After reading my thoughts on the Sovereignty of God, Pepper asked the question, “if God has this much authority and freedom, how can we say that man’s free will can influence God’s plan?”

CS Lewis tells us – “God created things which have free will. That means [we are] creatures which can [choose] wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong, but I cannot. If a thing is free to be good, it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.”

When we make that choice (long before creation occurred, he knew of our decisions), be assured that God is aware, and has embedded that decision into the flow of our life. Furthermore, he put things in place to protect us because of our less than perfect decisions (implied in 1 Corinthians 10:13). God has guaranteed free will and clearly stated that free determination does have consequences. But we know He has guaranteed that all who commit themselves to His Son, who embrace the faith that comes from the Holy Spirit, who walk the talk, they are protected forever (implied in John 3:16-18).

That raging storm that happens within us, that moral conflict that seems to tug on us 24/7, eventually ebbs like a grand sunset. We walk in God’s shade, we cannot and shall not lose. He will win. This is not the rolling of dice – there is no chance of us losing. We have the freedom to choose our path, but we cannot negotiate the outcome. Once foreknowledge sets the course, it is established. If death comes our way, He owns us, we are forever safe. Once we choose the path, the outcome is set (implied in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).

Please understand — Every promise ever made through a prophet will be fulfilled, those who choose against God will ultimately be judged; we who choose Jesus are adopted into Abraham’s family, we enter the joy of God, we shine forth in the kingdom of our Father, and God’s perfection will eventually be acknowledged by all.  Paul says – “when perfect comes, the imperfect disappears” (1 Corinthians 13:10 paraphrased).  Foreknowledge is the tool used by God to grant each of us autonomous decision making. We are free to choose our path, but to integrate all the decisions from every person who will ever live, all paths and decisions are known to God via foreknowledge long before we are born.

It is easy to write this large-scale exhortation about God’s purpose and God’s plan. Yet, we know from experience life is not always as smooth as we might like. There is the whole notion of conflict between good and evil. I think that God’s permissive will does permit evil with a limited bandwidth of activity to influence us for a while. But, only for a while. Nahum says – “The Lord is slow to anger, great in power, and will not acquit the wicked: the Lord reveals himself in the whirlwind and the storm.” (Nahum 1:3 paraphrased). Job heard from that Whirlwind with answers about God’s sovereignty (see Job 38:1-7).

God’s sovereignty keeps us on a steady course as individuals, and a steady course as a body of believers. God moves undisturbed and unhindered towards his eternal purpose; he sorted this out all before creation came to be. We do not always understand or know what the integrated plan is in its entirety, but we know that he is in control. We know he has the power to maintain absolute control forever. We rest in God’s sovereignty (implied in 2 Chronicles 20:6). With confidence, I say to you — Fear not, his goodness and mercy will overcome all things.

I choose Jesus.