Genesis 6: God was sorry that he had made the human race in the first place; it broke his heart.
Human beings have been removed from the Garden but they take their sin with them. Immediately, grace begins to flow, an unending river of good will toward these broken creatures. Sadly, the response is to reject the grace and push the Grace-Giver away. The crowning achievement of all God made has degenerated into a self-absorbed, God-ignoring shadow of what might have been. This āfree-willā business isnāt working out and like radical surgery is sometimes needed to battle cancer, the Lord makes the painful decision to prune away all the foulness so that humanity will get another chance. For centuries the number of people who chose to respond to Godās grace has dwindled. Now, one righteousness man is left. If humanity is to be saved, it’ll be through him. The focus of the universe is on righteous Noah. We wonāt see everything depending on just one man again until the Lord unleashes the eternal solution to the fallen condition of humanity. That will involve a willingness, not to build an ark, but to go to a cross.
Take away: The story of Noah is more about humanity getting a second chance than it is about judgment.
Talk about sibling rivalry!
Genesis 37: The story continues with Joseph.
Things finally settle down for Jacob and his journeys come to an end. His many children grow up as he and his wives grow old. Itās time to focus on the next generation. Jacobās multiple wives plus their maid servants have produced lots of kids, especially sons. The fundamental flaw of this polygamous system is apparent in Jacobās having a favorite wife who, in turn produces favorite children. The women struggled with this approach and their children arenāt as docile about it as their mothers were. Their sibling rivalry is similar to what their father and his brother experienced decades earlier. When Jacob makes it clear that Joseph is his favorite the other brothers band together in their hatred of him. Itās only a matter of time before this pot boils over and the day comes when the brothers are given a golden opportunity to act against Joseph. At the last minute they modify their plan and rather than murder him they sell him into slavery instead. The thing that comes to mind as I consider this story is the amazing flexibility of God. He works through situations that are mishandled. Had the brothers gotten along I still think Joseph would have become a powerful man. I also think all of their lives would have been easier. Still, when they act as they do, the Lordās purpose isnāt ruined and the Lord immediately goes to work to accomplish his purpose while honoring their free will. As I read this story, Iām reminded that itās better cooperate with what God wants in the first place and enjoy his blessing along the way. Still, while the Lord holds me accountable for how I live my life; poor decisions on my part will never negate his ultimate purposes in the world.
Take away: God always honors free will, but he doesnāt let our failures stop him from accomplishing his purposes.
More on āGod did itā
Genesis 50: Donāt you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my goodā¦.
For over 20 years Josephās brothers carried the secret guilt of what they did to him. Now, even though Joseph has forgiven them we see that they havenāt yet forgiven themselves. The reason for this is that, if their roles were reversed, theyād still be holding a grudge. When their father dies theyāre afraid that it was for the sake of Jacob that Joseph never took revenge on them. When Joseph realizes whatās happening he assures his brothers that he has no intention of striking out at them. Through the years Joseph has had lots of time to think about the flow of events in his life and heās developed an insightful theology about it all. On one hand, he knows that it wasnāt God who planned evil things against him. Clearly, it was his brothers who did this and Joseph makes no attempt to say the Lord was behind their evil deed. On the other hand, Joseph sees that when his brothers did their worst that they couldnāt derail Godās ultimate plan. God moved in and redeemed their evil act, turning it into good for Joseph and even for those evil-deed-doing bothers. Earlier, Joseph told his brothers, concerning his being sold into slavery, that āGod did it.ā Now we see that, while this statement isnāt wrong, it’s incomplete. When people act in their own free will to do the wrong thing God has a knack of stepping in and transforming it into something good. My friend, considering that this conversation takes place over a century before the Ten Commandments are given thatās a pretty mature theology.
Take away: God doesnāt do bad things to accomplish his will, but heās capable of working through bad things to bring his purposes to pass.
2014 – Mesa Verde National Park, CO
āDoes not work well with others.ā
Exodus 7: Pharaoh is not going to listen to you
For a true blue āfree-willerā like me, Pharaohās role in the Exodus is somewhat troubling. Before Moses and Aaron ever meet with him the Lord promises that heās going to be stubborn. The reason for that stubbornness is because the Lordās going to make him that way. Thatās not how I see God at work in this world. Instead, I see him supplying sufficient grace to people to respond to his call in their lives if they will. In the story of the Exodus it appears that God not only sees Pharaohās stubbornness but actually stiffens it even more to create conditions for a spectacular deliverance. So whatās going on here? On the other side of this āfree willā coin is āsovereignty.ā God is God and he holds absolute authority over all Creation. The reason we have free will is that the Sovereign has granted it. If I abuse the freedom I’ve been granted I’ll answer to him. In Pharaohās case, I donāt think the Lord looked into the future and saw Pharaoh remain resolutely stubborn, but I do think the Lord saw his hard heart and, in his sovereignty declared, āSo it shall be.ā The Lord takes what Pharaoh does in his free will and hard wires it. From that point on he has no other choice. Pharaoh could have been an example of Godās grace. Instead, he becomes an instrument for Godās glory.
