"The biblical answer to both is yes."
-Tim Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering.
The Sovereignty of God is Confusing NOT Contradictory:
God can be in full control and all knowing, which is to say "sovereign" over all creation, and yet humanity can be free to act as we choose.
To understand you need to first consider the biblical claim that God is above all things and eternal.
How can a creator be contingent upon his creation?
He can't, so if God exists, and certainly I believe He does, than necessarily He must be outside space and time, somehow over it, beyond reality, and by definition "super-natural": beyond the laws of nature.
All that is to say, if God exists, clearly He knows all things that have happened and that come to be, in part because He is not restrained by time and existance in the way reality is.
He would simply see all things, all time, all events, as now.
The great theologian C.S. Lewis addressed this question very directly in his BBC radio lectures which were later compiled into "Mere Christianity", if you want to know more about this consider reading that enlightening work.
"Almost certainly God is NOT in time, His life doesn't consist of moments following one another."
-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Conclusion:
God is said to be sovereign over all things, this means He is in control over every blessing and trial, this raises a lot of questions like why would He allow suffering, pain, and death, but those questions are beyond the scope of today's post. Suffice it to say I do accept that God is over all things, even suffering, yet, I trust that He is working all things for good (Romans 8:28), and I take great solace in that the Bible says "God is light and in him is no darkness at all", (1 John 1:5).
I rest my faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus lived a perfect life and died an innocent man, and in so doing paid the ransom for my sin, and all sin committed to me. In Him there is a path to life, narrow though it may be, and in that act I see the depth of God's love for me, so that I can calmly trust in His sovereign plan, whatever may come.
And though my God is in control of all things, omniscient and omnipresent, everlasting and all-powerful, we are still able to act in disagreement with His will, meaning choose to deny Him, choose to hurt others, and choose to sin. This is not God's will, and so yes, humanity does have free will.
Once again, God's sovereignty raises a lot of questions, and it is confusing, but his sovereign control does not preclude our own free will. The two are not contradictory. God has made a way, and in so doing, He has enabled us through our freedom to offer genuine, vulnerable, voluntary, sacrificial love.
It's key to see that without free will, love cannot exist, for love is a voluntary committment to another.
The Lord has written in our souls a beautiful gift, freedom to act and love. And in my view this is what was meant when the Bible said "God created man in His own image", (Genesis 1:27) namely man is free to act, and able to offer love.
Today's post came out of a passage from Tim Keller's, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, but was also influenced by C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, if you want to know more, please consider seeking out those resources.
Walking with God through Pain and Suffering:
Thanks for your time and attention, please let me know if you have any questions or comments. I always enjoy reading and responding to your comments, thank you in advance for engaging me and my content.
Have an awesome day! God bless.
hello friend I hope you have an excellent start to the week, this is an excellent publication with an incredible content, God is our guide and creator of the universe, the one who can do everything and everything, without him we are nothing and we should never lose faith in him, thank you for sharing such a wonderful publication with us, much success, greetings ... !!!
God bless you brother.
Knowing God and walking with Him is a life long process, and today's post is as much for me as it is for my readers. Writing stuff like this helps me move a step closer to Him, through reflection and meditation on His sovereign control, love, and works in the world.
Having said that, I am really glad you enjoyed it. Have an awesome day.
Wise words dear infidel, God is our guide and our healer at all times, with these words we feel great to be always hand in hand with God.
We must never lose faith, and we always have to be humble and believe in God so that we can live harmoniously in peace and be able to do our best in everything we set out to do.
It is fascinating how we know a diary with the words and our God, It is unattainable gratitude for him that his whole life for us and some people who do not know what is and what is sad :(