Letting the Paradox Stand

God is sovereign and He is good. He is in control of all things and yet there is so much in scripture that speaks to human responsibility. I don’t know how to reconcile these two truths. If God is sovereign then how can we be truly free? If God is orchestrating world events, and to a great extent world events are shaped by the choices that humans make as individuals and as groups, then isn’t the freedom of the will simply an illusion? We only appear to be free to make decisions, but in fact our decisions are predestined by God.

If that is true, then how are we responsible for the decisions that we make? Our decisions are influenced by innumerable factors both external and internal, and if God is the one orchestrating these factors then he is controlling us in ways that are too subtle for us to understand. This would make God a masterful manipulator, but where is the righteousness and honor in that.

On the other hand, scripture clearly assumes that each person is in fact free to choose the path that they take. There are blessings for those who choose God’s path and curses for those who do not. Often, the prophets and apostles lay before the people two options and ask people to choose between life and death. Is this all just a shell game, a con where we are asked to choose the cup with the ball beneath, when in fact there is no real choice? No matter what we choose we either win or lose at the will of the one running the game. Some he chooses to win, while others he chooses as the perennial losers.

No, this can’t be it either. Why even include the book of proverbs in the canon if there are no real choices, if wisdom makes no difference? No, I must take God at His word and believe that I really will reap what I sow and that I have full responsibility for the seed that I sow. I sow where I will but I will also reap the consequences, good or evil, for my choices. So, here I find another paradox that I cannot resolve without discarding or disregarding one portion of scripture for another.

Humans are troubled by paradox. We need equilibrium. We need to know the answer, to resolve the tension. Here in lies one of our tragic flaws. We are driven to create systems that explain away the problems and the paradoxes. We ponder and deliberate and tighten our systems down until even the truth is squeezed out, or at least one part of the truth is squeezed out in favor of another more palatable part. Of course our palates are different and so we create systems or gravitate toward previously created systems that resonate with us and then we argue with each other about the systems and use scripture to make our case. Historically, we have even done violence to each other in defense of our “biblical” positions. This flies in the face of a clear teaching of Christ, that they will know us by our love and unity.

Is not all of this also a factor of our pride? In the garden our desire to know good and evil made us susceptible to the Serpent’s lies. We decided that we knew best about what we needed to know and when. So, we sinned, and we have kept on sinning by setting ourselves up as the arbiter of truth. It is not wrong to desire knowledge or to pursue truth, but it is wrong to insist on knowledge and on the timing of revelation. Our position as creatures demands that we submit ourselves to God and trust Him to share with us the things that we are prepared to receive. There is a progression to revelation; only He knows what we need to know and when. We must let the paradoxes stand and let them drive us to Him rather than away from Him in search of knowledge apart from Him.