Friday, August 28, 2020

God's Plans

 

Friday, August 28, 2020

All this happened so they would follow his decrees and obey his instructions.  Psalm 105:45

Doctrine (what you believe about what you value) can be tricky, and it runs a wide path through culture; as wide as the different opinions in a church meeting on what color the new carpet in the foyer ought to be.

From this one text in Psalms it is easy to see why some people imagine the doctrine of predestination to mean God moves people around in despotic manner – they have little or no choice about the outcome of their lives; God’s plan is final, and that’s it!  While that is a supra-fatalistic view of God’s intervention in human existence, the polar-opposite doctrine has God in a hands-off mode.  That was a doctrine quite popular a few generations ago.  The picture is of God, the Creator, once having made the universe and all it holds, somewhat like a master clock-maker assembles a grandfather clock, the final move being to gently push the pendulum to get things started, now takes His hands off the masterpiece and lets it run as it will, for good, bad, or indifferent.

This is essentially the debate which has been carried on since Job sat in ashes and grief over the misery in his life, while his three friends tried to force their theology on the sufferer.  The question hasn’t been settled throughout the formation of Jewish understanding, nor the last two thousand years of Christian discipleship.  It’s a wide space between the fringes of God totally ignoring us as opposed to God holding us so tight that we have no say in the matter.  Is it free will, or frozen-stiff in God’s will?  Here is the Apostle Paul’s signature verse on the topic:

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.  For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And having chosen them, he called them to come to him.  And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself.  And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.  Romans 8:28-30

My theological understanding, after puzzling the jumble of thoughts on this issue the last 50+ years, is somewhere near the middle of the fringes.  It would be hard to keep a straight face and say there’s no such thing as free will; there are too many if’s, but’s, and perhaps passages in Holy Scripture to deny human will is autonomous, a free-agent, so-to-speak.  It would be equally naïve (or a downright assault on truth) to declare that our human autonomous will is not influenced, and ultimately accountable-to God’s will.  He is, after all, the Sovereign God, Who created us! 

So, do we have free will?  Or are our lives predestined?  Well, in a word, YES!

Now, before you start planning my execution for taking the 5th, and bailing on this little question, I really do mean “yes” – both are real.  We do have free will, and God, in His sovereign will, has some wonderful plans for our lives He will bring about. 


And that works the way I heard Dr. Herschel Hobbs describe it as he led us in a small group Bible study in 1979.  He said[1]:

Predestination works like an election.  God and the devil are having a dispute over your soul.  The devil casts his vote to destroy every part of who you are.  The Lord casts His vote to redeem you and give you eternal life with Him in glory.  It’s one-fer, one-ag’n; the election’s a tie.  And the only way to settle it is YOU get to cast the tie-breaking vote!

Not bad theology for a country boy with a PhD!

The Psalmist said God arranges and does stuff so we will follow God’s commands and will.  It’s a smart thing to listen to God’s plans (read and study Scripture); in the long run it will head off a long list of mistakes and heartaches.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!


VIDEO

Title image Pixabay.com  ∞ Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another posts on Psalm 145 see: Telling the Story



[1] Dr. Hobbs (1907-1995) was a Baptist scholar, and speaker on the Baptist Hour radio program.  The quote is as close to verbatim as my memory allows, but the gist and understanding are still clear as a fire bell ringing


 

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