God is not in Control?

I will agree my last post had an uncomfortable premise: that God is not in control. It's "uncomfortable" only because it runs against much of what Christians think about God. But I suggest that a God who is not in control is much more honorable, praise-worthy, and powerful than any god who claims to be in command of every aspect of creation.

Let's think about what it means to be "in control" for a moment. It means that the controlling person manages or attempts to manage every aspect of a situation as means of producing some desired effect or outcome. That might be okay if the outcome is, say, a chocolate cake. If a person wants to bake a cake he or she will need everything to behave as it should so that the cake bakes into a flawless dessert. If the oven does not heat to the right temperature, it will be made to heat correctly. If the eggs will not combine with the rest of the batter they will be beaten until they do. The baker will have a cake sooner or later as different elements of the cake a brought under his control.

And that is exactly the false image of God that too many people have. He's the baker who desires a perfect outcome for his creation. It is in obedience to the concept of achieving this perfect outcome that many people drag themselves to church or sign-up to teach Sunday school or chide themselves and those around them to sit-up straight and act Christian. This image must be destroyed before the "abundant life" that Christ offered is ever to be found.

"He does not control the one he loves...but that does not mean he is powerless."

The simple fact is that God is not looking to achieve some goal for his creation. He wants love from his creation. Here's another area where Christians might be uncomfortable with changing their image of God. They don't want to see God as wanting anything. Of course, he is perfect; he does not need anything. Yet to want something very badly is to choose to need it, and God has chosen to need our love.

Consider a great deal of the message of the prophets. God is definitely angry with Israel for all of their unfaithfulness to Him. But what kind of anger is it? Through Jeremiah he says, "'I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert...'" (Jer. 2:2). But because of her continual pursuit of other gods you can almost see His angry tears: "I will forsake my house, abandon my inheritance; I will give the one I love into the hands of her enemies...'"(Jer. 12:7). These aren't the words of a frustrated baker whose cake has fallen. They are the words of a lover who has been spurned by the one he loves, and rejects her only after she has thoroughly rejected him. He gives Israel the payment due to her for the duplicity of her actions, but he never attempts to make her love him. For he knows you cannot control the one you love if you ever hope to have them love you in return.

Yet he has never given up on the hope that he will be loved in return. We can know this because he does not end his pursuit of us, his faithless lover. In fact, he is certain that he can win her back when he declares through Zephaniah, "I will bring you home..." (Zeph. 3:20, emphasis added).

He does not control the one he loves. If He did, any devotion we gave in return, wouldn't be true love. But that does not mean he is powerless. More on that in the next post.