Pages

Thursday, July 06, 2006

God's Sovereignty, Man's Responsibility

The issue of God's sovereignty man's responsibility is a conundrum that has caused many to stumble for centuries. People run to the extremes, only to find that they have fallen headlong into nonsense. Those who ignore man's responsibility refuse to pray or evangelize because they believe that if God's does it then they don't need to. Others, ignoring God's sovereignty, act as if they control the fate of the nations depending on whether or not they "release" God to work.
As I was reading through 2 Samuel I came across a verse that puts both into a healthy perspective, 2 Samuel 10:12, "

"Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in His sight."

These words find themselves on the lips of Joab as the Israelites are preparing to enter the battlefield. He makes it clear that they are to put forward their best effort, yet in the end he acknowledges that the results will be God's.
May this be the battle cry of our lives as well. Let us show ourselves courageous in the work of the gospel, but in the end leave the results to God and give Him the glory, not ourselves.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good word, Jonathan. The Bible clearly teaches both- how could we accept anything less?