Is God on Control When Bad Things Happen?

Is God on Control When Bad Things Happen?

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Yesterday’s post on God’s prescience and providence in the Petra Anderson incident, begot an interesting insight from a commenter, who admitted…

If God planned the path of the bullet that didn’t kill Petra, then He planned the paths of the bullets that DID kill the other twelve. Not so comforting a thought to me.

This is a very important insight. We love to highlight God’s sovereign control over every detail, when extraordinary deliverances occur. But what about all the many times rescue from danger is not supplied? Tsunamis, earthquakes, crime incidents, epidemic diseases, political turmoil, car accidents…the list on this sin-cursed planet is literally unending.

Is God still in perfect control in those situations?

The Bible’s answer is unequivocally YES!

God is never asleep at the wheel of His creation. He never overlooks a detail, misses a beat, or leaves events to chance. He is on His throne, ruling His kingdom with absolute authority. So when “bad things” happen, we need to filter them through the grid of acknowledging that God is not only in control but that He is good.

Here are some verses that demonstrate this biblical teaching:

Job 1:21 The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

Job 2:10  Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Dan 9:14 Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice.

Rom 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Ps 115:3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Matt 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

 

This is what undergirded my response to the commenter, which I share with you:

You’re absolutely right, that is exactly what the Bible teaches. I find it very comforting to know that when anything happens to me, it is by God’s permission, in His will, for my ultimate good and His glory. If I thought for a second that bullets were outside of his control, I’d be a basket case! We don’t fear death when we know God is in command.

What would your response be?

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  • Judy Parker

    Amen Clint! – great response – thanks….I am convinced that if the explanation that I might have for my present or past suffering doesn’t include these two facts from the Bible, that God is all powerful and all good simultaneously all the time, my explanation is wrong…..(not my original thought – but worth sharing…)

    • http://www.clintarcher.com/ Clint

      Thanks for that, Judy. “Some grant a predestination eternal to the elect only , but to the non-elect only a prescience or naked foresight (without any pre-ordination) , lest they should make God the author of the creature’s sin and ruin . But these men fear where no fear is ; for the worst evil that ever was committed in the world , to wit , the crucifying of the Prince of glory , Jesus Christ , did not only fall under the foreknowledge of God , but also under His determinate counsel , “Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God , ye have taken , and by wicked hands have crucified and slain ” (Acts 2:23 ; 4:28) ; the taking and apprehension of Christ was not barely foreknown but unchangeably determined .” (Christopher Ness 1621-1705)