God's Calling and the Freedom to Choose

A topic that I’ve been thinking a lot about recently is that of the omnipresence of God and free will – the idea that He both precedes us and knows all that is to come. It is impossible for us as humans to fully understand the dynamics of a holy God who melds and shapes the will of man. However, the Scriptures are very clear that God knows the future, and that He has complete sovereign control over all things that happen on earth. King David wrote in Psalm 139: 4-6, “You know what I am going to say, even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!”

The Bible also says that we must make the decision to follow God or be eternally separated from Him. Again, the coupling of God’s all-knowing nature and our free will to choose is almost impossible for our finite minds to grasp. Romans 11:33-34 speaks to this incomprehensibility: “How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts?”

A close friend of mine and I were writing back and forth on this topic, and she presented this thought: “The follow/precede idea… kind of states God's timelessness and omnipresence. I think it illustrates well the idea that His linear sequence and time progression is so far expanded than ours. It's like we only know time and chronology in the first dimension, and he knows the third dimension. Sometimes I feel like when I get to heaven it'll be like the feeling they had in the 1500s when they realised the world wasn't flat. How shocking.”

I love this idea of God knowing the third dimension. I’m not sure why we as humans try so hard to understand God’s ways, when the Bible explicitly tells us this is not possible.

People tend to have one of two extreme viewpoints on the question of free will versus God’s control. There is the argument that God is in complete control of everything that takes place on earth, which diminishes us to robotic beings. The second argument is that humans have 100% control over their lives and future events, and that God does not play a role at all in the happenings of the world. According to the Bible, neither of these stances are accurate. God does not violate our right to make our own decisions; rather, He changes our hearts so that our will is to choose Him. 1 John 4:19 says, “We love Him because He first loved us.”

This Biblical finding then led me to ask the question, “Does He not love everyone? And if He does, why do we not all choose to love Him?” While pondering this topic, I remembered a message from over three years ago at the Austin Stone, and searched through iTunes until I found it. The sermon is titled “God’s Choice, Our Calling,” and in it, Pastor Matt Carter covers 1 Corinthians 1:22-24, which says, "So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense." This is because "the Jews... ask for signs from heaven... [and] the Greeks... seek human wisdom." However,  the Bible says that "to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

The key phrase is found in the last verse: “to those called by God to salvation.” The idea that some people are "called" and some are not instinctively makes me want to recoil, because it is contrary to so much of what we have been taught about God. We often hear sermons about loving our neighbors, having compassion on others, avoiding sin, etc., but the idea of God’s election and calling and choice is something we shy away from discussing. Nonetheless, this idea is written all throughout the Bible – in both the Old and New Testament. We simply cannot believe in a God who fits our personal definition of what a kind, loving God should be like. If we do this, we become idol worshippers, because we are trying to fit God into our own box which makes us feel most comfortable.

To those who are "perishing" (as the Bible calls them), the Word of God will be foolish, but to those who are called by God, we will be physically and emotionally moved by our faith. So why would a loving God be selective and allow some people to be chosen and some to rebuke Him? This question ties back to the free will argument from before: God loves every single human on the planet, and He wants everyone to chose Him as their Lord and Savior. However, since God can already see the future, He knows who will choose His ways and who will choose to ignore His sovereignty. It is not that God is handpicking us, He just knows which of us will follow Him.

One of my favorite verses is found in the book of Romans, and says, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him. And having called them, He gave them right standing with Himself. And having given them right standing, He gave them His glory.” (verses 8:28-30)

The reason we have faith is a direct result of God speaking into the nothingness of our hearts. Hallelujah, praise the Lord.

I hope this post causes you to think… please comment or message me if you want to talk more about this topic. As always, I love hearing others’ standpoints.

Lastly, I heard "One Thing Remains" by Jesus Culture last week at the Austin Stone, and I fell in LOVE. Listen to it!

In His name,

Ailee

“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” – Hebrews 11:1