Is Gods Love A Choice
Let’s discuss more on the subject of prayer. Some think that prayer is useless if not an unimportant part of the Christian life. That our time could be better spent gaining for ourselves in the present world. They feel that since God knows all; that he is the God of the past, present and future; prayer is an unnecessary tool. If God already knows what is to happen, praying to God is useless persuasion; fore nothing will change God’s foreknowledge of events that will transpire in one’s life. Is our daily communication with God time well spent?
Is God’s love an actual choice, is an election of grace ours to make, or has our eternity been foretold from the beginning of the world? Do you understand what I’m asking; do we have a free choice to decide between Heaven and Hell? Some Christian groups believe that the almighty creator from the beginning of time has decided our eternal fate. If man has a free will to decide between good and evil does he have a choice concerning his eternal destination, has our eternity all but been decided? Is so, then why would man concern himself with the expectation that God can save all man from the curse of sin?
We have asked many good questions and the answer hinges on what god’s word tells us of our human experience and that of God’s will for our lives.
Romans 8:28-30, “God knew what He was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling his people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
People get tangled in the subject of election or choice when they attempt to harmonize this theme with the foreknowledge of God. They drift to the conclusion that his foreknowledge determines all human destinies, whether redemptive or reprobate (that is to say good or evil). They are telling us that it is impossible to deflect the prearranged Word of God and ransom ourselves from the inevitable. They presume that because of this prayer yields us little benefit.
Let’s investigate this theorem by searching through the biography of David prior to the time he was King of Israel. He was in hiding, running from the pursuit of King Saul. He was a fugitive living in Keilah with 600 followers. He offered those who lived their protection from marauding Philistines who raided the countryside taking their herds and flocks. The people are grateful but God knows the human heart of man. He knows man better than man knows himself and what will happen if situations prevail against him. Whatever may happen, David is not presumptuous, he goes to the one who knows all and relies on the providence of God over what he thinks or feels.
I Samuel 23, verses 1-13:
Then they told David, saying, "Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are plundering the threshing floors." So David inquired of the Lord, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And the Lord said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines, and deliver Keilah.” But David’s men said to him, "Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the ranks of the Philistines?" Then David inquired of the Lord once more. And the Lord answered him and said, "Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand." So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines; and he led away their livestock and struck them with a great slaughter. Thus David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah. Now it came about, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. When it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, "God has delivered him into my hand, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars." So Saul summoned all the people for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men. Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here." Then David said, "O Lord God of Israel, Thy servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account. Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Thy servant has heard?" And the Lord said, "He will come down." Then David said, "Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And the Lord said, "They will surrender you."
[The teaching continues.] Then David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the pursuit.
1Samuel 23:1-13 shows that David and his men fought and defeated these pests, the Philistines, and drove them from the country around this city, Keilah. The people of Keilah gave David and his men the highest respect for delivering them from the Philistines. David lived in peace among this grateful people until word came that Saul is on his way with an enormous army. You would think that David would have been secure among this people after the great favor he bestowed on them.
David, however, was blessed with insight that could only come from God. He knew the people respected and appreciated his services but when it came to devotion for their savior he suspected their true devotion was to King Saul. If Saul were to come, they would probably show their true colors and give David up to find more favor with there this powerful king. How should he know the hearts of these people? Only through a devoted prayer life and an insight guided by God through daily communication did David save his life and that of his men and the city. He knew by the information brought him that Saul was plotting his ruin and therefore applied to his great protector for direction. No sooner was the ephod brought to him than he makes use of it. We have the scriptures in our hands; let us take advice from its pages and that of prayer in doubtful cases.
David did naturally what comes to a person who regularly communicates with his God, he prayed. He asked God, “Will Saul come down to Keilah?” And God answered him; “He will come down.” David again asks a question of God; “Will the men of Keilah deliver me up?” God answers David the second time with no delay, “They will deliver you.”Without delay, David rouses all his men and marches double-time out of Keilah escaping from the treasonous hands of the people of Keilah. Meanwhile, Saul who had spies throughout the region heard of David’s flight and changed his course in trying to intercept David.
What I want you to see here is not only the communication factor involved with David and God but also the two events that God predicted would happen, did not happen. The reason they didn’t happen was because of the obedience of David. David who was well acquainted with God and understood his words, he knew he had a free choice to choose between fleeing and staying, he chose to flee because God was true to his word and if God said it would happen, it would happen. David fled from before Saul because if he had stayed Saul would have come to Keilah and they would have delivered David into his hands. If David had listened to the liberal thinking of today’s world he would have stayed in Keilah, fell to the ground in anguish and waited for Saul because if mans destiny is foretold by God then he would have ignored God’s word, because all is foretold and there would be nothing he could do about the circumstance he was in. Why should he run when God already knows his fate, so what ever happens will happen regardless of his decision to choose? I don’t think so! That’s not how God works! David does know the true order of queries, He asked of God not of man. If he would have asked the men of Keilah they would have asked him to stay and that would have been his doom. David knew where his help came from and how to achieve God’s plan.
