Study Focus: Ps. 81:11–14, Luke 7:30, Luke 13:34, Titus 1:2, Heb. 6:18.
Introduction: While God is omnipotent and sovereign, He does not determine everything that happens. Moreover, there are things that God will not do, and cannot do, from the standpoint of the nature of His moral character. Yet, divine providence can indeed transform a terrible situation into a blessing.
Lesson Themes: This week’s lesson emphasizes three main ideas:
God’s sovereignty does not exclude unfulfilled desires. God does not determine everything that happens. Even though He is all-powerful, God commits Himself morally to human free will. Consequently, not everything that happens is in accordance with His desires, considering the decisions of morally free creatures. God is sovereign in the sense that He accomplishes His providential purpose (ideal will) and takes into account the free decisions of His creatures, which can be contrary to what He prefers (remedial will).
God’s omnipotence does not mean that His providential actions have no limits. There are things that God will not do, and cannot do, from the standpoint of His moral character. This notion is significant for our understanding of divine providence in the world. God’s providential actions are consistent with His love and are not determined or forced. But His providential actions do not overrule free human choice. Thus, God’s omnipotence does not rule out the free will of His creatures.
Divine providence includes ideal and remedial actions. God’s providential actions are not defined only in terms of ideal will, based exactly on what God desires, but involve remedial actions. Remedial actions depart from what God prefers for His creatures. Even so, God may transform a situation that is against His moral will into something that is aligned with His moral/ideal desire.
Life Application: Is everything that happens in our life the result of God’s will? Why, or why not? What have you learned about divine providence from the story of Joseph?
Part II: Commentary
1. God’s Sovereignty Does Not Exclude Unfulfilled Desires.
One of the key questions debated in Four Views on Divine Providence is whether God always gets “what He wants.” To put it more pointedly, this question poses the challenge of how to “reconcile human beings’ moral responsibility with God’s sovereignty over their acts.”—Dennis W. Jowers, ed., Four Views on Divine Providence (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), p. 10. If the answer to the question is positive (yes, God always gets what He wants), then no one is able to do something different from what God desires, and consequently, everything that happens in the world is in accordance with His desires, including the occurrences of evil. But this picture is contrary to God’s loving benevolence and to the moral freedom of His creatures, as observed in Scripture (see John Peckham, “Providence and God’s Unfulfilled Desires,” Philosophia Cristi 15, no. 2 [2013]: p. 234).
There are several places in Scripture where we find people, even God’s people, acting differently from what God desires. In Psalm 81:11–14, a psalm in which God appeals to Israel’s repentance, the Lord complains that His people do “not heed” His “ ‘voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels. Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries’ ” (NKJV). Likewise, in Isaiah 66:4, the Lord sadly underlines that when He “ ‘called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight’ ” (NKJV).
In Ezekiel 18:23, God emphasizes that He does not have any pleasure in the death of the wicked. Rather, His desire is that the wicked may repent and live. In the Gospels, we are told that “the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves” (Luke 7:30, NKJV). Similarly, Jesus laments over Jerusalem for living in rebellion against His desires. “ ‘How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!’ ” (Luke 13:34, NKJV).
This biblical picture indicates that God’s sovereignty in the world does not exclude the existence of unfulfilled divine desires, considering the decisions of His morally free creatures. At the same time, God is still sovereign, and as Job underscores, “ ‘no purpose of Yours can be thwarted’ ” (Job 42:2, NASB1995). Peckham suggests that “God does not always get what he wants (his ideal will) yet God will certainly accomplish his all-encompassing and omnibenevolent providential purpose (his effective will).”—Philosophia Christi, vol. 15, no. 2, p. 236. More specifically, “God voluntarily opened himself up to the temporary discontent brought about by evil. God is nevertheless content in the overarching sense that his purpose will ultimately be fulfilled and bring maximal contentment to the entire universe in eternally harmonious love relationship.”—Page 235.