Take Away: Itās a dangerous thing to challenge the sovereignty of God.
2014 – Mt Rainier National Park
Grace abounds
Numbers 14: In this wilderness they will come to their end. There they will die.
It sounds unfair, doesn’t it? God brings them out of Egypt, cares for them and leads them to the land he’s promised. Then, when theyāre afraid of the giants of Canaan he dumps them. It sounds unfair; but it isnāt. Hereās whatās happening: heās giving them their own way. They don’t want to listen to the pleading and encouraging word of Caleb and Joshua, they don’t want to follow the lead of Moses, and they don’t want to trust God. So God says, “Okay.” If they prefer to go back into the wilderness heāll let them go. The result will be tragic, their bones scattered across the desert. But if they insist, heāll let them have it their way. Even here thereās grace. Manna will continue to fall, their clothes wonāt wear out, and God will still be their God. The words quoted above arenāt a death sentence. Rather, theyāre a statement of reality. The Lord will patiently wait until these decision-makers have died off and then give the same command and make the same offer to their children. Passages like this define both free will and grace. On one hand, God wonāt force us to obey him. On the other, heāll never stop working in our lives, patiently calling us to himself and to his purposes for us.
Take Away: The Lord wonāt negate our free will, even for our own good.
2014 – Along OR 101
Point of decision
Deuteronomy 11: I’ve brought you today to the crossroads of Blessing and Curse.
Free will is both a wonderful gift and a terrible burden. Itās a gift in that it sets us apart from all other creatures. Weāre made in God’s image. Itās a burden because itās possible for us to freely make foolish decisions, which God will allow us to make, and for which he will hold us accountable. The people Moses speaks to stand at a point of decision. On one hand, they have the route to blessing. On the other is the cursed route. Clearly, the Lord wants them to pick āBlessing Street.ā However, he wonāt force them to do so. Since I have the benefit of being able to turn the pages of my Bible and gaze into their future, I find that, while there are many āblessing storiesā yet to be told, there are plenty of the others too; even to the point of near extinction of their race. In his Sovereignty the Lord grants Israel the right to choose. By his grace theyāve arrived at this place of choice and by his grace theyāre allowed to decide the next step. However, their choice at this point isnāt without consequences. Some of those consequences are good, others bad. The ability to choose is a gift of God but itās also a burden because choices have consequences.
Take Away: The exercise of free will can bring wonderful blessings into our lives. It can also be our downfall.
So howās that āignoring Godā thing working out for you?
Judges 10: They just walked off and left God, quit worshiping him.
It’s been over 60 years since Gideon died. We have short paragraphs mentioning two other leaders who have judged Israel and now, once again, the wheels have fallen off. The word picture is graphic. “They just walked off.” This was definitely one of those, “If God seems far away, who moved?” scenarios. The people arenāt kidnapped and carried away from God. They don’t accidentally wander off. Instead, we see them pull the plug, deciding that theyāre no longer going to worship the One who has been so faithful to them. However, thatās not the most sobering part of this story. You see, God doesn’t chase after them. When they come to him in their distress, he replies, “I’m not saving you anymore. Go ahead! Cry out for help to the gods you’ve chosen over me.” Itās when they repent that the Lord reconnects with their lives. God always honors our free will. He doesnāt force us to serve him and heāll allow us to face the consequences of our choices. The good news here is that he remains true to his character. While he wonāt force us to live our lives in a relationship with him, heās always ready to forgive and welcome us back into that relationship.
Take Away: Weāll either live in a relationship with the Lord of our own free will or we wonāt live in a relationship with him at all…
The God of Second Chances
Judges 16: But his hair, though cut off, began to grow again.
