"Does God control everything?"

I love this picture - found in a Google Images search for 'Family Devotions' - because it's hysterical. What's funny about it, you ask? It's funny because it's the quintessential 'image' of family devotions that has no basis in reality. They're all smiling, no one's throwing fits, everyone's cooperating. It looks wonderful! And they're doing it outside and, we can assume, not getting torn up by mosquitoes and chiggers. I'm sure the dad doesn't notice it, but I can only imagine how unfocused the mom is, given that both she and her daughter are wearing dresses while sitting in the grass. I don't see a blanket they're sitting on, do you? And somehow that baby isn't ripping the pages out of dad's bible. Well trained, that one is!

What are our family devotions like? Picture it starting as Chloe and Zoey fight over who gets to sit in their favorite spot on the 'children's couch.' Chloe wins out, only because Zoey's had it most of the day. Chloe's forgotten her bible again, as if we haven't been doing this once a week for nearly three and a half years. Chloe asks mom if she can use her bible highlighters and promises to make sure they get back in the drawer (newsflash: they don't). Chloe scowls when she's told to read Bible verses and spends more time trying to make sure the bible highlighter color she uses is the right one for the artsy look she wants to give the page than she spends thinking about the passage. I'm teaching the lesson from the notes on my phone while Naomi runs around helter-skelter, tearing stuff from drawers, yelling that she wants to watch cartoons, and throwing herself down in a fit when she doesn't get her way. She climbs atop the ottoman by the window to distract herself, tries to sit down, but puts her butt in open air and falls on her head. She lies there dazed for a moment before screaming bloody murder. Ash swoops her up to calm her down, and Zoey's scooting around on the floor making goat noises and insisting she is being quiet and she is paying attention (newsflash: she's not, and she's not). And this was just last week's family devotion.

So, yes. I find the picture above absolutely hilarious.

Now on to what's below. As Chloe's getting older and reading her bible more and more, she's coming up with all sorts of great questions. We've been steadily working our way through the Book of James (with intermittent 'topical' lessons here-and-there to break things up), but per her request we're starting a new series on the Sovereignty of God. I have around 5-6 lessons planned that tackle the subject. The first - "Is God in Control?" - is posted below. Granted, it's a little intense for a thirteen-year-old, but what I give below is my own research and thoughts on the subject. The lesson I taught this past week was significantly 'dumbed-down' and it was still a lot to take in. So, without further ado:

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"Does God control everything?"

The Question: "Does God control everything?"
The Answer: "That depends on what you mean by 'control'!"

This question ultimately goes back to a question about God's sovereignty. The Sovereignty of God is a biblical teaching that means God is the ultimate authority and everything is under His control. At the same time, humans have the ability and responsibility to choose between good and evil, and because the choice is ours, we are responsible for the consequences. The ability to choose has been called 'free will,' but that turn-of-phrase isn't as apt as one would think (but we'll get to that in a later lesson). The question posited above - "Does God control everything?" - can be answered Yes or No depending on what you mean. If you mean "Does God meticulously cause everything that happens to happen?" then the answer is No; if you mean, "Is God in control of everything that happens?" then the answer is Yes. The distinction between the questions is important, as will be apparent as we break it down.

The Bible teaches that everything that happens is either directly CAUSED by God or PERMITTED by God. Whether something happens by God's direct control or His permission, it remains 'the will of God' because if it is not God's will it cannot come to pass (though we ought to clarify the term, 'will of God,' as the phrase can mean different things in the Bible; in the sense we use it here, the 'will of God' is that which God intends to take place, whether by direct causation or indirect permission). God is in complete control in that everything that happens, good or bad, falls under His purview. Unless He gives it the 'stamp of approval,' it cannot take place. The Bible has a lot to say about God's control of His universe, so let's look at a handful of verses:

Proverbs 16.9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. 

Jeremiah 10.23 "I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps." 

Psalm 115.3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. 

Psalm 135.6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. 

Isaiah 14.24 The Lord of hosts has sworn, 'As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.' 

Lamentations 3.37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? 

Proverbs 19.21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. 

Proverbs 16.33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. 

Job 42.2 "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted." 

Isaiah 45.6-7 "I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things." 

Amos 3.6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it? 

Proverbs 21.1 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will. 

Psalm 22.28 For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. 

Daniel 2.21 [The Lord] changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings. 

Acts 17.26 From one man God created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries. 

Proverbs 16.4 The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. 

Job 12.10 In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. 

Daniel 4.35 All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and [the Lord] 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?'

The verses given above, if extrapolated for all their precious gems and jewels, could (and have!) filled entire books. Suffice to say for our purposes that the Bible is clear that God is in control. Nothing happens that is not part of His will. With that said, that doesn't necessarily mean that God meticulously controls everything in the sense that we are puppets and the cosmos a stage. Though some have equated God's sovereignty with such meticulous control, to say that God is sovereign doesn't necessarily mean He must act in this way. That God is sovereign does mean that He has complete freedom and authority to act any way He wants. Yes, God has the freedom and authority to meticulously control everything that like a long, drawn-out play (though this would also require His intimate, purposeful creation and orchestration of sin); but He also has the freedom and authority to not exercise such dramatic, hands-on puppeteer control. If God chose not to control everything in the literal sense of the word, He would be no less sovereign than if He chose otherwise. The very fact that scripture teaches that God permits or allows evil without directly causing it indicates that God has not chosen, by His own will and plan, to exercise meticulous control over everything that happens. Biblical scholars Jerry Walls and Joseph Dongell capture this reality well: 

'Note that God is no less sovereign in a world where he chooses to grant his creatures libertarian freedom than he is in a world where he determines everything. Sovereignty cannot simply be equated with meticulous control. Rather, sovereignty is the freedom to choose as one will and to accomplish one's purposes. If God chooses to create people who are free and to accomplish his purposes through their undetermined choices, it is his sovereign right to do so. Less control is not the same as less sovereignty if God chooses to [exercise] less [meticulous] control. A perfectly good and wise God will exercise just the amount of control appropriate for the sort of world he chooses to create.'