2. God’s Omnipotence Does Not Mean That His Providential Actions Have No Limits.
As the Almighty God, the Lord can do anything. Nothing is impossible for Him (Gen. 18:14, Mark 14:36, Luke 18:27). So, from the standpoint of power and freedom, God can do anything. However, from the standpoint of the nature of His moral character and His free decisions regarding the existence and reality of the created world, there are things that God will not do and, in this sense, cannot do. It is from this perspective that Scripture affirms that God cannot do certain things. For instance, He “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2; see also Heb. 6:18), He “cannot be tempted by evil” (James 1:13, NKJV), and “He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13, NKJV).
This concept of God’s moral character is important for our understanding of divine providence, that is, of God’s actions in the world. While He has the power and the freedom to do anything in His providence, His providential actions are delimited by the moral nature of His character and decisions. Ellen G. White highlights that “God never forces the will or the conscience” of His creatures (The Great Controversy, p. 591). In Steps to Christ, she mentions that “Christ is ready to set us free from sin, but He does not force the will; and if by persistent transgression the will itself is wholly bent on evil, and we do not desire to be set free, if we will not accept His grace, what more can He do? We have destroyed ourselves by our determined rejection of His love.”—Page 34.
This principle means that, because of His loving character, God’s omnipotence does not rule out the free will of His creatures. His providential actions do not force the conscience, which explains why He lovingly appeals to our minds to choose life, not death (Deut. 30:15–20), and to not harden our hearts to His voice (Heb. 3:7, 8). Even though He desires the salvation of all (Ezek. 33:11, 1 Tim. 2:4–6, Titus 2:11, 2 Pet. 3:9), the Bible does not teach that everyone will be saved (see, for example, Matt. 25:31–46; John 5:28, 29).
God’s providential activity is consistent with His love. By definition, a loving relationship cannot be determined or forced, but necessarily implies free choice. As the source of love (1 John 4:7, 8), God does not force or determine our love, but He expresses His deep love for us with the desire to instill His love in us (John 3:16, 1 John 4:19). According to 1 John 4:19, “we love Him because He first loved us” (NKJV). A genuine love for God is founded in a personal conviction about His loving and just character. As Ellen G. White beautifully puts it: “Only the service of love can be acceptable to God, the allegiance of His creatures must rest upon a conviction of His justice and benevolence.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 42.
3. Divine Providence Includes Ideal and Remedial Actions.
Taking into account that God’s sovereignty does not exclude unfulfilled desires and that His omnipotence does not mean that His providential actions force the decisions of His creatures, divine providence should not be defined only in terms of ideal actions, which derive from God’s ideal will or desire. Considering that many situations are caused by the decisions of creatures that are incompatible with the moral will of God, several providential actions are more precisely understood as remedial actions, in the sense that God transforms a situation that is against His moral will into something that is aligned with His moral/ideal desire.
The notion of remedial providential action is particularly observed in the history of Joseph. He interprets the ambiguity of his painful, yet astonishing, life journey as paradoxically influenced by both human evil intentions and divine loving providence. The former does not preclude the latter. The latter does not justify the former. In Genesis 50:20, Joseph says to his brothers, “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (NKJV). In short, God’s providence transforms a miserable situation, resulting from the unjustifiable evil intentions and actions of human beings, into a blessing that we could never foresee.
Ellen G. White uses the language of overruling to describe God’s remedial providence: “It was envy that moved the brothers of Joseph to sell him as a slave; they hoped to prevent him from becoming greater than themselves. And when he was carried to Egypt, they flattered themselves that they were to be no more troubled with his dreams, that they had removed all possibility of their fulfillment. But their own course was overruled by God to bring about the very event that they designed to hinder.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 239; emphasis supplied.
Part III: Life Application
Even though we do not always follow God’s desires for our lives, He can transform any terrible situation into a blessing. Based on this point, discuss with your students the following questions:
What needs to be changed in our lives so that we can be dependent upon God’s will in our spiritual journey? How can we seek to make sure our free choices do not clash with God’s will?
Our spiritual failure does not affect God’s love for us. How does this wonderful truth motivate us in preaching the gospel?
How can we explain to small children, in appropriate ways, that not everything that happens is God’s direct will?