Samson, lacking both self-control and common sense, has ruined everything. His undisciplined behavior with women and specifically his inability recognize Delilah for the traitor she is has cost him everything. His pride, strength, freedom, and eyesight are gone. The phrase “his hair began to grow again” is powerfully symbolic of whatās happening in Samson’s heart. As he does the work of an animal, grinding out grain, somehow, through his darkness, he begins to see God. However, a word of clarification is needed here. This isn’t a Samson story; rather, itās a God story. We aren’t to focus on Samson’s strength or his stupidity, but on the marvelous grace of God. Samson had been raised up to be a deliverer of his people and even in his miserable state the Lord’s still willing to work in his life to that end. “His hair began to grow again” is a hopeful word in a terrible situation. This is a picture of our God of Second Chances at work. Samson’s end is not the conclusion to the glorious story as it could have been. In the exercise of his free will Samson sabotages his own life. However, even when everything’s messed up we find God at work salvaging even this destroyed life. That’s the kind of God I serve.
Take Away: God is the God of Second Chances, full of grace and mercy, offering us undeserved restoration.
2014 – Davis Mountains State Park, TX – Skyline Drive View
Vacuum of leadership
1 Samuel 8: They are not rejecting you. They’ve rejected me as their King.
Samuel has been a faithful, capable, Spirit-filled leader of Israel for decades. Now heās getting old and some of his responsibilities are falling on his sons. But they aren’t up to it. They have the authority of their father but lack his relationship with God. Ever since the great revival and victory over the Philistines many years earlier, Israel has served God under the faithful guidance of Samuel but now people are wondering whatās coming next. Clearly, Samuel can’t continue forever and his sons are miserable spiritual leaders. So what will they do? The decision is to ask for a king. Samuel is heartbroken but takes their request to the Lord. God says, “Samuel, don’t take it personally — this is about my relationship with them and isnāt about you.” What’s going on here? We have before us a failure to trust God. The people are correct in recognizing the leadership problem. However, theyāre mistaken when, instead of going to the Lord and asking his direction, they come telling him what they want done. As we turn the pages of Scripture to look into their future we see that there are some good kings coming. However, by and large their kings fail them, leading to their destruction. How different the story might have been had they come to Samuel and said, “Youāre getting old and your sons aren’t the spiritual leaders that you have been…pray to the Lord and ask him what weāre to do next.” How often do I limit what God can do in my life by telling him what I want him to do rather than asking him what he wants me to do?
Take Away: The Lord is willing to work with us; to hear our requests. The wiser route though, is to seek his will first.
The big bang!
1 Samuel 12: God, simply because of who he is, is not going to walk off and leave his people.
Talk about “multi-media!” As Samuel brings his farewell sermon, he tells them how displeased the Lord is with them over their insistence on having a king. Then, to illustrate that displeasure, Samuel prays up a thunderstorm! Now, that’s an “attention-getter!” The storm scares them to repentance and they plead with Samuel to pray for them. He promises his prayers and also assures them that God can work through the king arrangement. It may not be God’s first choice, but he can handle it as long as king and people cooperate with him. And, even though the Lord’s disappointed in their poor choices, he isn’t giving up on them. How does Samuel know this? He knows it because his knows God. “Because of who he is, he will be faithful to you.” Wow! What a relief! Itās great to know that my relationship with God isnāt performance- based. That doesn’t give me license to ignore God and do my own thing, but it does encourage me today. Even when Iām functioning at peak capacity I tend to mess up. Iām glad for this reminder that God doesnāt walk out on people who make poor decisions.
Take Away: The Lord can work through even our poor decisions if we walk humbly with him.
The bigger they come…
1 Samuel 13: God is out looking for your replacement right now.
On the surface, Saul’s failure seems minor. All heās doing is offering his own sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel to do it for him. Beneath that, though, is a fault line that means catastrophe. Any king of Israel must rule only as a servant of God. Things are to be done God’s way. From the beginning of Saul’s story his position has been clearly defined. Samuel is the man chosen by God to provide spiritual leadership and that includes making ritual sacrifices. Saul has crossed that line, claiming authority thatās not his. Because of that God is rejecting him as king. Since he doesnāt accept God’s way of doing things another king will be found. I need to remember here that Saul isn’t making a mistake in this incident. Rather, heās acting with full knowledge of what heās doing. Simply put, heās pushing God’s will to the side and taking what he thinks is a better course of action. While itās true that God is testing him with the circumstance of Samuel’s late arrival itās also true that he miserably fails the test. The Lord seeks another king because Saul, by his own decision, makes himself unworthy to be king. As I apply this to my life, I see that I must never forget that he is Lord. I’m not free to do whatever I want to do. While I know God is gracious and merciful, I also know that, in my own free will, I can push God too far. It doesnāt have to be that way, but I know that it remains a tragic possibility.
Take Away: If Iām to be Godās man I have to do things Godās way. Heāll have it no other way.
Future knowledge
1 Samuel 15: Then God spoke to Samuel: “Iām sorry I ever made Saul king. He’s turned his back on me. He refuses to do what I tell him.”
