Giving Up Control

Each of us is endowed with the inalienable power of agency. We are to be masters of our own destiny. We have the right, the power, and the obligation to choose for ourselves. If this is the case, then why are we so often required to experience things that are totally beyond our control? Why would God, who loves us more than we can know and who wants us to learn to act for ourselves, allow us to enter into situations where we have no control and seemingly no choice in the outcome? We are here on this Earth to learn to become like God. And a big part of becoming like God is giving up complete control. God could control every micro decision of every one of his children, he could control every molecule in all the galaxies from nanosecond to nanosecond, he could make it so that nothing bad ever happened to any of his children. But this is not the Plan of Happiness. God is not all powerful because he uses all of his power all of the time. God is all powerful because He so often refrains from using his power. It is easy for me to say that I will not smite that person who offended me with a lightning bolt because I am a good person and that person deserves a second chance, and also I do not have the power to smite anyone, deserving or not, with a lightning bolt. It is harder to say those things when you do have that power. We are so often placed in situations where we cannot control all of the variables because God, in his infinite wisdom, has chosen a path where, even though he can control all of the variables, he has nevertheless traded his perfect control for the opportunity for his imperfect children to exercise their agency, often in ways that are harmful to themselves and others. God could control everything but He has chosen not to. When God places us in circumstances that are beyond our control, He is inviting us to experience the world as He experiences it. God can’t control everything and also allow us the opportunity to learn and grow. Could God stop all murders and rapes, all hurricanes and wildfires, all illnesses and injuries? Could God reach out His mighty hand and stop all broken hearts and shattered dreams and lost souls? Of course He could. But He can’t stop all of those things and still allow His children the space to learn and grow and become like Him. It would be very hard to have unlimited power and not reach down and stop every broken bone or broken home or broken soul. That is why God gives us opportunities to feel what it’s like to not have control when we really don’t have control, so that way we can later on in our eternal progression choose to surrender our control for a greater cause.