Yes, God is in Control
My blogger-buddy Cindy was reminding herself yesterday that "God is in control". Whether it was her intention or not, she was reminding me (and other readers) as well. I am thankful for that reminder.In church last Sunday, Pastor Chris made the statement that "God is big enough to take our anger." I hadn't thought about it that way before - He can handle it, hear it, and take it from us. Wow - that's a big God. I have plenty of anger and frustration.
The difference between Cindy and the many deitists out there is that Cindy understands seeking God's will and working for the Lord, and praying to Him about her needs. She doesn't sit back and throw up her hands and sigh "Well, *sigh* God is in control, so there's nothing I can do." Now, she also understands the balance we have in a relationship with God. Relationships are two-way as opposed to the deitist view that God just controls our every move and we have no free will. God allows us to screw up - He anticipates we will screw up. He allows us to experience the consequences of our screw-ups - just like the perfect Dad. He anticipates that our human nature will drive us to want to control everything ourselves and "force" certain outcomes. Sometimes, He lets us have those things we force and allows us to experience the fallout (I think that was my first marriage to a man who was far from being a Christian).
As His children, we should be running to Him daily, shouting "Daddy, daddy, daddy!" I'm sure I don't do that enough.
I love the work that Cindy and Brien have done to allow God's will to be done. I watch the progress on a nursery and playroom - and showed their site to a colleague this morning who has a 4-year old daughter. He was so excited and commented on how much his little girl would adore it. He loved the chalk board and the magnet wall. He loved seeing how much work they had done with NO GUARANTEES. They stepped out in faith. They didn't just stick their toe in the Jordan - they stepped full into the rushing water. Remember, God only promised to still the waters AFTER they had taken the "step of faith" into that rushing water? He didn't calm it first so they could leisurely stroll across. No, they had to jump in and trust that God was in control. And He kept his promise (of course!) because they did as He instructed them to do.
I see Cindy and Brien have a lot of qualities that Noah must have had building the ark. People must have looked at Noah and laughed, or at least talked about him behind his back. They probably talked about his wife too, and snickered about what a fool she was to stay with that crazy ark-building man. Noah built and built and built - and not a storm cloud in sight. Yet he kept right on building. He hammered in the morning and in the evening! And Noah was 600 years old - far too old to be building an ark - what was he thinking? And Noah and his family had to float in that ark for a long, long time with a whole lot of stinky animals. This was much worse than packing up the family dog for a long car trip (and we think that's bad).
But God kept his promise, and Noah was faithful. Noah had to WORK HARD in order for the covenant to be established. Noah couldn't just sit back and watch God do His thing. He hammered! And then - the part I love - God shut them in - He closed the door. God and Noah working together allowed God to be in control, but only through a partnership and relationship with Noah.
The Bible doesn't tell us what Noah thought or felt or experienced - but it does say that "Noah was just a man (Genesis 6:9)". He didn't have any super-powers. I imagine he was exhausted, and got frustrated. He was probably sore and I'll bet he hammered his thumb several times and got splinters and blisters, and sunburned. I imagine he got frustrated with the amount of work he had to do, and how slow the process seemed at times - applying the pitch to the gopher wood and letting to dry so he could move on to the next step. I imagine he wondered why God was asking him to do this. I imagine he was frustrated, and maybe he even got angry. But God fulfilled his promise - He always does.
So, we will keep working and keep praying, and keep reminding ourselves not to do God's job - but to do our part. We'll keep running to our Daddy in heaven. We'll allow ourselves to be his daughter. We'll allow him to meet our needs in His perfect way.
YES! God is in control!
posted by No Longer In Crisis @ 8/17/2005 09:55:00 AM
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