Saturday, December 8, 2012

God's Will vs. Free Will


I had an epiphany last night.  I’m sure some of you will read what my epiphany was and think, “Well, duh, why’d it take you so long to realize that?”   The answer is: it didn’t.   This is something I’ve always KNOWN, but I don’t think I fully comprehended or felt the love and peace that comes with it until last night.  It’s kind of like when you’re a kid and you know your parents love you, but until you become a parent yourself, you don’t fully comprehend how much.

My devotional last night was Proverbs 19:21, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”  God’s will be done…check, I know that. 

Then a marvelous thing, a rare thing started happening.  I started thinking.

In the back of my mind I always wondered how, if we have free will and our will is different from God’s and we go down a very wrong path, can we say HIS will is being done?  Sometimes we make choices that are very clearly not God’s will.  What happens then?  God’s will doesn’t change, but we are doing the wrong thing, so how is His will being done?  Does this mean that when something bad happens, it's part of God's will?  NO WAY! 

Then I realized what I had been missing, the word “prevails.”  Duh, Donna, that’s a pretty important word to miss.  I was reading it as His way wins, as in right then and there.  Not thinking that to prevail requires time, patience, grace…LOVE.  His will prevails regardless of what path we venture down.  No matter how far away from Him we roam, He loves us so much and is so gracious in His love, that He uses our poor choices to develop in us what is needed for His purpose.  He doesn’t just turn His back on us when we do stupid things that we know aren’t right and aren’t according to His will.  No, He uses our failures to groom us for HIS ultimate will.   So even if you take a wrong turn at Albuquerque, eventually, no matter how much you fight Him, no matter how much you exercise your free will, His will will be done!

But what about when someone is murdered?  What if a drunk driver kills an innocent family, how can that be God's will? The answer:  It isn't.  Remember, we have free will and our free will sometimes affects other lives.   Having faith requires trusting God that ultimately, every life has a greater purpose and His will is NOT to punish us, but to save us.  No matter what we do, GOD IS IN CONTROL.  God is there with you, grieving, comforting, being the loving Father that He is.