Article of Faith: The God of all things (3), By Femi Aribisala

God only makes us do the evil we want to do.

God not only determines what we do but also what we say. Solomon says: 

“The preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.” (Proverbs 16:1). 

God says in Isaiah: 

“My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants, from this time and forevermore.” (Isaiah 59:21).

Thus, God assured Moses, a stammerer: 

“I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” (Exodus 4:12).  

When Shimei cursed David on his hurried retreat from Jerusalem when Absalom overthrew him temporarily, David refused to heed Abishai’s demand that Shimei be killed. David knew Shimei could not have cursed him unless God allowed him to do so. He said to Abishai: 

“Let him curse because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David.’ Who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” (2 Samuel 16:10).  

Even Jesus does not speak His own words. He says: 

“Whatever I say is just what the Father has told Me to say.” (John 12:50). 

“The words I say to you are not just My own. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His work.” (John 14:11). 

Questions and Questions

We have a dilemma once we recognise that God is responsible for everything. If God is the author of everything, how can man be held accountable for his actions?  If God’s will is always done, how then can God hold us responsible for our actions when He is the one who decrees our actions?”  

Paul quickly shuts up the foolish who ask such impertinent questions, thinking they are wise:

“Indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to Him who formed it, ‘Why have You made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour?” (Romans 9:20-21). 

“Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God?” (Romans 9:20). 

As God said to Job: 

“Who is this that questions My wisdom with such ignorance?” (Job 42:3).

Job quickly answered in contrition:

“It is I- and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me.” (Job 42:3).  

 We Are Responsible

Is God also the author of our sins? Does the scripture not say: 

“Don’t blame God when you are tempted! God cannot be tempted by evil, and He doesn’t use evil to tempt others. We are tempted by our own desires?” (James 1:1314). 

The Scriptures demonstrate conclusively that God is the uncaused cause of everything. The power of God then ensures that God’s determinism never contradicts man’s responsibility for his actions. God only makes us do the evil we want to do and He makes us do the good He wants us to do.

This means even though God is behind everything we do, we are nevertheless fully responsible for our actions. Thus, Assyria will pay for the evil God caused it to do because evil is in Assyria: 

“After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish His purposes on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, He will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him—for he is proud and arrogant. He boasts, ‘By my own powerful arm I have done this. With my own shrewd wisdom, I planned it.'” (Isaiah 10:12-13). 

“But can the axe boast greater power than the Person who uses it? Is the saw greater than the Person who saws? Can a rod strike unless a hand moves it? Can a wooden cane walk by itself?” (Isaiah 10:15). 

The marriage between God’s purpose and Assyria’s will lies in the power of God. Therefore, even though God is the Alpha and the Omega: 

“Everyone will die for his own sin.” (Jeremiah 31:30). 

 Choices

God controls the circumstances within which we make our choices. Those circumstances force us to make our choices only according to the will of God, ensuring that God’s will is always done.

Therefore, James counsels: 

“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” (James 4:13-15).

This is because God only makes man do the evil we always intended to do. God will punish those disposed to be evil, and reward those inclined to be good.

“In a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honour and some for dishonour. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honour, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” (2 Timothy 2:20-21). 

Note that, in every situation, God determines the vessels, and He determines their use. But His determination never violates the disposition of the vessel.

So, despite the supremacy of God’s determinism:  

“God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

“(He will) reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 32:19). 

Disciples of Jesus

Jesus told His disciples on the night of Calvary: 

“All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’” (Matthew 26:31).  

That was the will of God.

 God says: 

“’Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I (will bring) it to pass.” (2 Kings 19:25).

But Peter foolishly insisted the will of God would not be done. He asserted instead his own will, saying to Jesus: 

“Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.” (Matthew 26:33). 

Therefore, Jesus said to Peter: 

“Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” (Matthew 26:34).

It is a no-brainer to ask whose will was done, that of God or Peter. Peter denied Jesus not once, but three times. The other disciples also deserted Jesus even though they willed not to desert Him.

Is this not eloquent proof that the will of man is never done but the will of God is always done?

 Example of Pharaoh

God told Pharaoh: “Let My people go.” But although He said this, He did not want Pharaoh to let them go because He planned to destroy Pharaoh and His army in the Red Sea. 

Therefore, although He sent Moses to bring terrible plagues to Egypt that would have broken the will of any man, He hardened the heart of Pharaoh so that he would not heed the words of Moses.

God continued to harden the heart of Pharaoh with the result that he met his Waterloo in the Red Sea. 

“For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.’ Therefore, He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.” (Romans 9:17-18). 

There was no free will on the part of Pharaoh that could have prevented his downfall because the will of God had decreed his downfall.

The same destiny prevailed regarding Samuel’s evil sons: 

“They did not heed the voice of their father, because the LORD desired to kill them.” (1 Samuel 2:25).

 In every situation, it is the will of God that prevails. 

Ask for Help

Therefore, our prayer should be focused on asking for God’s divine enablement: 

“Turn my heart toward Your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things. (Psalm 119:36-37). 

“Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me.” (Psalm 19:13). CONCLUDED