The question is not a new one. People have been asking it for centuries. “If God is in control, why do so many bad things happen on a daily basis?” The famous atheist Bertrand Russell reportedly said, “No one who has witnessed the death of a child can possibly believe in a loving God who rules all things for the benefit of human beings.” It would seem either God is not in control of what is going on or he is not loving. Either option isn’t very attractive.
At the end of his life the Old Testament Israelite Samson might have asked similar questions. From birth he had been chosen to lead his fellow countrymen out of the political repression of the neighboring Philistines. He had spent most of his life doing just that, but for all his efforts, not much seemed to have changed. Now, blinded and imprisoned by the very people he was meant to defeat, Samson wondered if God really was in control.
Things didn’t turn out the way Samson had envisioned for his life. But that doesn’t mean God had lost control. Looking back on history we see that Samson had a role to play in God’s master plan to send his Son into the world. Maybe Samson wanted a more influential part, but what he did was necessary. No, God’s rationale is not always apparent to us. Before we choose to write him off, however, we need to consider massively one question: “If God is not in control, who is?” It is not enough, no, it is even intellectual disaster to cynically dismiss the question with the flippant response, “No one is in control. Everything just happens.” That kind of thinking won’t do, not on a practical, daily basis because it means everyone of us has no purpose for being on this earth nor any value. We are all just random chance accidents. Our passions, our loves, our efforts, our pain, our suffering have no significance other than the chemical reactions they produce in us and in others.
If you find yourself resentful towards God because you don’t think he’s doing the best job running things, join us for one of our services this weekend as we explore the options of making sense out of life without God being in control.
Saturday evening worship: 6:00 pm
Sunday morning worship: 10:00 am
Hawaii Lutheran Church (WELS)
- Community Lutheran Church
- Honolulu, HI
- Community Lutheran Church holds protestant chapel services in Honolulu, Hawaii near Pearl Harbor, HI. We are next to the USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hickam Air Force Base, and Fort Shafter Hawaii. Look for us directly behind the Salt Lake, Hawaii, Target.