You’re staring at the ceiling at 3:00 AM. Your phone is face down because another news notification might actually make your heart skip a beat, and not in the fun way. Between the wild swings in the global economy and the feeling that the world is literally vibrating with tension, it’s easy to feel like the steering wheel of the universe is just spinning freely. But then you hear that old phrase. Someone says, "Don't worry, God is still in charge."
Does that actually mean anything? Or is it just a spiritual band-aid we slap on gaping wounds?
Honestly, for a lot of people, it feels like the latter. When life gets messy, "God is in control" can sound dismissive. But if you look at the theology behind it—and more importantly, how people actually live it out—it’s less about a magic wand and more about a foundational anchor. It’s the difference between being a plastic bag blowing in the wind and being a ship that actually has a rudder, even if the waves are thirty feet high.
The Problem With "Control" in a Chaotic World
We need to be real for a second. If God is in charge, why is the world such a dumpster fire sometimes? This is the classic "Problem of Evil" that philosophers like Alvin Plantinga have spent decades deconstructing. Plantinga’s Free Will Defense basically argues that for humans to have actual, meaningful moral freedom, God has to allow for the possibility of bad choices.
So, being "in charge" doesn’t mean God is a micromanager running a puppet show.
It’s more like a master grandmaster in a chess game. You can move your pieces however you want. You can even try to flip the table. But the grandmaster already knows every possible move you could make and has a strategy to bring the game to its intended finish regardless of your chaos.
What the Ancient Texts Actually Say
If you dig into the Hebrew Bible, specifically the book of Job, you see this tension play out in the rawest way possible. Job loses everything. His kids, his wealth, his health. He spends chapters screaming at the sky, demanding an explanation.
When God finally shows up? He doesn’t apologize. He doesn't say, "My bad, I lost track of things for a minute." Instead, He points to the foundations of the earth and the complexity of the cosmos. He basically reminds Job that the perspective of a human is tiny compared to the architecture of eternity.
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It’s a bit of a "tough love" moment.
But the takeaway is profound: God is still in charge even when the circumstances suggest He’s gone on vacation. The sovereignty of God isn’t about everything going right; it’s about the fact that nothing—not even the worst day of your life—is outside the reach of His eventual restoration.
The Psychology of Surrender
There is a weirdly practical benefit to believing this. Psychologists often talk about "locus of control." If you think everything depends on you, your stress levels will eventually redline. You can’t control the interest rates. You can’t control your boss's mood. You certainly can’t control the weather.
When you lean into the idea that a higher power is holding the big picture, your internal locus of control shifts. You focus on what you can do—be kind, work hard, stay honest—and you exhale the rest. It’s a cognitive offloading. You’re letting the "CEO of the Universe" handle the macro-management so you can focus on your actual job: being a decent human being today.
History’s "God Is in Charge" Moments
Think about Corrie ten Boom. She was a Dutch watchmaker who ended up in a Nazi concentration camp for hiding Jews during the Holocaust. If anyone had a reason to think God had checked out, it was her. Yet, her writings, like The Hiding Place, are filled with this stubborn, almost defiant belief that God was still the boss.
She famously said, "There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still."
That’s not toxic positivity. That’s a woman who saw the absolute worst of humanity and still believed the hierarchy of the universe hadn't changed. Her life showed that believing God is still in charge doesn't make you passive. It actually makes you incredibly brave. You can risk your life for what’s right because you believe the ultimate outcome is already settled.
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Misconceptions That Make Us Cynical
One of the biggest mistakes we make is equating "God is in charge" with "Everything will be easy."
That’s just not in the brochure.
- The "Everything Happens for a Reason" Trap: People say this to be helpful, but it’s often used to justify tragedies. It’s better to say that God can redeem any reason, rather than saying He caused the pain for a specific point.
- The Passive Bystander Effect: Believing God is in control doesn't mean you sit on your couch and wait for a check to fall from the ceiling. Biblical "faith" is almost always tied to action.
- The Immunity Idol: Some think that if they believe hard enough, they won't get sick or lose their jobs. But the rain falls on the just and the unjust. The difference is the umbrella you’re holding.
Why It Matters Right Now
We are living through a period of "polycrisis." We have climate anxiety, political polarization, and the rise of AI making everyone wonder if their jobs will exist in five years. It feels like the world is accelerating toward a cliff.
In this context, the phrase God is still in charge acts as a stabilizer.
It reminds us that human history has seen empires rise and fall before. The Romans thought they were the end of the story. The British Empire thought the sun would never set. They’re all gone, or at least changed beyond recognition. But the spiritual reality behind the scenes? That remains the same.
Actionable Steps to Live Like It's True
If you actually want to integrate this belief into your life so you can finally sleep at 3:00 AM, you have to do more than just think about it. It’s a practice.
Audit your news intake. Honestly, you weren't built to carry the weight of every tragedy on the planet in real-time. If God is in charge, you don't need to be the "watchman" for every single global disaster. Limit your scrolling. Give your brain room to breathe.
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Practice "Breath Prayers." It sounds a bit crunchy, but it works. When you feel that spike of cortisol, just breathe in and say, "You are in control," and breathe out, "I am not." It’s a physical reminder to your nervous system that the weight of the world isn't on your shoulders.
Look for the "Small Sovereignties." Start noticing the little things that go right. The green light when you were late. The friend who texted at the exact moment you felt lonely. Some call it coincidence; others call it "God-incidents." Regardless, it builds a pattern of seeing a hand at work in the details.
Invest in your local community. When we feel the world is out of control, we tend to withdraw. Do the opposite. Volunteer. Help a neighbor. When you act with agency in your own neighborhood, you’re mirroring the care that God has for the whole world. It’s a way of participating in His "being in charge."
Release the "How." We often trust God with the what but we struggle with the how. You might believe God will provide, but you’re stressed because He isn't doing it the way you planned. Part of acknowledging His authority is admitting that His methods might be totally different—and probably better—than yours.
Trusting that God is still in charge is a daily decision. It's not a one-time prayer that fixes your life forever. It's a "long obedience in the same direction," as Eugene Peterson put it. You wake up, you see the headlines, and you choose to believe that the King is still on the throne, even if the palace guards are making a mess of the courtyard.
Stop trying to carry the universe. You’re not built for it, and frankly, you’re not very good at it. Let the one who actually knows what He’s doing take the lead. It doesn't mean the path will be flat, but it does mean you'll never be walking it alone.