It must be realized that being omniscient and omnipotent God could have done anything he elected to do, the Lord has absolute free will. We are not looking for what God could have done, he could have done anything any way he determined. If you begin the study of the Scriptures from any other position, you will fail in obtaining a correct understanding of the Bible.
Many mistakenly suppose that to have free will it must be absolute. Man’s free will is not absolute. We have freedom of thought, desire, disposition/intent, etc. We are free to believe God or not to. However, we do not have freedom to act; actions are controlled by God. We may intend to do something but whether or not we are allowed to is up to the Lord.
James 4:13-15 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 14Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 15For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
1 Samuel 2:3 KJV Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.
Lamentations 3:37 Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
God’s plan leaves room for our free will and limited freedom of action as God’s judgments are played out within the bounds of that plan. At times and in certain situations, the Lord can just let man go to demonstrate what our end would be without him.
Deuteronomy 32:20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.
The Lord tries to raise us up to be what he would like us to be, but he is not forcing any certain predisposition upon us. He can create situations and put us in them to see what we will do to try to train, shape, and draw us to him. How we act and respond is on us; our thoughts, intents, and desires, are our own.
Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!
Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Proverbs 1:30-31 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
Man has free will of the thoughts and intents of his heart to the bringing of blessings or troubles upon himself.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
James 4:1-3 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
There is no contradiction between man’s free will and our Creator’s omniscient and omnipotent. God’s direction of events, man’s free will, and time and chance events are allowed; all work together under God’s guidance and control. He does not have any difficulty controlling events to suit his purposes of having mercy or judgment upon the earth and leading all things to his predetermined end.
Ecclesiastes 9:11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
Our free will is our mental determination. Which is why the thought of sinning is the same as committing it.
Matthew 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Actions have consequences though many unforeseen by us are all coordinated by God to suit his purposes. Actions reverberate through history like a line of dominoes falling; God is in control of those dominoes, which way they fall and how far they go, but what we think and desire is our own.
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