God's Sovereign and Our Freewill

We do have a freewill however we need to understand God's Sovereign of His plan according to His will. Jesus said in Matthew 10:29: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny ? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.

This is directly from the Word of God. God governs the world (Isa. 40:22-24), the nations (Isa. 40:15-17), and us (Proverbs 16:9).

Proverbs 20:24 A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?

Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

Jeremiah 10:23 [ Jeremiah's Prayer ] I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.

Reading the book of Esther show how God controls history through providence. There isn't a miracle in the book and the name of God isn't mentioned but at the same time, without anyone realizing that God is always in control of every single event in this world. The king mentioned in Esther favored Esther and Mordecai, spared all the Jewish people, made Mordecai the Prime Minister and hanged Haman on the gallows he build himself for the Jewish people and preserved the nation Israel. Hadassah, "myrtle" in Hebrew (Esther 2:7), or Esther, "star" or "Ishtar" in Persian. One of the greatest and most essential attributes of God is His sovereignty, God rules over all things and controls all things. God also uses providence to accomplish His will in the world. You won't find the word providence in the Bible. It's like the word Trinity. God directs and uses events to accomplish His own Will which meant: "the providence of God." Romans 8:28 says, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." All things are controlled by God to work together to fulfill His eternal purpose for His Will. When you can't explain the trouble you're experiencing, you need to understand the providential power of a sovereign God who controls everything in the universe for our good and His glory. Everything that happens in your life (including trials) somehow fits into the plan of God.

If you read the main stories in the Old Testament relating to God's providence, God providentially led Joseph, Ruth, Esther, Job and others to accomplish great things in His eternal plan.This movie will be interesting to watch. But first, I need to read the book to see how close it is biblically.

Therefore the Bible clearly teaches that no one has true "freewill" except God Himself. God is in control and He will allow us to have freewill only if its according to His will. We have to understand that God controls everything including our freewill. The "freewill" is always subject to God's sovereignty and His divine freewill. God is absolutely powerful, that God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, that God is immutable, never changes, that God is all wise, perfectly just, holy, righteous. God is ruling all things to work together for our good and His purpose. Romans 8:28-29 "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."

The potter (God) is working with this soft, yielding clay (us). If this clay does not submit, the potter may not be able to do what I should do according to His will. The potter still could make anything except for useful and beautiful (spiritual fruitful) out of an unyielding blob of clay. If God is going to make those kinds of vessels out of clay (us), however, we are going to have to yield to the spiritual law of surrender. Give ourselves to God as a living sacrifice and let Him have us--all of us. Of course at the same time, I understand that God, just because He is almighty, needs no support from me and He is still able to do what He wills to do. Often I noticed that the providential of God leads me to what I call "coincidences" in my life which perhaps God will make sure that His wills will be done at His right time and place. There are two worlds, set over against each other, dominated by two wills, the will of man (me) and the will of God, respectively.

Great faith is trusting God's providence. He governs the world moment-by-moment through providence, so that everything that happens, every detail of our life occurs by God's divine providence or by God’s express permission. He is in control of everything. Even the bad things that happen to us are circumscribed by a loving providence and God promises to use them all for our ultimate good. 1 Peter 1:7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Learning from great faiths in the Bible, I can see that circumstances did not control them; it is their reaction to circumstances that determined what kind of people they were and most importantly, how faithful they were. To be unafraid regardless what is going on a person's life journey, true Faith sees everything in focus and be able to trust God no matter what happens. God leads us to our destiny according to His will and glory.

God conceived as the power sustaining and guiding human destiny. God is always making provisions for my future according to His will by providing and guiding for His glory. God is very concerned about my life and He is always ready for my future. How many providence in my life that I failed to recognized in the past? I have recognized some big ones but missed the little ones. God leads me to my destiny according to His will and glory. No matter what I do, God is always guiding me through my circumstances. Nothing is impossible for Him. No matter what I do, God will direct me if I aware of it or not. I am learning that God will always lead me to His providential circumstances for my own good, in His will and for His glory. I am to turn my heart, my life, my health, my mind, my time, my money and my talents to God. God knows me so well that He will do His providential actions at the very moment of my need according to His will. For the longest time, I thought I have planned and executed my life all by myself but really never aware that my life have always been guided by God. The real issue that I have been learning recently is that the real hindrance to my spiritual progress is not fully submitting to the Holy Spirit. Nothing holy and genuine will be done in my life until my will is surrendered in active obedience to the Holy Spirit. I need to focus on my own true prayer so that I am not making efforts to persuade God to do our will; but rather to make myself submit to the Holy Spirit so that God can guide me according to His will. When I pray, I need to transfer my will to God's will. My personal destiny is depended on my response to the Holy Spirit and God's words.

Acts 17:24-29 (NIV) explains God's providence PERFECTLY........ "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill.