Have you noticed a growing trend amongst theists and agnostics alike to saddle God with the
Agnostics conclude from this dilemma that God obviously doesn't care as much as the religious folks make out that he does. The all encompassing attribute of God which Christians invoke to explain this mystery is "the sovereignty of God". In this manner of understanding things we perceive God as an inscrutable (unknowable), all-powerful, mysterious, master tactician (think chess champion of inter-galactic proportions) who pre-destines and micro-manages every small detail of our world. I'm not talking about a God who is sovereign over all other powers, a God who answers to no-one, I'm talking about a God who, "fore-ordains everything which comes to pass....God initiates all things, regulates all things...." (A. W. Pink) God doesn't leave it there, says Edwin H. Palmer, "God is in back of everything. He decides and causes all things to happen that do happen....He has foreordained everything 'after the counsel of his will' (Eph 1:11): the moving of a finger...the mistake of a typist—even sin." [Gulp]
So I decided to look into the issue a little further myself and re-establish my foundations on the issue by doing a bit of reading. To my surprise I found that within the Christian fraternity there are wildly different views on the topic of what exactly "God's sovereignty" means and what the implications are for us. I always find it a bit sobering and humbling when men whom I respect hugely (Tozer, Piper, Pawson, Os Guiness et al) apply all their considerable wisdom to a topic and come to such varying conclusions. It certainly gives pause to me and warns me against hasty assumptions and haughtiness. Something else I discovered was a man who succinctly put my concerns into words which I probably would not have found on my own,
"One of the most common expressions one hears in Christian circles, especially for reassurance when things aren't going well, is that "God is in control, He's still on the throne." Christians comfort themselves with these words—but what do they mean? Was God not "in control" when Satan rebelled and when Adam and Eve disobeyed, but now He is? Does God's being in control mean that all the rape, murder, war and multiplied evil is exactly what He planned and desires?" (Hunt)
I guess the question is, does God always get his way? Is everything that is happening in the world exactly as God wants it? Is our world the way it is because he wills it and that settles it? Well, in answer to these questions I humbly submit to you that, No, God doesn't always get what he wants. Shocking, I know, but true. Here's scripture, "The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." (2 Pet 3:9) In this verse "perish" means the second death - hell. God doesn't wish for anyone to go to hell. So why do they? Not just a few but millions! Whatever the reason, no one can pin this on God. Or what about this one? "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’" (Mat 23:37-39) What did God want for this city? He wanted to redeem it. What did He get? Who was it that was not willing that Jerusalem be reconciled with Father God? - It says "YOU were not willing!"
One of the most profound things that I uncovered in my study was, "By the very nature of love and giving, man must have the power to choose." (Hunt) Love, because of its very nature, cannot be forced. God allows us to accept or reject His love because that is what love is, its a choice. Nor does he give us the illusion of having a choice when all the while he is working behind the scenes to "ordain" our choice ahead of the time. This tactic might fool us well enough but it would never satisfy him. Nowhere is it stated or implied in scripture that God created a creature in his image, a marvellous species of automatons who act out every detail of his invisible, inscrutable, scripted code down to the slightest "moving of a finger".
A common misunderstanding is that God's sovereignty rules out the possibility of any other "will" in his creation. Tozer paints a very different picture of God's sovereignty,
"God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the sovereign will of God but fulfils it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man should make but that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, "What doest thou?" Man's will is free because God is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. "
This decree of free will, for humans to choose right or wrong, has had massive ramifications for God's once perfect creation. Our bad choices have resulted in the hurricane of destruction that we see ravaging the world today. Fortunately this is not the end of the story but it is worth noting that it is not God's will that we should blame for our sufferings, the responsibility falls squarely upon our own shoulders. God made us a paradise, we have turned it into a hell. When we think of Christ we should think of him as he truly is, He said of himself:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour." (Luke 4:18,19)
God has given us this wonderful Messiah to rescue us from the mess we created. When we think of Him we must think of the hope and salvation that he brings, any other view of him is a perversion. When we think of God and his sovereignty it should not invoke an unhealthy fear in us. "God acts not only sovereignly, but in love, grace, mercy, kindness, justice and truth. His sovereignty is exercised only in perfect harmony with all of His other attributes." (Hunt) There is this inexplicable notion that God might cause tragedy to befall us at any time simply because "God is sovereign". This is just not good enough. Tragedy and troubles will come upon us in this life, but if and when they do, we must turn to God for our solace and deliverance, not to find the cause of our troubles.
