“The Lord Makes” ( by Carley Evans )

“Then the Lord says to Moses, ‘Go into Pharaoh’s presence. I have made him and his courtiers obdurate, so that I may show these My signs among them, and so that you can tell your children and grandchildren of how I made sport of the Egyptians, and what signs I showed among them. Thus you will know I Am the Lord.’ Moses and Aaron go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘These are the words of the Lord the God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me?'” (Exodus 10:1-3,NEB)

Here in this one passage, we find the duality and paradox of what some call determinism and what some call free will. Here we see God’s sovereign decision making at work, His will, even desire, to harden Pharaoh so that he remains stubborn enough that God must work against the Egyptians at least one more time. We simultaneously see Pharaoh’s own will resisting God’s command to let His people go. Therefore there are two wills at work — one is God’s, one is a man’s.

Granted, God’s will is the stronger of the two; however God has not and does not make puppets. We are not automatons doing whatever it is He wants. God intervenes in time and space, but not exclusively. He is not the only actor in the play.

But to not recognize that He is the Great Director is absurd. To not realize He may step into the action and change the will of the player at His own whim and for His own purposes is a kind of blindness to the obvious truth of scripture.

God chooses. He makes choices. And, the wonderful thing is that His choices are always right, always perfect!