When They Say God Is in Control
Post 25 in the Peaceful Resistance Series
But You’re the One Who Pays the Price
What They Mean When They Say “God Is in Control”
It sounds like faith.
It feels like surrender.
But too often, it functions like a shutdown switch.
When you grieve a school shooting—they say it.
When you call out corruption—they say it.
When your rights are stripped—they say it louder.
Not to comfort you—but to silence you.
Because if God is in control, then no one else has to be accountable.
Not the lawmakers. Not the pastors. Not the billionaires.
It becomes a holy way of avoiding hard truths.
But it is also a privilege—
to be able to say those words when your life isn’t directly on the line.
Faith Doesn’t Mean Abandoning Accountability
Scripture is filled with people who resisted injustice.
Moses didn’t tell the Israelites to sit quietly and trust.
He demanded Pharaoh let them go.
Jesus didn’t accept the status quo.
He flipped tables.
He defended the woman about to be stoned.
He broke laws that protected power over people.
To act is not a rejection of faith—
It’s a form of it.
To speak up is not rebellion—
It’s remembering who we are made to be.
So when Christian Nationalists say, “God is in control,”
and sit back while cruelty expands—
they’re not being faithful.
They’re outsourcing their courage.
The Cost of Spiritual Bypassing
When people say “God is in control” to avoid engaging with real suffering,
they’re not offering hope.
They’re weaponizing comfort.
This kind of spiritual bypassing doesn’t heal trauma—
it deepens it.
For survivors, it sounds like gaslighting.
For activists, it sounds like surrender.
For the oppressed, it sounds like betrayal.
Because what they hear is:
“Your pain doesn’t need a response.”
“Justice isn’t urgent.”
“Let’s pretend God agrees with doing nothing.”
But the God many of us believe in—
is not a God of passivity.
This is the same God who said:
“I have heard their cries.”
“I will go with you.”
“Let justice roll down like waters.”
Faith is not a shield from pain.
It’s a call to presence.
A call to action.
A call to love fiercely and move boldly—
especially when the world tells you to sit down and hush.
A Better Faith: God With Us, Not Over Us
We don’t need a faith that watches from above.
We need a faith that walks beside.
We need a God who joins us in the streets—
not one who hides behind pulpits and power.
Christian Nationalists paint a picture of divine control that excuses harm.
But the Jesus many of us follow never demanded control—
he offered solidarity.
He chose poverty.
He fed the hungry.
He welcomed the outcast.
He held space for the grieving.
This isn’t weakness.
This is holy defiance.
Because real love doesn’t dominate.
It liberates.
And real faith doesn’t silence suffering.
It listens.
It weeps.
And then—it acts.
So if someone tells you to be quiet because “God is in control”— remember:
The God I believe in still asks, “Whom shall I send?”
And maybe—just maybe—
You’re the one who’s meant to answer,
“Here I am.”
NEXT - When Unity Is a Cage
