THE FLEET FOX

Deuteronomy  29:29

"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Nicholas L. Laning

God's sovereignty is a complex issue.  Believing that He is sovereign, that He is almighty, is easy.  The complexity comes whenever we ask two questions.  One is... How does God apply His sovereignty?  Two... How are we as humans supposed to respond to our understanding of His sovereignty.


As with anything complex, it is super helpful to take the same problem and apply it in a more simple fashion.  So, let's take it like this... Let's say that a man can bench press two-hundred and fifty pounds.  That is his max.  Now, that is the sum total of his strength.  Just because he can apply that much strength, how often does he?  Not often.  He applies his strength as needed.  Sometimes he barely uses it at all.  Most tasks take some measure, but not all of his strength. 


I do not have an easy answer for how much God applies it.  I really don't.  Every time I have ever really become dogmatic about a certain view, I have found myself wilting. 


I was raised fairly Armenian (meaning that I believed heavily in free will).  As a result, I struggled mightily with the lies that follow such an untrue view of God.  I blasted myself with guilt, and I was riddled with fear of everything, as I waited for myself to fail.  On the other hand, I have also found myself being uber Calvinistic at times as well.  When this happens, I struggle as I have lately.  I find myself not taking responsibility for my own actions.  When I mess up, I get mad, not at satan, or myself, but God. 


I am not here to tell you I rightly understand the paradox of God's sovereignty or free will.  It is as much a mystery to me now as it was when I first began to meditate on it some fifteen years ago.  I simply know that God shares both in the language of the Bible.  He tells us that He is sovereign.  The word elect is not made up by the church, it is in the Bible... a lot (as is the term predestined).  Yet, there is so much talk of choosing as well.  There are hundreds of ways they could mingle.  In the end, God never tells us how.  He simply tells us He is God, and that none can contend with His will, that He may have mercy upon whom He will have mercy, that the clay (us) has no right to argue with the potter (God) about what shape the potter wants to ,old the clay.  He also, tells us to choose, to go, to believe, to obey, to love...


The secret things are of the Lord.  I have been encouraged on so many fronts to take responsibility for my own action.  It has been incredible, as none of it has been directed toward me.  Yet, again and again, through loved ones, my heart has been encouraged and admonished.  So it is that I start a new day.  I don't need to know where the line is between sovereignty and choice to know that I am to blame for my own problems.  The funny thing is, this pill looked so hard to swallow when I looked at it.  I dreaded its taste.  Yet, it has been so sweet, and so liberating.  What can you say?  The truth shall...