the end of this Book, mankind had lost their freedom and had become slaves to those who neither knew God or cared about His Control.

Later in the Book of Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, we see that God gave mankind a set of rules to follow in order to receive His protection and blessings.  After He delivered them from 400 years of slavery, they did not want God’s rules or presence, but rather chose to follow god’s of silver and gold.  This shows us that even if we have good laws, we cannot control ourselves without God’s presence.

What about a nation with a Godly leader.  When we read 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel and Judges we see that neither a king nor a country with a Godly heritage could follow God without His presence continuly.  Only when God punished them and reminded them of His Control, would they temporarily return to worship Him.  This reminds me of a scripture that says: “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.” (Psalms 33:12).   Continuing in the Books of Kings and Chronicles we see that when the king was Godly the nation prospered.  When the nation had an evil king and people, God was not present and allowed other nations to over run them.  So Government without God’s presence will fail.

God is in control even when we think the world is out of control.  We often think if we could get rid of one leader and replace them with another, everything would be fine.   "For promotion comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.  But God is the judge: He puts down one, and sets up another." (Psalm 75:6-7).  

In the New Testament we see that “Religion” without God’s presence will put people into both physical and spiritual bondage.  Jesus did not condemn the “sinners” of His day, but He did condemn the religious leaders more than once.  Of course He did not condone sin and reminded his followers that their were consequences for living a life of unrighteousness.  When God came to be present with mankind in the form of our Lord Jesus, His own people rejected Him.  Again we see that another attempt to control ourselves was unsuccessful.

The question is “Who Is In Control?”  What is the answer to our world problems?

Hopefully, if you will study your Bible and World History you will see that it is not a better environment, better rules, better government, or better religious organizations.  It is very simple.  This world will not get better until our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ returns to Earth to set up His Kingdom.  This is when He will take back His Control and show mankind how to live right and be blessed.  After that He will take us to Heaven and we will live with Him forever.  That is when we will understand how much He loves us and we will never be separated from Him again by sin.  We need to understand by faith that we have a wonderful future ahead of us if we will love and trust our Savior - The Lord Jesus.

"1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." (Revelation 21:1-4)

Until then, you and I can give God His Control back by living in His presence daily.  We can be blessed in a world that has gone out of control.  You can experience His presence through reading His Word - the Bible -how He talks to you; through prayer which is how you talk to Him; and through loving others which is how we join with Him in making this world a better place until He returns.


May we all allow God to take the steering wheel of our lives.