The natural man bristles and rebels against God being on His Throne. He will “allow” God to be anywhere but upon His Throne and acting as God, independent of all others! Man wants to be in control and have a say, indeed the FINAL say in how God acts and behaves. Sinful man wants to CONTROL God!
Paul address’s this in Romans 9:20 –
“Who are you O Man to answer back to God? The thing molded will not say to the Molder why did you make me like this, will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use…”
As Creator, God has Divine right to do as He pleases with His creation! If sinful men and women cannot control God, they desire to INVENT a “God”- after their own thoughts.
When the Israelite’s refused to wait on Moses who had gone up to the mountain to speak with God, they decided to make a god of their own image. So they made a golden calf and said this is “the LORD!” They formed and fashioned one of their own understanding and came up with a concoction from their own twisted minds and proclaimed a golden calf- this is God. They had INVENTED- “God!” They molded “Him”; invented “Him”; could move “Him”; see “Him” and control “Him.” They were in charge!
Myriads and myriads of us have done likewise and even worse, we INVENT the “god” we desire, often out of ignorance but indeed too often out of rebellion! We refuse to allow God be who He has revealed Himself as in the Scripture. So we debate, divide over, depart from the Scriptures view of God, because in reality too often we are “not happy” with a GOD who insists upon being God and not allowing us at the very least to “co-chair” with Him in decision making. We have a “god” complex, and so we bristle at God sitting upon His Throne and not “me” sitting there in place of Him! So we INVENT a “god” of our own imagination and when confronted with the God of THE SCRIPTURE our natural, sinful and rebellious tendency is to bristle at such teaching that God is Sovereign and is the ONLY ONE who has the right to do as He wants, when He wants, How He wants, without any need of our approval or opinion!
Do you have a “god complex?” How do you know?
1. THE DESIRE TO CONTROL GOD; One way is when things don’t go as we want or when God seems to be taking too long to answer our prayers,-of course we have prayed in “Jesus Name” but not for His sake, His glory, but as a “magic” formula to guarantee and impress upon God … because we have “prayed about it and used Jesus Name” therefore HE IS OBLIGATED to answer ME and give ME what I want!! And if not I will be so upset and threaten to turn my back upon Him!! This is but the evidence of a heart that desires, to be in control, seeks to manipulate and in essence desires that God not be God!
Satan;It is the rebellious and covetous heart like satan who desired to be God, THIS was the SIN of satan. “How far have you Fallen from Heaven…But you SAID in YOUR HEART, I WILL ascend to heaven; I WILL raise MY throne ABOVE the stars of God, and I WILL sit on the mount of assembly…I WILL ascend above the heights of the clouds, I WILL make myself Like the Most High.”} –
NOTE the phrase “I WILL.” This is the essence of sin- “I WILL” over God’s Will! –
Pharaoh; DEMONSTRATED his rebellion- “who is the LORD that I SHOULD OBEY Him?”
The Rich Young Ruler; He wanted Heaven but was not willing to submit to the Words of Jesus. He did not want to LOSE CONTROL of his life. He wanted heaven on his terms,not God’s!
Or consider those who said of Jesus, “We will not have this Man rule over us.”
We don’t mind the “Jesus” on the cross, or the “Jesus” who will provide for me like those who followed Him for the fish and loaves- what He could provide but not to submit to! We don’t mind the “Jesus” who “forgives” me and allows me to continue on in deception and does not interfere with my plans for my life, and whose main role is to “bless ME”…but ignore the fact repentance is necessary for Divine Forgiveness-Acts 2:37-38; But the rebel in us all comes to the fore when our will is crossed and God does not PERFORM for ME- as I demand and expect! This is one manifestation of a “god complex!”
God had promised Abram that He would bless him with a son. Time passed, years passed and his wife SARAI took matters into her own hands { a “god complex”} and she told her husband to have sex with her maid servant and bring about the “promise” of a child! She could not wait upon God she “HAD TO, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT” and so she “took control” of the situation and the consequences of this one sinful action have reverberated through the ages. “A God complex”- is not content to wait and trust God, but takes things into their own hands and forces a result- for self gratification!
2. -The Goal of “a god complex” person is not the Glory of God BUT the fulfilling of their desires even if it means choosing to knowingly SIN against God to achieve what they want!
The “problem” with God too often is, God does not behave as we demand and expect Him to in bowing to us and ultimately existing to serve us, as His main function for His existing!
The desire to Control, manipulate and Displace God is a manifestation of a “god complex,”- the end is self and not the Savior!
What mercy and great patience God demonstrates towards us in such times of spiritual insanity! It is but amazing grace and loving restrain that He does not instantaneously consume us for our high and lofty rebellion in His presence! For rebellion it is, and the God of the Scriptures says “rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft!”
Despite the cries and protests of the “clay” God is still the “Potter” and upon His Throne and will be forever and every knee shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the Glory of the Father.
God is God and you and I are not. Until we submit to His Rule we will always bristle and complain and rebel at the God who Is, and Who sits upon His Throne as God!
The Scriptural teaching of God as Sovereign, is a cause for concern, and a sore point for the natural man who hates the thought that he or she is not ultimately in…CONTROL. From satan, to the Garden, the root of sin has always been the desire to usurp God and… be “GOD!” The desire to be “God” and displace “God” was the sin of satan and is the sin of all rebels. It is REBELLION towards our Maker and His Son. Jesus died to liberate us from such sin of thought and deed! Yet, it is not only the lost who display such rebellion but believers can secretly battle with such thoughts of insurrection. We must flee from such treasonous thoughts and once again follow His Word and, “submit yourself to God…for God is opposed to the PROUD but gives grace to the HUMBLE….” The PROUD seek Control, the humble SUBMIT and seek God and His glory in the situation, even when they cannot understand events and situations that are painful!
The natural man or woman is content to have a merciful, loving “god” but NOT A SOVEREIGN GOD who acts as He pleases, when He pleases, how He pleases, for ultimately His own pleasure- independent of their input or permission! Psalm 135:6
RECOGNIZE– A- “god Complex,” is SIN
REPENT- Turn away from it to God
RELINQUISH the desire to be in control, submit yourself to Him and take your rightful place at His feet, thankful for His mercy and His gracious Sovereignty that He has been so long suffering with you!
End the madness, submit to His Authority, rest in His Sovereignty, rejoice in His Consistency- God is Upon His Throne as SOVEREIGN GOD!