Notes
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Key Text: John 16:33
Study Focus: Ps. 81:11–14, Luke 7:30, Luke 13:34, Titus 1:2, Heb. 6:18.
Introduction: While God is omnipotent and sovereign, He does not determine everything that happens. Moreover, there are things that God will not do, and cannot do, from the standpoint of the nature of His moral character. Yet, divine providence can indeed transform a terrible situation into a blessing.
Lesson Themes: This week’s lesson emphasizes three main ideas:
God’s sovereignty does not exclude unfulfilled desires. God does not determine everything that happens. Even though He is all-powerful, God commits Himself morally to human free will. Consequently, not everything that happens is in accordance with His desires, considering the decisions of morally free creatures. God is sovereign in the sense that He accomplishes His providential purpose (ideal will) and takes into account the free decisions of His creatures, which can be contrary to what He prefers (remedial will).
God’s omnipotence does not mean that His providential actions have no limits. There are things that God will not do, and cannot do, from the standpoint of His moral character. This notion is significant for our understanding of divine providence in the world. God’s providential actions are consistent with His love and are not determined or forced. But His providential actions do not overrule free human choice. Thus, God’s omnipotence does not rule out the free will of His creatures.
Divine providence includes ideal and remedial actions. God’s providential actions are not defined only in terms of ideal will, based exactly on what God desires, but involve remedial actions. Remedial actions depart from what God prefers for His creatures. Even so, God may transform a situation that is against His moral will into something that is aligned with His moral/ideal desire.
Life Application: Is everything that happens in our life the result of God’s will? Why, or why not? What have you learned about divine providence from the story of Joseph?
Part II: Commentary
1. God’s Sovereignty Does Not Exclude Unfulfilled Desires.
One of the key questions debated in Four Views on Divine Providence is whether God always gets “what He wants.” To put it more pointedly, this question poses the challenge of how to “reconcile human beings’ moral responsibility with God’s sovereignty over their acts.”—Dennis W. Jowers, ed., Four Views on Divine Providence (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), p. 10. If the answer to the question is positive (yes, God always gets what He wants), then no one is able to do something different from what God desires, and consequently, everything that happens in the world is in accordance with His desires, including the occurrences of evil. But this picture is contrary to God’s loving benevolence and to the moral freedom of His creatures, as observed in Scripture (see John Peckham, “Providence and God’s Unfulfilled Desires,” Philosophia Cristi 15, no. 2 [2013]: p. 234).
There are several places in Scripture where we find people, even God’s people, acting differently from what God desires. In Psalm 81:11–14, a psalm in which God appeals to Israel’s repentance, the Lord complains that His people do “not heed” His “ ‘voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels. Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries’ ” (NKJV). Likewise, in Isaiah 66:4, the Lord sadly underlines that when He “ ‘called, no one answered, when I spoke they did not hear; but they did evil before My eyes, and chose that in which I do not delight’ ” (NKJV).
In Ezekiel 18:23, God emphasizes that He does not have any pleasure in the death of the wicked. Rather, His desire is that the wicked may repent and live. In the Gospels, we are told that “the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves” (Luke 7:30, NKJV). Similarly, Jesus laments over Jerusalem for living in rebellion against His desires. “ ‘How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!’ ” (Luke 13:34, NKJV).
This biblical picture indicates that God’s sovereignty in the world does not exclude the existence of unfulfilled divine desires, considering the decisions of His morally free creatures. At the same time, God is still sovereign, and as Job underscores, “ ‘no purpose of Yours can be thwarted’ ” (Job 42:2, NASB1995). Peckham suggests that “God does not always get what he wants (his ideal will) yet God will certainly accomplish his all-encompassing and omnibenevolent providential purpose (his effective will).”—Philosophia Christi, vol. 15, no. 2, p. 236. More specifically, “God voluntarily opened himself up to the temporary discontent brought about by evil. God is nevertheless content in the overarching sense that his purpose will ultimately be fulfilled and bring maximal contentment to the entire universe in eternally harmonious love relationship.”—Page 235.
