How can God be sovereign if we have free will? That’s a question for the philosophers and prophets, right? Good thing I’m a philosopher, so I feel qualified to answer that question.
Many years ago I gave someone a Christmas present, and they asked if it was okay to give it to someone else. Before I even opened my mouth I knew it was okay. Was I given divine inspiration? “If I give it to you, it’s yours. What you do with it is your decision, so if you want to give it away to someone else, I have nothing to say about that.”
While that’s true, it's a simplistic analogy of God giving us free will. If you don’t push things too far, it’s a perfect example. But what if we DO explore that a bit further?
The analogous questions would be, “Was I sovereign over that Christmas gift after I gave it away?” Again with a simple answer, “No.”
The thing is, God is so far beyond anything we can comprehend. God has given us the gift of free will, so we have the right to do with it whatever we want - even to the point of turning our back on Him. That’s the risk of handing out freedom. Sometimes people choose something that turns out to be bad for them.
Anyone who has raised children knows the problem. Controlling a baby strapped into a high chair is difficult enough. Those arms seem to grow longer and longer, and you have to keep moving that knife you’re using on your steak farther and farther away.
Then they start walking, they get a bicycle, a driver’s license or bus pass, and eventually they move out on their own. You have zero control. How does that relate to God being sovereign? Simple.
Yoda would never tell Luke it’s okay to give in to the Dark Side for a moment. Jim Kirk would never follow orders that would leave people to die if he could help them. Gibbs would never launch into a soliloquy to explain why he wants his people to follow his orders. You can come up with your own examples of people (fictional or real) who would never do something outside their character.
If you know how a person would react, what makes you think God wouldn’t? He gave pharaoh free will, so he had the option to let Moses and the Hebrews go. He knew they wouldn’t. It wasn’t in pharaoh’s character. But did God exercise His sovereign Will to force pharaoh to deny Moses? No. If you want to know more about that whole story, pick up a Bible and read Exodus.
I’m an author. While I’m not extremely prolific at publishing, I’ve created a number of characters in the various stories I have published. There are times when I have to change a scene because I need a character to react a certain way. That’s like showing Moses the burning bush.
Could God have just talked to Moses? Sure. But He knew Moses wouldn’t react the way God needed if a disembodied voice spoke out of thin air. Now, a burning bush, God knew, “That’ll do the trick.”
Think of yourself as a plant. (Again, don’t stretch an analogy too far. It won’t work.) When you get a load of manure dumped on you, know it’s God preparing you for what you need to do. You still have free will, but God’s plan is infinitely bigger than any mere mortal can imagine.
Even the angels have been kept in the dark about some things. (Do you think Satan knew ahead of time that his rebellion would fail? Can I hear a resounding “NO!”?)
In the book of Job the main character (Job himself) is complaining about his situation. He’s had about five loads of fertilizer - manure - dumped on him and he doesn’t like it. Now, there’s a reason for that. We know that reason, but God never stopped to explain it to Job.
First off, it’s not God’s purpose to explain everything to everyone.
Secondly, most of the time we CAN’T understand God’s purposes. Think of that baby reaching to play with your knife. Explain all you want, the kid cannot understand why it’s wrong to play with the pretty shiny toy.
Thirdly, when I write a story and put my main character through living hell, I never - NEVER - think to explain it to that character.
“Sorry, John, but Jane had to die in that car crash because I need you to champion the installation of air bags in all cars.”
“Why?”
“Because it’ll save the life of Patrick in twenty years.”
“So what? Who is Patrick?”
“Well, Patrick will have a baby I need to discover the vaccine to COVID-19.”
“What’s COVID-19? I don’t get it.”
“It’s a virus that’s going to kill a lot of people.”
“Why would you do that?”
See what I mean? John just lost Jane in a car accident. Nothing else matters. Patrick is nothing to John, Patrick’s child is decades away from being born, and John doesn’t feel any better for the explanation. In fact, he probably feels worse, thinking Jane wasn’t worth the same as Patrick’s unborn baby.
But that’s not true.
All things work together for His glory.
And we have the free will God gave us to get on board or not.
Remember, you’ll never surprise God with your choice. Stick with Him and you’ll be okay. Turn your back . . . . . forever not-okay.
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