Sunday, August 16, 2009

Human Responsibilty and Divine Sovereignty

Proverbs 16:33 KJV
The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.

The lot was a means used in ancient times to determine the will of the Lord and to make decisions. Some people says it would have been something like rolling dice. A person would cast the lot into the fabric of their garment and make choices based upon the casting of that lot. The point of the passage then is this... men make decisions, but the Lord is the one who carries out his will.

I find in this verse a hunt toward the balance between human responsibility and divine sovereignty. Some people lean way too heavily on human responsibility. They plan, scheme, delegate and execute. In the end, some of them will give God credit, but then, if their plans have been successful enough, they will advertise their successes and in some cases offer to teach others (for a price of course) how to be successful as they have been. While they say they give God glory, it is really all about them. One preacher said publicly "God didn't do much in this town, until I got here."

On the other hand some people don't do anything. They refuse to see that it is commanded of the Lord that we "Go." God has called us into His fields and commissioned us to preach the Gospel. We are too "cast the lot into the lap" as it were.

The reality is that the Word of God teaches us a balance. We are to "cast the lot" We are to be actively involved. We are to labor abundantly in the cause of Christ. But we are to also always keep before us that, the disposing of our labor is "of the Lord." He makes the final choices and accomplishes His will for our lives as He chooses.

Keeping that in mind will ensure that He truly gets the glory.

No comments:

Post a Comment