Divine Sovereignty and Personal Responsibility

I this post I would like to look at how Scripture ties these two complementary facts together. The Bible clearly teaches that God is sovereign, in other words, He has the final say in all that happens on earth. “Man proposes, but God disposes” as the old saying goes. However it is also equally clear, that God responds to the choices of His creatures. Ultimately we become what we desire to be. Our destiny is thus based on our character, which is the sum of our choices, or in other words the composite way in which we have responded to the grace that God has given us.
Jeremiah 10:23 tells us, “I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.” This verse does not say that men have no choices, but rather that we choose paths, which take us in directions of which we may not necessarily have even a remote idea at the time of choosing. Once a path is chosen it can be difficult to go in another direction. The path we take now determines which crossroads we will later have, which will determine later crossroads. There was a man I knew, who while living with one woman had fathered a child by another. He hid the thing from the woman he was living with. They later got born again and got married. Eventually after around 13 years it came out, it was really difficult for the wife to bear, but thankfully she weathered it. Someone asked me, “How he could do that?” His first choice not to tell made it the easiest choice thereafter. As each year passed, whatever pain and grief he had tried to avoid by hiding would be compounded, thus making it harder to come clean. Joseph’s brothers undoubtedly faced a similar situation, in their betrayal of Joseph and lying to their father. Grace alone enables us to break away from destructive paths we are walking in and come into the light to be cleansed.

God’s sovereignty is seen in the fact that our paths are not self-ordered. Our responsibility is to choose the right path. God is not passive in this process, because He offers grace unto man to enable him to choose the right path. However if grace is refused, not only is the man set on a wrong path, but God will sometimes even impel the evil doer in his wickedness. When Judas had made his choice to betray Jesus, Jesus not only allowed it, but encouraged it in telling him to do it quickly. The choice and covetousness which caused it all belonged to Judas, but once he made a choice to betray Christ, Christ Himself sealed him into that choice.
King Saul is another example, if you study his life carefully, you notice that his heart was really set on having the favor and honor of the people. When he repeatedly disobeyed the Lord, God gave him over to an evil spirit. This is an active sending and not merely a passive allowance, from that time Saul became an evil instrument that God was using to do a good work in David.

Balaam was first forbidden by God to go at all with Balak’s messengers. Then when he persisted to ask God for permission, God gave it. This was not a case of God changing His mind as to the best course of action, but a case of His allowing a stubborn man (as we all can be stubborn) to do his own thing if that is what he wants to do. Even then, however, Balaam’s choice is limited. God is angry with him for going and angry with his desire to curse Israel, but after reproving him through a donkey, He allows him to go. The most amazing part of this amazing story is that Balaam is used by God to give some of the most profound Messianic prophecies in the Bible – while he is actually hoping that God will let him curse Israel.

Both Balaam and Saul were used by God to prophesy, even as they were going directly against God’s purposes in their hearts.

Samson, though he had a better end than Saul or Balaam, is another example of one who was used by God, though his lifestyle and heart motives could never be approved by God, at the time of his death though he does appear to have come to a place of repentance. Samson is a very interesting character, he fulfilled his role as a deliverer, but from inherently selfish motives. In a sense he is like those spoken of in 2 Timothy 2:19-22 as vessel to dishonor. They are in the house of God, but yet are not fit for every good work, but only for certain uses.
We are fitted for a certain use by our own choices. Samson wrought deliverance out of personal vengeance. That was his desire and God granted it, but that also sealed him off from other avenues of ministry.

God is able to make from the same lump (the same individual) a vessel of mercy or wrath (Romans 9:21). He forms us according as we resist or receive His grace. In eternity we will realize that we became exactly what we wanted to be, whether we realized what we were doing at the time or not. Even for Christians our position in the Kingdom of heaven will be affected by motives for what we do, and how we do it. Let us be vessels of honor that we can please the heart of God and be fit for every good use!