I’ve been pondering the concepts of free will vs. predestination for a while now.
Scripture talks about a person’s choice in several places. Remember the king who was told by a prophet to strike the ground with some arrows (a symbolic act like a battle cry)? He struck the ground three times, at which the prophet said “why only three times? If you had struck the ground five or six times God would have given you total victory. Now you’ll only see partial victory.” So God wanted to do something through this king, but his acts affected his destiny.
Flipside: Romans 8:29 says God chose (predestined) certain people to become believers. The Greek word means “to limit in advance.” So before I made any choices about right and wrong, heaven and hell, my way or his way, God chose me to be a believer. How? Why did he decide this? Ephesians 1:5 says “according to the pleasure of his will.” In other words, because he wanted to.
Reminds me of my two year old asking “but why?” over and over, my last answer being “because I’m your Papa.” What I mean but can’t communicate to her yet is that I have only good and kind intentions, and her best interest at heart, and even though she may not understand my will she needs to trust me.
So what’s the trick to retaining your free will (God didn’t create robots) but staying on the path he desires for you? Obviously to choose his way. But how do you know which way is his way?
See my last post.
