Rev. John Hagee once said that it was a mystery how the future of the world can be predestined while at the same time how man can have free will. We, however, often don’t accept the consequences of that freedom of will that we have been given. How often, when something goes wrong, does God get blamed for not intervening and taking control but when something goes right do we then pat ourselves on the back for doing such a good job? So when we see tragedies such as recently happened in Turkey and Syria the question is raised as to where is God. The same applies to a situation involving a single individual when something goes wrong, but when such an event turns eventually all right, do we then recognize that just perhaps God did intervene after all?
Free choice is something that has been with us since the earliest time. In Deuteronomy God gave us the foundation on which this is based and the consequences of the choices that we do make.
… I command you today to love the Lord your God,
to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments,
His statues, and His judgements, that you may live and multiply;
and the Lord your God will bless you…
But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear,
and are drawn away, and worship other gods
and serve them..you shall surely perish.
I have set before you life and death,
blessing and cursing; therefore choose life,
that both you and your descendants may live.
(Deuteronomy 30:16-19)
The choices that we make may, therefore, greatly influence our lives, and also the lives of many who follow. And making the wrong choices, such as acknowledging God without any other interaction, may also have an effect in ways we don’t expect. In Romans, it tells us:
…although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God,
nor were thankful..professing to be wise, they became fools…
[For this reason], God gave them up to uncleanness…
vile passions [and] to a debased mind.
(Romans 1:21,22,24,26,28)
When Moses was on the mountain and delayed descending, the people made the choice to make their own god and persuaded Aaron to make a golden calf. This ultimately resulted in about 3000 people dying because they had made the wrong choice.
When Lot made the choice to get drunk after his escape from Sodom, both his daughters ended up sleeping with him and becoming pregnant. Their descendants became the founders of the Moabites and the Ammonites, both groups eventual enemies of the Israelites.
And again, when Noah, after the flood, became drunk, drinking from the fruit of his vineyards, his son Ham saw him naked when he chose to enter his father’s sleeping area. As a result, he was cursed, as were his descendants who became the Canaanites, another bitter enemy of the Jewish nation.
Now these are old stories but perhaps they have more meaning today than we are willing to accept. Perhaps we are just being left to our own devices because God has given us up to such and is allowing us to wallow in the stew that we ourselves have created, by the choices we have made. He hasn’t left us nor has He created our problems, but for the most part, He has stepped back and allowed us to enjoy the curses we have chosen. The prerogative to intervene, however, remains, and still occurs, when He sees fit to do so.
We continue to blame God for many things which really result from our own choices and our own behaviour; choices which God revealed a long time ago would lead to curses and death instead of blessings and life.
It really is something to think about.
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