Another biblical scholar, Roger Olson, builds upon the passage above:

'Does God govern by meticulously determining the entire course of every life, including moral choices and actions? Or does God allow humans a realm of freedom of choices and then responds by drawing them into his perfect plan for history's consummation? Calvinists (and some other Christians) believe God's control over human history is always already de facto - fully accomplished in a detailed and deterministic sense; that is, nothing can ever thwart the will of God. Arminians (and some other Christians) believe God's control over human history is always already de jure - by right and power if not already completely exercised - but at present only partially de facto. God can and does exercise control, but not to the exclusion of human liberty and not in such a way as to make him the author of sin and evil. After all, Jesus taught his disciples to pray, 'Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven' (Mt 6:10 RSV). If God's sovereignty were already completely exercised de facto, why would anyone need to pray for God's will to be done on earth? In that case, it would always already be done on earth. The distinction between God's sovereignty de facto and de jure is required by the Lord's Prayer.'

Olson's distinction between de facto and de jure sovereignty is important. To say that God is de facto sovereign means that God is already in complete meticulous control in that His desires and wishes are fully carried out. There is no contest to His kingship. To say that God is de jure sovereign is to say that while God's kingship is a factual reality, it is currently being contested (though that won't always be the case in the future). Who, then, is contesting God's kingship? Is it human liberty? Though human beings have the liberty to choose sin (for if we did not have such liberty, and our choices were determined by God, why, then, would we be held responsible?), it is not our liberty that contests God's sovereignty, since He has created us to be libertarian creatures. Our ability to choose is not a result of sin's entrance into the world, though that ability has certainly been warped by sin. The power that is at odds with God in the moment, opposing His sovereignty, is the forces of evil that oppose God and twist the best things - including human liberty! - to its own ends. The Bible teaches that evil 'powers and principalities' are at work in our world, and sin personified is a very real power. Jesus called Satan the 'prince' or 'ruler of the world' (John 16.11), and Paul called him the 'god of this age' (2 Corinthians 4.4) and the 'ruler of the authority of the air' (Ephesians 2.2). The Bible teaches us that Satan blinds the minds of unbelievers (2 Corinthians 4.4) and holds them in his snare until God releases them through the gospel (2 Timothy 2.25-26). Satan can take life, as with Job's children; ruin health, as with Job's body (cf. Luke 13.16); toriment with demons (Luke 11.18), provoke evil deeds (Luke 22.3); and cause natural disasters (Job 1.19). The Bible plainly teaches God's de jure rule, if we are to take it seriously and at face-value. Calvinists teach that Satan is but another puppet in God's scheme for the world, though the Bible portrays him as an active player who is at odds with God. Olson acknowledges the presence of a 'heavenly contest' between God and evil:

'Evangelical theologian Stanley Grenz... offered a helpful distinction in God's providence... It is the distinction between 'sovereignty de facto' and 'sovereignty de jure. According to Grenz... due to God's voluntary self-limitation he is now sovereign de jure (by right) but not yet sovereign de facto (in actuality). His sovereignty de facto is future. This reflects the biblical narrative in which Satan is the 'god of this age' (2 Cor. 4:4) (where 'world' clearly means 'this present evil age'), and God will defeat him in the coming age to become 'all in all' (1 Cor. 15:28). The entirety of 1 Corinthians 15 can be interpreted in no other way; it assumes the distinction between God's sovereign rule de jure now and de facto in the future. This is not to say, of course, that God is not actually sovereign now at all; it only says that God is allowing his sovereignty to be challenged and his will to be partially thwarted till then.'

Does God, as Reformed Calvinistic theologian argue, meticulously control everything, including evil? Or is it, as Arminians such as the scholars above postulate, that God has created a world in which human creatures are free to make decisions? I tend towards the latter, but with a caveat: as the truth is often somewhere in the middle between opposing viewpoints, it's likely that the truth about God's exercise of His sovereignty is likewise a shade between the Reformed and Arminian positions ('Deterministic Control' versus 'Free Will'). A prominent caricature of Arminian beliefs is that the presence of 'free will' would leave God at the mercy of the decisions of human creatures and evil powers. That is not at all the case, as we will explore in the coming weeks. Arminian theology relegate God to the position appropriated Him by the deists, in that He is no longer involved in our world and is letting things run according to our whims and fancies and trying to keep up. Arminians don't believe that God never causes anything; we simply believe that God doesn't cause everything. Olson clarifies this point:

'Classical Arminianism goes far beyond belief in general providence to include affirmation of God's intimate and direct involvement in every event of nature and history. The only thing the Arminian view of God's sovereignty necessarily excludes is God's authorship of sin and evil. Faithful followers of Arminius have always believed that God governs the entire universe and all of history. Nothing at all can happen without God's permission, and many things are specifically and directly controlled and caused by God. Even sin and evil do not escape God's providential governance in classical Arminian theology. God permits and limits them without willing or causing them.'

The Bible teaches that God orchestrated the destruction of Jerusalem in both 586 BC and AD 70. Does this mean that He orchestrates every city's downfall? Absolutely not. The Bible teaches that God had a wife (or two!) for Jacob; does that mean God has already decided whom everyone will marry? Absolutely not! Sometimes God causes things to happen; other times He permits them. But everything He permits does not thwart His ultimate aims and goals; He will bring history - and ourselves - to where He intends, no matter the route. Is God, then, in control? Absolutely! And in this we can celebrate.