2. God’s Omnipotence Does Not Mean That His Providential Actions Have No Limits.
As the Almighty God, the Lord can do anything. Nothing is impossible for Him (Gen. 18:14, Mark 14:36, Luke 18:27). So, from the standpoint of power and freedom, God can do anything. However, from the standpoint of the nature of His moral character and His free decisions regarding the existence and reality of the created world, there are things that God will not do and, in this sense, cannot do. It is from this perspective that Scripture affirms that God cannot do certain things. For instance, He “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2; see also Heb. 6:18), He “cannot be tempted by evil” (James 1:13, NKJV), and “He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13, NKJV).
This concept of God’s moral character is important for our understanding of divine providence, that is, of God’s actions in the world. While He has the power and the freedom to do anything in His providence, His providential actions are delimited by the moral nature of His character and decisions. Ellen G. White highlights that “God never forces the will or the conscience” of His creatures (The Great Controversy, p. 591). In Steps to Christ, she mentions that “Christ is ready to set us free from sin, but He does not force the will; and if by persistent transgression the will itself is wholly bent on evil, and we do not desire to be set free, if we will not accept His grace, what more can He do? We have destroyed ourselves by our determined rejection of His love.”—Page 34.
This principle means that, because of His loving character, God’s omnipotence does not rule out the free will of His creatures. His providential actions do not force the conscience, which explains why He lovingly appeals to our minds to choose life, not death (Deut. 30:15–20), and to not harden our hearts to His voice (Heb. 3:7, 8). Even though He desires the salvation of all (Ezek. 33:11, 1 Tim. 2:4–6, Titus 2:11, 2 Pet. 3:9), the Bible does not teach that everyone will be saved (see, for example, Matt. 25:31–46; John 5:28, 29).
God’s providential activity is consistent with His love. By definition, a loving relationship cannot be determined or forced, but necessarily implies free choice. As the source of love (1 John 4:7, 8), God does not force or determine our love, but He expresses His deep love for us with the desire to instill His love in us (John 3:16, 1 John 4:19). According to 1 John 4:19, “we love Him because He first loved us” (NKJV). A genuine love for God is founded in a personal conviction about His loving and just character. As Ellen G. White beautifully puts it: “Only the service of love can be acceptable to God, the allegiance of His creatures must rest upon a conviction of His justice and benevolence.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 42.
3. Divine Providence Includes Ideal and Remedial Actions.
Taking into account that God’s sovereignty does not exclude unfulfilled desires and that His omnipotence does not mean that His providential actions force the decisions of His creatures, divine providence should not be defined only in terms of ideal actions, which derive from God’s ideal will or desire. Considering that many situations are caused by the decisions of creatures that are incompatible with the moral will of God, several providential actions are more precisely understood as remedial actions, in the sense that God transforms a situation that is against His moral will into something that is aligned with His moral/ideal desire.
The notion of remedial providential action is particularly observed in the history of Joseph. He interprets the ambiguity of his painful, yet astonishing, life journey as paradoxically influenced by both human evil intentions and divine loving providence. The former does not preclude the latter. The latter does not justify the former. In Genesis 50:20, Joseph says to his brothers, “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (NKJV). In short, God’s providence transforms a miserable situation, resulting from the unjustifiable evil intentions and actions of human beings, into a blessing that we could never foresee.
Ellen G. White uses the language of overruling to describe God’s remedial providence: “It was envy that moved the brothers of Joseph to sell him as a slave; they hoped to prevent him from becoming greater than themselves. And when he was carried to Egypt, they flattered themselves that they were to be no more troubled with his dreams, that they had removed all possibility of their fulfillment. But their own course was overruled by God to bring about the very event that they designed to hinder.”—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 239; emphasis supplied.
Part III: Life Application
Even though we do not always follow God’s desires for our lives, He can transform any terrible situation into a blessing. Based on this point, discuss with your students the following questions:
What needs to be changed in our lives so that we can be dependent upon God’s will in our spiritual journey? How can we seek to make sure our free choices do not clash with God’s will?
Our spiritual failure does not affect God’s love for us. How does this wonderful truth motivate us in preaching the gospel?
How can we explain to small children, in appropriate ways, that not everything that happens is God’s direct will?
Notes