Who Really Is in Control?

During the struggles of my 21-day fast, I found myself wrestling with something very familiar and very uncomfortable. My intentions were sincere, my desire was real, and yet my weakness was loud. Accurately expressed in Romans 7:25:

“So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”

My mind wanted God. My flesh… not so much.

As I sat with that thought, another passage crossed my path Mark 1:25–27, where Jesus rebukes an unclean spirit and it immediately obeys Him. The people around are stunned and ask, “What is this? A new teaching with authority!”

And suddenly, something struck me.

The evil spirits obey Jesus instantly not because they want to, but because He is the Sovereign Lord and they recognize His authority without question.

That led me to a deeper, unsettling thought.

Do humans not submit the same way because of our free will?

But even the demons have free will which made rebellion possible. 

Everything God created was good. It was our choices that distorted that goodness.

So the real question isn’t whether God can command us.
It’s whether we recognise and obey.

And maybe, just maybe, that’s why God’s help so often comes from the most unlikely places, in the most unplanned ways. Because even when we are distracted, weak, or unaware… God is still in control.

This realization hit me again through a very ordinary, very unexpected recent experience.

Recently, I went to the bank for some work. As I was leaving home, something nudged me to take a plastic bottle of water instead of my usual flask. I didn’t think much of it.

Later, the Uber drop location accidentally turned out to be incorrect. We asked the driver to move ahead as we try to locate the bank, but after a while, something prompted me to stop and walk instead. Again there was no clear reason.

The moment we got down, I noticed a man sitting nearby. The first thing he did was point to my bottle. He desperately needed water. We handed the plastic bottle to him, and moved on.

I hadn’t planned any of it.
I didn’t anticipate the need.
I didn’t orchestrate the timing.

But what he needed was delivered.

And that was chilling in the best possible way. I had answered a command I did not consciously hear.

How often are we so focused on the evil in the world, or the unhelpful, indifferent nature of people, that we forget the deeper truth?
That God is still sovereign.
Still directing.
Still providing.
Still working through both the willing and the barely aware vessels.

The fast reminded me of my weakness.
Scripture reminded me of His authority.

And that man bore witness to the authority of God quietly at work.

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Jan 15, 2026