The free choice of human-kind has not nullified the purposes of God. It is not as if he is watching helplessly on as his precious creation spins out of control. This is the beautiful mystery of it all. Those things which God has prophesied will come to pass. God's word will never fail, even if heaven and earth do. Not everything in this world is pleasing to God or ordained by him, but that is not to say that every single word that he has spoken will not come to pass. No design of demons or humans will prevent the fulfilment of the word of God. God spoke and the world was created. God prophesied a prophet like Moses who would bring light to the world - Jesus came. God prophesied exactly how Jesus would live and die, and he did. Jesus prophesied how the world will end, and that is precisely how it will all conclude.
"We know that God will fulfil every promise made to the prophets; we know that sinners will some day be cleansed out of the earth; we know that a ransomed company will enter into the joy of God and that the righteous will shine forth in the kingdom of their Father; we know that God's perfections will yet receive universal acclamation, that all created intelligences will own Jesus Christ Lord to the glory of God the Father, that the present imperfect order will be done away, and a new heaven and a new earth be established forever." (Tozer)
At this point I feel I need to qualify the term "free choice". It is only free in so far as we are given freedom within certain parameters to choose how we will live our lives. That is not to say that there will not be consequences for our choices. God has made it abundantly clear what the consequences of our choices are in the gospel message of Christ. In his mercy, and in order to make true love possible, God allows us to live in a state of rebellion towards him, if that is what we choose. The rub comes at the end of this life. When we enter the after-life there will be a day of reckoning for all the enemies of God. This has lead some people to say (including myself at one stage) - 'Well that's not a "free" choice! That's like putting a gun to someone's head!' The thing that astounds me the most is not how limited our options are with regard to how we relate to God but how many people reject him knowing full well what the implications are! So, while it may not seem like a very wide range of viable options available to us, the majority of humans choose to reject God and make the most of their "autonomy" here in this life.
Tozer employs a very effective analogy when attempting to explain the mysterious interplay between God's sovereign purposes and our free will, he describes it this way:
"An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. Its destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of sovereignty. On board the liner are several scores of passengers. These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, sleep, play, lounge about on the deck, read, talk, altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port."
God does not micro-manage every minute detail of our lives. We live out our lives with a true sense of freedom within the bounds of God's sovereign boat. Ultimately though, God's word and his expressed purposes toward humanity will unfold just exactly as he has said, and nothing, absolutely nothing or no one will prevent that boat from arriving at the destination which God has determined. When those passengers disembark, for some of them the boat cruise will be the nearest thing to an experience of heaven as they will ever enjoy. For others it will be the only taste of hells terrors and troubles that they will ever have to endure.
On the topic of God's sovereignty and our suffering, people make much of the fate of Job, but the story rather reinforces what the rest of the Bible makes clear. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He is our blood-lusty foe that inflicts tragedy and suffering in our lives. God is our deliverer and our redeemer. In the end, whatever Satan intends for our harm God works for the good of those who love and trust in Him. Those that trust in God are never put to shame. The story of Job illustrates this truth beautifully. Like his story, our lives will have a happy ending if the author is God.
Jesus taught us to pray "Let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." God is not looking for a people who are staring around in bewilderment at the destruction which "God is allowing" or causing on the earth and asking, "Can this really be your will Father?!" He is looking for a people of faith who seek out his heart, who hold onto his promises and who seek to find his will and exercise his peaceful reign on this earth. There is a sad story which is recorded of Jesus entering his home town. It says because they were over-familiar with him there, and because they despised him he could not perform many miracles. Not would not but could not. It is in an atmosphere of faith and hope that his will is done on this earth.
I'll end with a few gems which Pawson contributed to my study. He speaks about the haunting question which Job asks again and again as he endures all the tragedies that he went through - "Why? Why God do you allow the righteous to suffer?" He recalls another righteous man shouting aloud a very similar question - "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" This second righteous man was Jesus. The answer to these questions, which most of us will have cause to ask in the course of our lives is, God does rescue, God does redeem us and lead us triumphantly into glory - as he did with Job, as he did with Jesus. God reaches into our lives, wrecked by the consequences of our personal sin, the sin of others toward us, and ravaged by the sins of Satan. He works a wonder in our lives in which all our sufferings, all our joy, all our sorrows and all our divine deliverances serve to display in radiant colour the redemption of a loving and powerful God who is faithful to rescue and to heal those that choose to commit themselves into his compassionate hands.
"The righteous person may have many troubles but the Lord delivers him from them all" ps 34:19
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