When God orchestrates history does He negate free will?

Hey, thanks again for sending in questions related to our recent sermons. As we’ve studied the Book of Ruth for the last couple of weeks, one thing that is clear is God’s hand of sovereignty bringing Ruth and Boaz together and bringing Ruth and Naomi back from Moab to Israel. You know, eventually, when Ruth and Boaz get together, you know, they they become part of the ancestry of Jesus, long down the line, part of the equation of how Jesus gets here.

We’ll talk more about that this week coming up as well. We say God orchestrates history to arrive at the, you know, glorious end that he is designing, right? And we praise him for that. Boaz just kind of fell into Ruth’s lap and the other way around, right? They just fell into each other’s lives. Um, by miraculous uh, circumstances. Um, so we say we rest in God’s plan for us, but the question is, uh, does that mean that God takes away our free will?

Does God orchestrating history, orchestrating his plan for our lives, does that mean that we have no will of our own? Are we, you know, puppets that he’s dancing around? And the answer is, no, we’re not puppets. Uh, scripture is very clear, we’re responsible for our actions. Um, you know, Romans 1 says, you know, no one’s uh, you know, with an excuse for what they have chosen to do with their lives. Um, and so, no, it doesn’t negate our free will. Um, we participate in it. Um, but then, but then

also, uh, it’s like God is uh bringing us to where he wants us to be through all of these circumstances that are happening. Um, it’s it’s similar to how he develops us, uh how we grow spiritually. Um, sometimes we use the word sanctify, how he sanctifies us, how we grow in holiness, you know, grow to become more like him, how he conforms us to the image of his son.

How does that happen? Uh, well, I mean, certainly we’re involved, but normally, we are uh, it kind of comes from the outside. There’s circumstances, there’s people, there’s situations, there’s um, you know, what we face. If you think about um how you have grown, say as an empathetic person, how did you grow in empathy? Um, I you wanted it to happen, right?

Maybe you realize you have this shortcoming in yourself. Um, and you know, you’re abrasive and you’ve ruined relationships and you’re like, okay, I want to grow. You say you want to grow. But then how did, if you look back on your life, how did it actually happen? Well, probably there’s a long series of events that were totally out of your control, that formed you, uh, that taught you, uh, empathy. Um, same same thing with maybe courageous.

Maybe you realize uh you need to speak up more in meetings and you you know, you’re kind of a, you know, uh somebody that likes to blend into the wallpaper and disappear and you’re like, no, I need to be uh more courageous, assertive. I need to step into situations that make me uncomfortable. Um, and so like you realize that and you want it to happen, but if you look back on your life, how did that develop in you? Um, and you’re probably thrust into situations where, would we say, you didn’t have any other choice but to be brave. Um, and then what you wanted to happen and what God was developing in you kind of intersected. Um, not because of you, because of his plan working in your life. Um, and then you take a step in growth, right?

So how we grow spiritually, uh, parallels how God brings events into the history of the world and orchestrates them to his ends, right? He’s building you to be a glorious version of yourself, which will be fully realized in new heavens and new earth, right? Um, we will shine like the sun because of what he has done in us. Same as the world, right? And world events and circumstances, right? He is building them to a glorious end. Um, do we have choices in all of that? Of course we do. Um, but generally, if we look back on our lives, I mean, our church choices were involved in the process, but generally how, you know, how we grow, how the world changes, how God’s going to arrive at his conclusions isn’t isn’t so much in our hands. It’s more like grace to us, how he is developing us. Um, so we hope that’s helpful. Um, and we’ll see you next time.