Is God In Control? What The Bible Does And Does Not Say

When we use the phrase, “God is in control,” what, exactly, do we mean?

Do we mean that He orders and ordains everything that happens in this world, both the good and the bad? Or do we mean that, while human beings make their choices, God still works out His purposes? Or that He watches over His children in the midst of a chaotic world? Or is He really in control at all?

Before answering these questions, let me say that my purpose here is not to argue with an atheist or agnostic about the existence of God, nor is it to defend what the Bible says about God. Instead, I’m writing to those who believe that God is real and that the Bible is true. In that light, we can ask: to what extent does the Bible say that God is in control?

Let’s start by stating what the Bible does not say: It does not say that God initiates and orders each and everything that happens in this world. It does not say that God is the ultimate source of all evil and wickedness. It does not say that the Uvalde school massacre took place because God ordered the steps of the murderer.

On the contrary, throughout the Bible, God distances Himself from sinful human behavior, making clear that He stands against our rebellious actions. As expressed in Jeremiah 7:31 with regard to the children of Israel sacrificing children to the false god Molech, 

“And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.”

In essence, the Lord was saying here, This is the furthest thing from My mind and the very last thing I wanted you to do. You alone are responsible!

That’s why, when human beings choose to sin and rebel, it grieves God’s heart (see Genesis 6:5-6). And that’s why He calls us to make the right choices (rather than preordains all the choices we make). 

As Moses said on God’s behalf to the children of Israel, 

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

So, just as we cannot excuse our own sins with the old line, “The devil made me do it,” so also we cannot say, “God made me do it.” This would be the common person’s version of, God preordained my actions, so He is the ultimate cause of what I do.

As for what the Bible does say, it absolutely affirms that God is the King of the universe and all authority in heaven and earth is His. (After His resurrection, Jesus stated that the Father had given that authority to Him; see Matthew 28:18.)

That’s why the psalmist proclaimed, 

“Say among the nations, ‘The LORD reigns! Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.’” (Psalm 96:10)

God is sitting on His heavenly throne, not wishing and hoping, but rather ruling and reigning, holding the universe together, and working out His purposes on the earth in the midst of chaos and confusion. Let Satan and his demons rage. Let human beings rebel and blaspheme. God remains King. God still reigns. The world will exist exactly as long as God determines it will exist.

He has the ultimate power to wound and heal, to give life and to take it (Deuteronomy 32:39). He forms light and creates darkness; He makes well-being and creates calamity (Isaiah 45:7). He sets up kings and removes them (Daniel 2:21). He warns of coming judgment and then brings it (Amos 3:6-7; Lamentations 3:37-38). 

In the end, “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:35)

That is the God of the Bible.

But how do we put these two pictures together, that of human freedom and that of divine sovereignty? The answer is simple but profound: He has chosen to give us a choice. He has decided that, to a point, we get to make our own decisions. And in the midst of all that, He is working out His will (Ephesians 1:11). He will let certain things go, in keeping with our freedom, but only so far. He has set parameters for His world.

As expressed by A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), 

“God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he

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