Under Control

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A lot is going on in and around me lately, hence the silence. 4h30 in the morning while lying down on a make shift bed made of blankets, having not slept beyond 4 hours, I read Ephesians 1. My heart stuck on a phrase in verse 11.
“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,”

God has a plan. He has a purpose, a will. He has an intended plan for everything and everyone and through Jeremiah 29:11 we know that He only has good plans for us. But what happens when something bad happens? Does He have control only over the good? Not according to this verse. It gives us the understanding that God remains in control even in hostile situations because He is constantly at work, working all things out to conform with His plan, even the bad.

Bad and evil doesn’t intimidate God, He has ultimate control over it, being able to move it around as He pleases, and what pleases Him is us having life in abundance and His name being glorified. He moves the pawns around on the chess board so that we win at the end of the day. This is why we have the confidence that in all things God works for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28), even when things are going horribly wrong.

In chaotic situations, when things don’t go according to our plan, one easily forgets and undermines the level of control God has over the situation. Just because we’re overwhelmed, doesn’t mean God is too. God literally never looses control over anything, He is always there, seeing all, knowing all and having power over all; not only of the current but also of the next. If it were not so, this whole earth would be under fire, we’d all be destroyed because that’s what the Devil desires so much to do with us. But it isn’t. Yes there is a evil all around us, evil of a magnitude that we sometimes fail to comprehend, but even so, even in the darkness and chaos, God’s Spirit hovers.

So I need to trust and believe that God is sovereign and authoritative over everything that happens. I need to trust that He’s not idle, helplessly watching as things spiral out of control, but rather that He is actively at work, working things for my good. Joseph realized this in Genesis 50:20 that no amount of his brothers’ hatred could hinder God’s plan of good for His life. As much as it hurt, it couldn’t alter God’s plan which was for his good.

So if you too find yourself in a place where things just seem to be falling apart, one after another, remember that God is not part of it but over it, that He has not lost control, that He will work it to work for you. Then chin up and keep walking until you see the results of His working.

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