As much as we often grasp at control, one of the necessary steps to mature into a soul-centered faith is the increasing recognition of the limits to our control over much of life. These past couple of days have been a reminder of that. Yesterday, about the same time that we were addressing this idea in worship, the world was learning of the tragic passing at age 41 of Kobe Bryant, one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Bryant, along with his 13-year-old daughter and 7 others, were killed in a helicopter crash Sunday morning. It was a sad reminder of there being no guarantees about tomorrow.
Today also marks a day of loss, as this is the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp in World War II. Over one million Jews were killed at Auschwitz. It serves as a sad reminder of humanity’s capacity for inhumanity when we fail to remember our shared humanity.
The truth of the matter is, sometimes life doesn’t make sense. And when it doesn’t make sense, we are reminded that we are not in control. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I am not in control of life; time has a way of proving that to us. But the deeper question with which I wrestle is this: Is God really in control?
I realize that may be disturbing to some, that a pastor would ask such a thing. But events like yesterday’s helicopter crash, where nine innocent lives were suddenly lost - and even more, events like the Holocaust, where six million innocent lives were summarily snuffed out - make me ask the question. Surely God didn’t will for that helicopter to crash? Surely God’s plan didn’t include the extermination of six million Jews?... It’s one of the oldest questions of our faith, and one of the questions that chase many people from faith. If God is good and loving, and God is all-powerful, then why do evil things happen?
If I had a straightforward and satisfactory way to answer that question, it would be worthy of much more than a blog post. But let me share how I’ve come to answer the question, Is God in control?... Ultimately, I believe God is. I believe God is love, and in the end, I believe love has the final word. Love is the most powerful force in all existence. It is more powerful than anything which stand in opposition to it. So in the end, I believe, love wins.
Ultimately, that is. In the end. But… in the meantime… there is something else about love. For love to truly be love, it cannot be controlling. While love is more incomprehensibly powerful than any other force in life, love exerts its power through incomprehensible vulnerability. So while God’s love is all-powerful… maybe, just maybe, God’s love prevents God from exerting control over every aspect of life.
Still, in the end, I believe, the power of that love wins out. In the end, love is the ultimate point. As Auschwitz survivor Viktor Frankl penned in Man’s Search for Meaning, “Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire… The salvation of man is through love and in love.”
Despite how out of control we feel in life, and how out of control life can really be, love has saving power. Even in loss. Even in the midst of atrocity. Even in death. As Paul writes in Romans 8:35-39, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?... No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I surrender.