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Post by Mark on Jun 17, 2008 4:09:40 GMT -8
What is the balancing point between having utter freedom to do whatever we choose and being completely under the sovereign hand of Adonai?
How do we justify such passages as
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
(2 Peter 3:9)
with the fact that many will perish, evidently, against the will of God?
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Post by Nashdude on Jun 17, 2008 4:44:21 GMT -8
What is the balancing point between having utter freedom to do whatever we choose and being completely under the sovereign hand of Adonai? How do we justify such passages as The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) with the fact that many will perish, evidently, against the will of God? The best way I could address this question is by quoting David... Psalm 51:17 -- The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. David was a special man---both in his time and even today. While everybody else around him was attempting to "do" Godliness, he was Godly in his heart. He was reacting to God's Grace long before Jesus ever came in the flesh. As Moses and Abraham before him, David had a RELATIONSHIP with God. He didn't just worship Him. He loved Him. This is something that cannot be achieved without free will. Minus free will, all you have is programming. And while God's Will IS sovereign and demands that it be satisfied, He desires our hearts more than our legalism. 1 Samuel 15:22 -- And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. Isaiah 1:11 -- To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. He wants us to LOVE Him more than He does to obey Him. That's why you can follow the Law till the day you die and still be Hell-bound, but be a murdering thief like David and be called "a man after God's own heart". The man that loves God voluntarily submits his will to God's sovereign Will. The man's will still remains his own, but he conforms to the Father's Will OUT OF LOVE for Him. Exactly as God wishes it. The Father does not want automatons or pets. He wants relationships. He doesn't will that any should perish, true enough, but without the option to reject God, there can be no choosing God. There is only programming. |
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