But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go. - Exodus 10:20
How many times have you heard it? If God is sovereign and all powerful then how can we be responsible for our sinful behavior? Their position, in short, is this: either God is in control or He is not. If He is not, then He is not all-powerful.
Think about it for a moment. Either we have free will or we don’t. If we do have free will then God cannot be sovereign. If we don’t have free will then God is ultimately responsible for all the evil in the world. Seems to make sense within the confines of our very small human minds. So the very first thing we need to establish is the finitude of the human mind. Rule #1 is simply this: since we are but human beings, there is no way for us to completely understand the mind of God. “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” - Isaiah 55:8-9.
That having been established, we move on to Rule #2 - God does indeed have His limitations. There are things that God simply cannot do. For instance; He cannot act in opposition to His divine nature and attributes. God cannot lie is but one example. “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.” - Psalm 5:4. The suggestion that God is not omnipotent because He can’t act in opposition to His attributes is the epitome of foolishness. Were such a suggestion not the fruit of ignorance it would be high heresy. Now, we know that God can do no evil because He cannot act in opposition to His attributes; so where then does evil come from?
Rule #3, the total depravity of man, is profound because it places the responsibility for evil thoughts, words, and deeds squarely on our fragile human shoulders. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” - Genesis 6:5.
In fact, were it not for the common grace of God bestowed upon all of creation, ours at this very moment would be a dead planet! God’s restraining hand limits the extent to which evil plays out among mankind.
We must constantly be reminded that we live in a Genesis 3 world. Evil exists in this world because of what took place in the Garden of Eden between the flesh and the devil. Consider the following: you have instructed two children not to leave the yard through the back gate. You have warned the children of the repercussions should they choose to disobey you. And then you leave the gate open. You could have locked the gate thus ensuring that the children would follow your dictate but you left them to their own recognizance. What the children do next will determine their world from that moment on. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” - Genesis 3:6.
God indeed had (and has) the power to stop evil from taking place because He is omnipotent, but He allows humanity to make the choice. He leaves the gate unlocked. What we choose to do exonerates God from all responsibility for our choices. He is therefore not the author of evil. May the Word of God reprove us in our thoughts, words, and deeds and give us strength to stay within the gate.
No comments:
Post a Comment