God has given Saul explicit orders. Heās to attack Amalek and utterly destroy all life. Saul leads his army into the battle and follows God’s command. Well, not quite. Agag, king of Amalek, is captured rather than killed. Also, some of the choice animals are brought back alive. Now, Iām troubled by all this killing and Iāve written about it before so Iām going to move on to another important feature of this passage. God says heās “sorry” he made Saul king in the first place. Some say that this is just God speaking in human terms, that he isn’t “sorry” in the sense that he regrets having made Saul king. The reason that they believe this is because taking this statement at face value doesn’t fit their theology. They see time as somehow pre-existent and that God can see into the future. “God knows everything,” they say, “so he has to know the future.” I think that such logic contains a fatal error: that the future already exists as something to be known. If time is a “thing” then, no doubt, God knows all about it. But if time is simply a measure of the flow of events, and if human beings really have free will, then God doesn’t know the future. Before you drag me out to be stoned, let me add two things. First, God knows what heās going to do. Throughout the Bible he says, “If you do this, I will do that — if you do that I will do this.” God knows, because heās going to act, not because heās looked into the future and seen what heās going to do but, instead, because heās God Almighty and if says heās going to do something that thing is absolutely certain to happen. Second, God could know the exact future if he wanted to. I am not saying that he somehow “limits his vision.” Rather, that if God wanted to force events to flow in a specific way he has the power to do so. However, doing that in the lives of individuals would violate the free will he granted human beings. If youāre still with me, let me conclude by adding that God had every reason to believe Saul would be a terrific leader of Israel and to be disappointed when he isnāt. In fact, thatās what God believed would (or at least “could”) happen. Saul’s failure disappointed the Almighty but it didn’t ruin his plan. The Lord goes about replacing Saul with another king, giving Israel a second chance.
Take Away: The Lord may not pre-ordain what Iām going to do, but he can handle whatever I do.
2015 -Pictured Rocks Cruise – Munising, MI
A disappointment
1 Samuel 31: Saul…died…that day.
He came to a pitiful end. Saul, as a young man, was chosen by God, himself, to lead Israel. His very stature dominates a room. Even strong warriors were willing to follow his leadership. This capable man could bring order, peace, and safety to those under his command. But heās also a deeply flawed man who could hear the direction of God and then ignore it to do what seems best to him at the time. Also, heās an empty man. When he rejects God’s authority in his life God rejects him. From that day onward, life drains out of Saul, leaving him just a shell of what he could have been. Now, pursued by his enemies and fleeing in defeat, he meets his end on Mount Gilboa, wounded and then falling on his own sword. Saul’s story is one of unfulfilled possibilities. He had every reason to go down in history as Israel’s first and greatest king. Instead, he dies without God and without hope. He arrives here because of his own decisions. His epitaph simply reads, “A disappointment.”
Take Away: It all starts with our simply obeying the voice of the Lord in our lives.
2015 – Mackinaw Bridge, MI
Itās not my fault, God made me do it
1Kings 12: God was behind all this…
Iām a firm believer in the God-given gift of free will. As someone said, “In his Sovereignty, God granted human beings the freedom to choose.” There are plenty of scriptures that speak to this concept but this isnāt one of them! Just to set the story: Solomon sins against God and because of that the Lord says heāll rip the larger portion of Israel from his descendants’ rule. Then, when his son Rehoboam assumes the throne he foolishly follows the wrong advice and that brings about a split in the nation. At that point we come to the statement that “God was behind all this.” This leaves me playing defense on the topic of free will. Does God cause Rehoboam to do something stupid to bring about the split between Judah and Israel? And, if thatās the case, is Rehoboam responsible for what God causes him to do? Does God suspend free will in this specific circumstance? I don’t have a sweeping answer to these questions, but I don’t think God over-ruled himself on the topic of free will. Maybe this can work if I think in terms of “influence” rather than direct cause. For instance, God knows Rehoboam’s heart — that heās a stubborn, selfish man. The Lord knows that Rehoboamās friends are like him. It doesn’t take God’s pulling strings like a puppeteer to get Rehoboam to go along with the bad advice he receives. A slight suggestion is all it takes to accomplish that. Once I start thinking in terms of “influence” I more easily see how this works in both negative and positive ways. If my desire is to please the Lord in all I do, it won’t take much of a nudge from God to get me moving in the right direction. Iām not claiming that Iāve resolved all the “free-will verses God’s sovereignty” issues here, but I think it is a step in the right direction.
Take Away: Iāve been granted free will. Will I or wonāt I use that gift to allow the Lord to positively influence me in the decisions of my life?
