6 Minute Read
Prepare Your Heart
To the best of your ability, get rid of all distractions. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and quiet yourself in the Lord’s presence. Then, ask the Lord to speak to you in this time. Let Him know that you will listen and make whatever adjustments He will reveal to you.
Read God’s Word
A Verse for Today
Slowly and reflectively read the following verse(s) and listen to what God will say to you through His written Word. Consider writing down any insights He reveals to you.
Ezra 1:1 (CSB): “In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD roused the spirit of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and to put it in writing:”
Ezra 1:5 (CSB): “So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone whose spirit God had roused—prepared to go up and rebuild the LORD’s house in Jerusalem.”
Reflecting on God’s Word
The Bible proclaims the truth of several paradoxes. One of them is the tension between God’s sovereign control over all things and humanity’s ability to make their own choices. It is a paradox because the Bible teaches both, even though they would seem to contradict each other.
If you believe that God is sovereign over all things (Ephesians 1:11; Job 42:4; Proverbs 21:1; etc.) but deny mankind’s ability to have freedom to make their choices (Deuteronomy 30:19; Joshua 24:15; John 7:17; etc.), you end up with a “freedom of the will” that really isn’t free. Failing to believe that mankind actually has free will would force us to the conclusion that we are robots trapped in a script for our lives, over which we have no control. (On a side note, I have observed that many people who are lopsided toward God’s sovereignty and deny mankind’s free will tend to be fatalistic, and they rarely, if ever, lead someone to a saving knowledge of Jesus.)
But if you believe that mankind has free will while at the same time denying God’s sovereign control over all things, you would end up with a God who is really no God at all. This unbiblical view would create a “God” that would continuously be forced to play catch-up with every decision we make that He had not orchestrated. This view sidelines God as we make our choices on the field. Honestly, it’s blasphemous and embraces a very small view of God.
I have discovered that the key to understanding a biblical text is to determine the vantage point from which the author is writing. Is his account looking at things from Heaven’s point of view, or is he telling a story from our point of view? If he is looking at it from Heaven’s perspective, he will generally highlight God’s sovereignty. If he is looking at it from our vantage point, He may (but not always) highlight mankind’s free will.
In the verses I have chosen for today, we quickly realize that they focus on God’s sovereignty. The spotlight is on God’s sovereign control over all things.
Ezra 1:1 (CSB): “In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD roused the spirit of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and to put it in writing:” (emphasis mine)
Ezra 1:5 (CSB): “So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone whose spirit God had roused—prepared to go up and rebuild the LORD’s house in Jerusalem.” (emphasis mine)
Why did Cyrus seek to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem? Ezra 1:1 says: “the Lord roused (his) spirit.” Why did many of the people prepare to head toward Jerusalem to help rebuild the Temple? Ezra 1:5 says: “everyone whose spirit God had roused.”
Clearly, God was orchestrating all of these events. He was inspiring and motivating the people to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple.
But, imagine that we hopped into a time machine and were transported back to the time period Ezra 1 tells us about. Imagine that you were able to stand in front of Cyrus and ask him the following question: “King Cyrus, why do you want to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple for the Jewish people?” Almost assuredly, he wouldn’t say: “I am doing this because the God of the Jews roused my heart to do it.” Instead, he would probably say something like: “I want to send people back to their native lands. The Assyrians and Babylonians before me took people from their lands and transplanted them in an attempt to water down their national identity. I want to do things differently. I believe that sending displaced people back to their native lands and helping them to set up their religious centers will inspire loyalty to me without requiring the massive armies that previous powers required.”
If we asked the people why they wanted to return to Jerusalem and help rebuild the Temple, they might provide dozens of reasons, among which was a desire to return to their native land, the land that God had promised to Abraham and his descendants. They wanted to rebuild a Temple to their God because Solomon’s had been destroyed.
My point is that God is sovereign and He does whatever He pleases. We also have the ability to make our choices (within our sphere of options). The Bible teaches both.
But, get this, our God is so sovereign that He has written the final chapter of earth’s history. We call it the book of Revelation. Most of that book has not even occurred yet. As we approach that time, there will be people, including the Beast and false prophets, who make their own sinful choices. Yet, in doing so, they cannot stop what God has decreed. Satan himself exercises his own sinister choices, cannot stop or even slightly alter what God has determined will come to pass.
So, believe in both the sovereignty of God and mankind’s free will. But realize that they are a paradox in that they would seem to cancel each other out, and yet they are both true. Sure, we cannot fully comprehend it, but we believe it because the Bible teaches it.
Spend Time in Prayer
- Ask God to help you celebrate the comfort found in His sovereignty while feeling the personal responsibility to obey Him and make righteous, biblical choices.
Going Deeper
If you want to dig a little deeper into paradoxes in the Bible, consider reading the following GotQuestions article:
“What are some examples of paradox in the Bible?”
Sharing
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Matt Ellis is the pastor of White Hall Baptist Church in Richmond, Kentucky (whitehallbaptistchurch.org)
Matt’s Musings 