I received a call today from a dear, older sister in Christ. I hadn't seen her since September 2008, and she wanted to know how I was doing with the divorce.
I was able to testify of God's goodness and faithfulness to her. However, it was very interesting when I mentioned that the knowledge of God's absolute sovereignty was the anchor that kept both my daughter and I. She immediately mentioned how God gives us free will and that my husband made the choice to leave, and he is choosing to reject God. She mentioned that God's hand is always out but he is choosing to not turn back to God. One specific thing she said was "God did not want this to happen."
Probably out of respect for her age (she's the same age as my mother) and she needed to go run errands, I did not embark on a heated debate that our free will is a slave to sin, only being able to choose what is wrong. However, her immediate response was very interesting and a little bit sad because it reminded me of me.
I don't know specifically what she thinks about the sovereignty of God, but I know what I used to believe.
Basically, if things happen that I like, then it's God's will. If circumstances change where it is something I don't like, then demonic attack or man's choice is overruling what God would want. We have the ability to bring God's will into being, if we pray right and stand right. The flip side is that if we fail to pray right or stand right, God's will will not be done.
I had never questioned this belief until I was in a situation that I thought was not God's will, namely my husband's desertion.
How could God allow this to happen? Surely, He loved me. Surely, He loved my husband. Why would He allow this to happen to our marriage?
If you take the view of God's will being subordinate to man's will, then the only comfort you can derive is that God didn't want this to happen which exempts God from being the real force behind everything that happens, good or bad. But if you take it to its logical conclusion, then God is not completely in charge. God's will does not stand against either man or the devil. Therefore, God can only react to our choices or our inability to pray the right way, or conduct spiritual warefare the right way. Consequently, God is not God in the sense of being the absolute ruling force in the universe. By default, man becomes elevated to god-like status because his choices dictate what God can or cannot do.
Also, this point of view is looking through the lens of what is best for me. I am the one determining what is good or bad. (Sounds like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.) Also the determination is within time and space without looking to eternal implications and consequences.
It seems that some people can't get past the L in TULIP. Well, I couldn't get past the sovereignty of God. It took me nearly 10 months before I would remotely consider that God allowed this to happen to me. I prayed and fasted believing that my praying and fasting would change God's mind or overcome what was standing in the way of His will.
I had to deal with the emotional turmoil and agony of my marriage falling apart but what was worse was the thought that my life was not even in God's control. If His will was subject to change because of man or the devil, then I couldn't count on Him. It was one thing to deal with what my husband had done but the thought of God standing on the sidelines wanting to do something but being unable to do it left me no hope at all.
But God in His mercy shattered my preconceived ideas. My Christian life changed completely. This was by no means an easy transformation. There were countless tears shed and sleepless nights of wrestling with the Lord about this.
I think at that point, I became a Calvinist without even knowing what a Calvinist was. I didn't even know that the sovereignty of God was a part of reformed theology.
Looking back, this issue was pivotal for me because it directly affected how I viewed God, how I read the scriptures, and how I lived my life everyday.
We had Jeremiah 29:11 engraved in our wedding bands. At the time, I took it as God's promise for a happy marriage.
Now I view it as God's promise to me for my eternal good.
I was able to testify of God's goodness and faithfulness to her. However, it was very interesting when I mentioned that the knowledge of God's absolute sovereignty was the anchor that kept both my daughter and I. She immediately mentioned how God gives us free will and that my husband made the choice to leave, and he is choosing to reject God. She mentioned that God's hand is always out but he is choosing to not turn back to God. One specific thing she said was "God did not want this to happen."
Probably out of respect for her age (she's the same age as my mother) and she needed to go run errands, I did not embark on a heated debate that our free will is a slave to sin, only being able to choose what is wrong. However, her immediate response was very interesting and a little bit sad because it reminded me of me.
I don't know specifically what she thinks about the sovereignty of God, but I know what I used to believe.
Basically, if things happen that I like, then it's God's will. If circumstances change where it is something I don't like, then demonic attack or man's choice is overruling what God would want. We have the ability to bring God's will into being, if we pray right and stand right. The flip side is that if we fail to pray right or stand right, God's will will not be done.
I had never questioned this belief until I was in a situation that I thought was not God's will, namely my husband's desertion.
How could God allow this to happen? Surely, He loved me. Surely, He loved my husband. Why would He allow this to happen to our marriage?
If you take the view of God's will being subordinate to man's will, then the only comfort you can derive is that God didn't want this to happen which exempts God from being the real force behind everything that happens, good or bad. But if you take it to its logical conclusion, then God is not completely in charge. God's will does not stand against either man or the devil. Therefore, God can only react to our choices or our inability to pray the right way, or conduct spiritual warefare the right way. Consequently, God is not God in the sense of being the absolute ruling force in the universe. By default, man becomes elevated to god-like status because his choices dictate what God can or cannot do.
Also, this point of view is looking through the lens of what is best for me. I am the one determining what is good or bad. (Sounds like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.) Also the determination is within time and space without looking to eternal implications and consequences.
It seems that some people can't get past the L in TULIP. Well, I couldn't get past the sovereignty of God. It took me nearly 10 months before I would remotely consider that God allowed this to happen to me. I prayed and fasted believing that my praying and fasting would change God's mind or overcome what was standing in the way of His will.
I had to deal with the emotional turmoil and agony of my marriage falling apart but what was worse was the thought that my life was not even in God's control. If His will was subject to change because of man or the devil, then I couldn't count on Him. It was one thing to deal with what my husband had done but the thought of God standing on the sidelines wanting to do something but being unable to do it left me no hope at all.
But God in His mercy shattered my preconceived ideas. My Christian life changed completely. This was by no means an easy transformation. There were countless tears shed and sleepless nights of wrestling with the Lord about this.
I think at that point, I became a Calvinist without even knowing what a Calvinist was. I didn't even know that the sovereignty of God was a part of reformed theology.
Looking back, this issue was pivotal for me because it directly affected how I viewed God, how I read the scriptures, and how I lived my life everyday.
We had Jeremiah 29:11 engraved in our wedding bands. At the time, I took it as God's promise for a happy marriage.
Now I view it as God's promise to me for my eternal good.
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