We must recognize two essential facts, God’s providence and man’s free election. They are both true, however, we cannot always place both in agreement with each other. It is a grave mistake to try. If David had reflected on his circumstance, analyzed his position and chose what he felt was the best for him; he would have been doomed before he categorized his options. The bottom line here is we are saved by faith and not by knowledge. Therefore, the thing for us to do is to believe and obey when God gives us direction.
“Can events transpire, which God does not foreknow?” God is omniscient, the answer is no! He knows the future as well as the present and past. “Then does not that foreknowledge apply to predestination in reference to people?” Again, I respond in the negative because just because knowing something will happen does not necessarily mean that the event will happen. If a person were to choose a life style of drinking and drug abuse, knowing for certain that these habits will surely kill him, yet contrary to rational thought that person proceeds to make the wrong dreadful choice and chooses the damaging life-style. His knowledge didn’t prevent him from the inevitable; his choice in choosing that life style was the defining ingredient. Hence, the foreknowledge of a thing does not cause that thing to take place.
People are still free to make their elections (choice), and if they change their direction through god’s guidance, then the events predicted will be changed. God is our guide through the events of our lives and only through constant communication through daily prayer and scripture can we know the direction he wants to take us. God is infallible. His direction is always true and unquestionably accurate. David withdrew from Keilah with the knowledge that he would rather rely on the providence of God than that of man.
The Bible repeatedly says that God’s mercy endures forever. Therefore the thing for us all to do is to repent of all our sins, seek the Lord with all our heart, and soul, and never depart from his ways. Satan’s favorite device is to run people deep into the pits of despair by telling them there is nothing they can do in their present circumstance, so they will not repent, and they will be his. If there is one truth that stands far above the others in man’s domain; men make their own election (choice). We elect God and God elects us; this is mutual as well as reciprocal.
Romans 1:28-32, Paul clearly answers the question on election and reprobation, choosing good over evil. “Since they didn’t bother to acknowledge God, God quit bothering them and let them run loose. And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They ditch their parents when they get in the way. Stupid, slimy, cruel, cold-blooded. And it’s not as if they don’t know better. They know perfectly well they’re spitting in God’s face. And they don’t care – worse; they hand out prizes to those who do the worst things.
This description on man’s spiral from the favor of God into the worst of degradation is black and appalling as Hell can be. Man has fell into virtually a hell on earth. This is the awful condition of man today. Man has chosen to ignore God and His direction for his life and that decision can only lead to his own destruction.
Another truth is, we have the choice to change our condition. We can by the help of a loving God pull ourselves out of the miry muck and choose life. We are in charge of our own destiny. We can change the direction of our future and the outcome of our eternity. Failing to call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ through prayer and asking forgiveness of our sins is completely left to our charge. When we make that momentous decision of choosing Jesus then the foreknowledge of God will take affect for those that love God. God has foretold of all the hope, the joy, the peace, the love and the security that is ours when we repent of our ways and let him guide our ways. “Come all you that love God into the storehouse of his blessings”.
If you are uncertain of where your eternal home will be, I would like to pray with you and invite you to make a decision you shall never regret. Invite Jesus into your heart and cleanse yourself from all ungodliness. Let your name be written into the Book of Life today.
With all eyes closed and heads bowed, those that would like to choose to serve Jesus Christ from this day forth, raise your hands and those that are here who know the power of a victorious Christian life will come and pray with you where you are. Or if you would like to publicly show that from this day forth you choose life, the altar is always free for you to come and humbly pray. There will be those that would like to pray with you and that will help you to pray concerning your decision.
Prayer: Father, we just thank you so much for your Word and what it says to our hearts. It brings up these wonderful principles of your faithfulness, Father, not our ability, and how you are committed to making us men and women of God, men and women after your own heart, men and women totally dependent upon you as our Lord as we walk this earth. Father, we just pray that we might remember that this is your purpose and that nothing happens apart from this purpose to make us totally your availability, totally your visibility, totally yours. Father, teach us to look upon everything that happens in our lives as having this purpose behind it, having the sovereignty of a God who can take our enemies, our fears, our greatest horrors and use them as instruments to allow us to go through the suffering, through the testings and make us glorious creatures in the end. Lord we ask that you cleanse the hearts of those who are repentant. We ask that you guide those that have made a decision to follow you. Help them to come to you in all things and seek your guidance through the daily reading of your Word and prayer. Thank you for being a loving and forgiving Father. Thank you, Father, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
