God is Sovereign vs God is In Control

Nitpicking for a moment... I have seen a lot of posts on social media saying, "God is in control." I disagree and I agree.

I agree that God is Sovereign (One that exercises supreme, permanent authority). God has the ultimate authority over all of life and He will exercise that authority at the time that His perfect will and wisdom dictate. However, I disagree with the statements that God is in control.

God allows man to exercise free will. He does not control all of our thoughts and actions, and sometimes He allows us to go through consequences that come from the free-will actions of others and our own free-will actions.

God has also allowed Satan to temporarily be the ruler of this world. (See John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11 and Ephesians 2:2-3; 6:12)

At times, God steps in and directs human history, based on His sovereignty. At other times He does not. Either way, eternity is in His sovereign control.

For examples of each, read the stories of Daniel and his friends in the book of Daniel and the story of John the Baptist in the book of Mark.

God calls us to use our free will to follow him and to trust our eternity to His sovereignty.



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