Okay, you’re probably going to think that I’m weird. Either that, or I am going to confirm it. But reading the line below made me think of something differently. It is easy for me to take for granted the freedom of choice that I have been given by God. But I’m not sure I’ve taken the time to consider the freedom of choice that God has.
“Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy; but the Father, for love!” – Octavius Winslow
It’s really sort of mind boggling. God? Choices? My mind first races to Job. The evil one asked, and God made a choice. He could have said “no”. What if God had no choice but to protect and isolate me from danger or difficulty? What if he had no choice but to love me? Whoa!
So, there I went again to Google “god has free choice” and I found several writings by Saint Thomas Aquinas. The most interesting was from his book ‘Truth’. On page 149 Aquinas says, “Free choice is to be found in God, but it is found in Him in a different way than in angels and in men.” That was followed by a bunch of philosophy that I didn’t follow, but then Aquinas helps me out, “But human and angelic nature is created, taking it’s origin from nothing. Hence, viewed in itself, it is capable of deficiency. For this reason God’s free choice is by no means able to be turned to evil.”
His Word is filled with places where God obviously makes choices. I guess I’d not recently taken the time to consider the ramifications if God chose differently. Yet, I like those final words above of Aquinas, that whatever God’s choice, it by no means can be turned to evil.
There are some pretty awful things in this world that God allows to take place. Things I, like you, have asked “why, God?” But my simplistic view this morning is strengthened that though those things take place, though those things may seem overwhelming and unbearable, they are eternally for God’s glory. I may question them until the day I die, they may even cause my death or someone I love, but I find my peace in knowing that God operates on a level I will never (thank goodness) understand.
Isaiah 43:10 – “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen.”