This is a question sent to me and my response.
QUESTION-
"I am a Pentecostal Christian. At times, I think
God is very passive in a submissive Christian's life. Why not? I know He
is sovereign, but yet He doesn't take control of situations. I love a
very deep
answer please."
RESPONSE-
I
am a bit confused by the way your question is worded so I will need to
make an assumption on what you are really asking. What's confusing is
that you say, "Why not?"
immediately after the phrase, "I think God is very passive in a submissive Christian's life."
What you seem to be asking in context though is, why is it that
God sometimes seems passive in a Christian's life? Even though we know
he is sovereign over all creation, why does he not "take control of the
situation"? I will assume your "why not?" question applies to, why does
God not take control of the situation. So
I apologize if I have misunderstood the intent of your question.
The
key to the answer is found in your very question when you say, "I know
he is sovereign". Yes, he is sovereign! We know this from scripture.
"Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases (Ps 115:3) "Declaring the end from the
beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My
counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose" (Is 46:10)
"All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he 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?'" (Dn 4:35) "This Jesus, delivered up according to
the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,
you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." (Ac 2:23) "And we
know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for
those who are called according to his purpose." (Ro 8:28) "In him we
have obtained an inheritance, having been
predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things
according to the counsel of his will..." (Ep 1:11) and I could go on and
on! Scripture clearly reveals and proclaims the absolute sovereignty of
God, meaning that he alone has the ability to do
all that he desires, to accomplish all his purposes.
However,
that in no way implies that he will intervene in our individual
situations in a manner that we would prefer. Not at all! In fact, God's
sovereignty means that
he will accomplish *his* purposes completely and perfectly and that
means allowing or ensuring our situations play out just as they do! If
we truly believe God is sovereign over all things then it includes our
lives and situations. God knows you perfectly.
He knows your current situation perfectly and he knows every future
event perfectly. Part of God's sovereignty is that perfect knowledge
which includes what is often called "middle knowledge". God's middle
knowledge means that God not only knows the beginning
situation perfectly (i.e. the "now"), and the end (i.e. the future)
perfectly, but he also knows everything in the middle perfectly. He
knows what decisions you would make given any possible situation you
could face in the world that God himself created and
arranged. This is how God works all things together for your good and
for his glory. This is referred to as God's providence and is what
scripture clearly teaches. Therefore, far from passive, God is
intimately active in every event and every situation such
that Paul could make that amazing claim in Romans 8:28 - "And we know
that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those
who are called according to his purpose." So we must be careful not to
confuse situations and outcomes that don't
please us with God being passive! This is where Christian faith comes
into play. As the writer of Hebrews explains in chapter 11 by reminding
us of the great heroes of faith. God made promises to them. But their
life situations appeared not to be coming out
as God promised. God appeared to not be giving Abraham the land he
promised for example. But Abraham believed God, trusted in God's
goodness and his sovereign purposes, and that was accounted to Abraham
as righteousness. So it is with everyone who follows God.
He wants us to trust him and believe in his goodness and sovereign
purposes that, while it might appear God is not actively fulfilling his
promises in our lives, he is indeed working all things together for our
good and his glory! This is the essence of faith,
what it means to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Co 5:7).
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