“God is in control.”

These words can be of wonderful comfort to people struggling with common phobias, natural fears, apprehension of impending bad news, or even deep-seated terrors resulting from past trauma. A biblical reminder that God is sovereign over all things often brings great relief. That nothing can happen to us that does not first pass through the will of God is comforting in many fearful or worrisome situations.

But there are times when the words “God is in control” might actually make matters worse. A terrified Christian may have already wrestled with the fact that God is sovereign, yet since their fears have been realized, they arrive at the misguided conclusion that God is punishing them, or worse, that God has abandoned them to the very things which terrify them. At the root of such fear and anxiety is not whether God is in control of all things (a doctrine most Christians readily accept), but a fear that God really is in control of all things. “Why would God allow my fears to become my reality?” “Perhaps God hates me or has rejected me” they reason, only ratcheting up the intensity of their own dread and terror. The reality is for some that the awareness of God’s sovereignty may not be a source of relief—only another source of doubt, frustration, fear, or even anger at God. Fear can do this to people, even Christians, who intellectually know better.

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