Exodus 13:17 (KJV)
And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:
Romans 11:33 (KJV)
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
I suppose one of the greatest mistakes mortal men can make is attempting to explain God. We limit Him by placing Him within the confines of our own wisdom and knowledge. In so doing, we often miss God entirely. Such, I think, is the case with the theological systems of Calvinism and Arminianism. The Calvinist claims that the free will of man limits the sovereignty of God, while the Arminian claims that the doctrine of sovereign grace limits the love of God. The only limits that exist are those in the mind of man. God is one hundred percent sovereign and, at the same time, one hundred percent compassionate. He is perfectly capable of being in utter control of all things while also giving us free will.
The Bible says that God chose not to lead Israel the direct route to the Promised Land, lest they become discouraged by war and return to Egypt. Yet, when they reached the Promised Land at Kadesh Barnea, they became discouraged at the prospect of war and wished to return to Egypt. God hadn’t failed. There was so much more at play than they could have possibly understood—more than we can understand even today.
Jameson-Fausset-Brown writes, “Their faith was to be exercised and strengthened, and from the commencement of their travels, we observe the same careful proportion of burdens and trials to their character and state, as the gracious Lord shows to His people still in that spiritual journey of which the former was typical.”
John Gill says, “There were other secret reasons for it, which afterwards opened in Providence, such as the wonderful work of leading them through the Red Sea on dry land and the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in it. By being brought into a wilderness, a solitude, they were in the fittest place to receive and attend to the body of laws given to them, where they were formed into a commonwealth and church state before their entrance into, and possession of, the land of Canaan. Here also, they were humbled, tried, and proved, and had such instances of the power and goodness of God to them as were sufficient to attach them to His service.”
As much as we study the Word of God and come to understand some measure of His person, the finite mind of man can never exhaust the infinite character of God.
To presume we have is to turn from the living God and worship a god of our own creation.
#SovereignGod #InfiniteWisdom #GodsPlan #TrustInGod #DivineGuidance
God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Free Will: Beyond Human Understand
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