Growing up, one thing that I really wrestled with was predestination.
I couldn't wrap my mind around how God would predestine someone to be a criminal, for example, and to meet their fate at the hands of law enforcement officers.
It was a tough bone for me to chew, as it is for a lot of folks today including believers.
It doesn't help matters when we read such people's eulogies and they write stuff like...
"The Lord gives and the Lord has taken away"
"It's God's will"
"We loved them but God loved them more"
"God has called them home"
For some strange reason, people seem to find comfort in believing God is responsible for everything that happens in our lives or in other people's lives or in this world for that matter, good or bad.
But what we need to understand is there's a huge difference between biblical predestination and fatalism which is what many of us have subscribed to.
Biblical predestination does not imply fatalism.
Fatalism is the doctrine that events are fixed in advance such that human beings are powerless to change them.
It's the belief that everything that happens, good or bad, is meant to happen and is inevitable therefore we should just resign ourselves to whatever fate is in store for us.
Biblical predestination on the other hand acknowledges God's hand from beginning to end but also the means by which that end is achieved which is through human choices and effort.
In other words, our choices have the ability to change or alter the outcomes of these predetermined ends. Fatalism basically says our choices don't matter. What will be will be and there's nothing you can do to change that.
Basically, how your life pans out is more or less cast in stone and there's nothing you can do about it which is a far cry from what the Bible teaches.
According to the Bible, the means by which God saves us for example include the outward work of men preaching the gospel, and the inward work of the Spirit of God upon the mind, heart, and will of those who hear the gospel preached. It's a cooperative effort between God and man.
Far from depriving human choices and actions of all significance, predestination infuses them with eternal meaning. It's important to lay this foundation as far as predestination is concerned.
Another important thing we need to consider is God's sovereignty.
Now, there's usually a consensus on the fact that God is sovereign.
That's undeniable truth.
But what does that mean?
To alot of people, this means that God controls everything that happens independent of us.
Such folks will use verses like Psalms 139:16, Acts 13:48, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 or Ephesians 1:4-5 to support this fatalistic view.
But one thing about the Bible, is you can make it support anything you want if you take verses in isolation and out of context.
Now the dictionary defines “Sovereign” as..
1. Paramount; Supreme.
2. Having supreme rank or power.
None of these definitions means that God controls everything.
It is assumed that since God is Supreme, nothing happens that is not of His making or He has not approved.
But that is far from what the Scripture teaches us.
You don’t have to read much of the Bible to realize that the Almighty God, the Supreme Ruler of all, does not always get what He wants or orchestrate everything that happens in our lives.
It was not God’s will for Adam & Eve to eat from the forbidden tree (Gen 2:17), but they ate.
It was not God's will that Israel have a king (1 Samuel 8) yet Israel had their way.
God is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9), yet people perish.
I could go on and on..
So God is indeed sovereign in the sense that He is supreme meaning He's at the top of the food chain, the Head Honcho and there's no one greater in supremacy & power but that doesn't mean He uses His sovereignty to control every good and bad thing that happens in our lives.
When Paul says,"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thessalonians 5:18), it's not the 'all circumstances' that are God's will but that we'give thanks in all circumstances'.
It's important to make this distinction because many at times this verse is taken to mean all circumstances good and bad are orchestrated by God (being sovereign and all) and we should thank Him regardless of what He throws at us...but far from it.
God indeed has a good predetermined plan for each one of us as affirmed in Scripture (see Jeremiah 29:11), but that doesn't always go according to plan because...
1) We have free choice (will) which means we can chart our own course in life.
2) We live in a fallen sinful world
3) We have a devil to contend with.
Number one is where the bulk of our problems lie because if you sort out number one, number two and three are inconsequential.
If you surrender to God's will and choose to let Him lead you, you will always get to God's predetermined destination for you, regardless of what this world or the devil throw at you.
Nothing can prevent God's will for your life from coming to pass apart from you and your self will.
The fact that we have a self will that allows us to choose against the God who gave us the self will to begin with is really our undoing because many at times we make the wrong choice and go with our own will over God's will and the end result leaves little or nothing to be desired.
Our undoing is really our own doing.
If we take a case like Judas for example, God had predestined that someone was going to betray Jesus, but God had not said that so-and-so was going to be the one to do it.
In other words, God had written the script to the film beforehand, but He did not cast any members...they basically cast themselves.
Jesus says in Mark 14:21:
"For the Son of Man must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for the one who betrays Him. It would be far better for that man if he had never been born!"
Sadly, Judas allowed himself to fit this mold with a little (or alot of) help from the Devil.
The Bible says the devil entered him and it was downhill from there on. (see Luke 22:3)
This also applies to the Antichrist who is the second of the two men referred to in Scripture as the sons of perdition, meaning they're doomed to utter destruction. (see John 17:12, 2 Thessalonians 2:3)
These roles are not reserved for any particular individuals.
It's the cumulative life choices of these two individuals and their willingness to head to the devil's influences that inevitably lead them down this path of total destruction and not because they were born for these dreaded roles.
The same goes for people who finish up with their lives a mess.
The truth is, God has a predetermined good course for each and everyone of our lives (Judas and the Antichrist included, believe it or not).
He did not create anyone to run off the rails and die a criminal...laying like a lifeless dog in the streets, body ridden with bullets...for example.
Their cumulative life choices led them to that fate.
God had nothing to do with that..it was all them.
It's akin to a parent who has some great plans and intentions for their child but the kid cherry-picks their own path and veers off the rails.
The child would have finished off very differently had they heeded to their parent's foresight and wisdom.
It's the same with us.
God has predestined you for a bright future but that is dependent on you subjecting your own will to His will.
God will never superimpose His will on your will which goes against one of the Calvinist view point on irresistible grace which basically means you cannot reject the grace of God.
In other words, if you were meant to be saved you will be saved no matter what and they base this off Ephesians 1:3-6 which says...
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved."
Now what Paul is basically saying here is God predestined us for salvation but not in a fatalistic way where we have no choice in the matter.
God wants you saved and He has gone out of His way to plan for it, but you got to want to get saved and heed to His plan.
Your salvation is a choice you have make. God doesn't shove it done your throat.
The bride has to choose the Groom just like the Groom chose the bride.
The Father predestined the wedding but it's the bride's choice to show up and meet the Groom at the altar.
The belief in the doctrine of fatalism and that God controls everything that happens to us, good or bad, independent of us, is one of the devil’s biggest inroads into our lives.
If this belief is true, then that means our actions are irrelevant, and our efforts are meaningless, right?
"Why should I pray? Everything Is already predetermined anyway. Let me just sit here and take whatever life hands me.“C’est la vie. It's God's will."
"I'll just adopt a 'Que Sera Sera' attitude and glide through life."
What a faith killer, ey?
Believing that God wills everything (good or bad) that happen to us and there's nothing we can do to change it may give us some temporary relief from confusion, but it slanders God, hinders our trust in Him and renders us passive.
The truth is that God is NOT controlling everything but He is still in control.
He is not sovereign in the sense that He is a puppet master and we are all just His puppets...far from it.
God requires our voluntary cooperation for His will to be done in this world and the next.
Love that forces itself on the unwilling is not love.
The good news however is, despite the fact that He does not control us like pawns in a chess game, He does decide how and when the game will end.
He will write the final chapter of human history and for those who trust in Him through Jesus to the very end, all things will work out for good.
The even better news is that His sphere of influence and the number of those who choose to co-labor with Him to see His will being done on earth as it is in heaven increases as we, His children (believers), shine the light of the gospel in a dark world through the power and authority given to us through His Son, Jesus.
And the excellent news is that we can choose to walk in the will of God ourselves here and now with the aid of the Holy Spirit and get to that expected end He has in store for each and everyone of us.
God bless you.
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