If God is sovereign, why does He express sorrow when men are bad? If God knows of everything, why did He repent in Genesis 6:5-7 and Exodus 32:12?<\/p>\n\t
People have a hard time dealing with the infinite. An age-old puzzle is “If God is so powerful, can He create a rock that He cannot lift?” But the problem is the assertion that since God is all-powerful, He can do anything. The assertion is false. God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). God cannot be faithless (II Timothy 2:13). In general, God cannot sin (James 1:13). Does this mean God is not all-powerful? No. “Whatever the LORD pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places<\/em>” (Psalms 135:6). The problem is in how we define “all-powerful.” We lump the negative in with the positive and think all is included when it is not.<\/p>\n The same thing happens when we talk about all-knowing. We tend to skip over the fact that there just might be some things that are not knowable. The amount that God knows is beyond our grasp: “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite<\/em>” (Psalms 147:5). But does this mean He knows what cannot be known?<\/p>\n Take notice of what God said after stopping Abraham from killing Isaac. “And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him;\u00a0for now I know that you fear God<\/strong>, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me”<\/em>” (Genesis 22:12). Consider the impact that is made when God says, “now I know.” It means that God did not know beforehand, else He would not have said, “now.” It doesn’t mean God chose not to know, it means that until Abraham made the final choice, Abraham’s decision could not be known in advance.<\/p>\n What the Bible tells us is that God is so powerful, He made man in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). In His power, He gave us the power to make our own choices. “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD,\u00a0choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve<\/strong>, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD<\/em>” (Joshua 24:15). The choice is not made for man in advance. Man has to make his own choices. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,\u00a0work out your own salvation<\/strong>\u00a0with fear and trembling<\/em>” (Philippians 2:12). That man must make choices means that until the choice is made, it is not known.<\/p>\n Consider when you were a child. Your parents had full authority over your life. Yet you had the ability to go against their authority. Did your bad choices make your parents less of an authority in your life? No! Their authority existed regardless of the choices you made.<\/p>\n The existence of unknowable things doesn’t change the fact that God knows everything there is to know. The fact that God granted man the ability to choose doesn’t mean He doesn’t rule. In fact, it is because of God’s sovereignty that we must answer to God for the choices we make.<\/p>\n Because our choices are not knowable in advance, that also means that God’s responses to our choices are not predetermined either. God told us that He laid out the rules for what we must do, and He has set out major milestones along the way, but it doesn’t mean there is no flexibility in some parts of God’s plans. “Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people<\/em>” (Exodus 32:12). Moses asked God to change His response to Israel’s sin. God’s decision in this matter would not change His plans. The Messiah would still come from the seed of Abraham if he wiped out Israel and started over with Moses. But there was enough flexibility in God’s plan that He could go either way and meet all His objectives.<\/p>\n That is why God tells us to pray and that He will answer. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened<\/em>” (Matthew 7:7-8). For God to be all-powerful and sovereign, it does not mean every decision had to be made out in advance. God answers prayer because He will take into consideration our requests; things will change because of our prayers. God’s overall will and objectives will not change. Sin will remain sin, Jesus will return, etc. But God, by His choice, allows flexibility in His plans. God can do this because He is all-powerful.<\/p>\n Actually, the folks who argue that everything is predetermined are actually making out God to be less powerful than He really is. Which is more impressive: to have every minute detail mapped out in advance, or to accomplish your ends no matter what billions of people decide over thousands of years? Mankind can build deterministic machines (that is what a computer is: a machine that you can determine its responses in advance). The reason computers don’t think like people is a simple fact that we are non-deterministic (a person’s response cannot be determined 100% of the time in advance). We don’t know how to make a true non-deterministic machine. Likely, we never will. But God made non-deterministic men. That power is awesome!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: If God is sovereign, why does He express sorrow when men are bad? If God knows of everything, why did He repent in Genesis 6:5-7 and Exodus 32:12? Answer: People have a hard time dealing with the infinite. An age-old puzzle is “If God is so powerful, can He create a rock that He…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[59,866,90,491,562,735],"class_list":["post-26694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-calvinism","tag-foreknowledge","tag-god","tag-omniscient","tag-predestination","tag-sovereignty"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28828,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-be-eternal-if-eternity-is-like-a-circle\/","url_meta":{"origin":26694,"position":0},"title":"How can God be eternal if eternity is like a circle?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Eternity is like a circle (no beginning or end). This is an issue that I have pointed out time and again and still have not received an answer to me that is logical or even answers the question I'm about to ask: God gave us brains to use, so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53774,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-tale-of-two-gods\/","url_meta":{"origin":26694,"position":1},"title":"A Tale of Two Gods","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"How Calvinism's God and the Bible's God are Two Very Different God's by Ben Giselbach One very popular denominational preacher and writer, John Piper, is famous for saying that \"all things\" - even down to the subatomic level - \"are ordained, guided, and governed\" by God.\u00a0[1]\u00a0The idea that God determines\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25202,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-has-god-left-me-alive-after-my-sexual-abuse\/","url_meta":{"origin":26694,"position":2},"title":"Why has God left me alive after my sexual abuse?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I was sexually abused by a man in a church. I went down the road of homosexuality, I asked the Lord into my heart at the age of 23.\u00a0But many times I fell into sin. I am concerned as I don't hear the Holy Spirit anymore.\u00a0 From what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":80814,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-a-member-of-the-church-go-to-hell-if-he-commits-suicide\/","url_meta":{"origin":26694,"position":3},"title":"Why does a member of the church go to hell if he commits suicide?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 2, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have lost a friend by suicide.\u00a0 Why does a member of the church go to hell if he commits suicide?\u00a0 For many people, you can't know for sure, but I think you should. Answer: I'm sorry to hear that you lost a friend. Such events leave everyone with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18663,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-gods-sovereignty-absolute\/","url_meta":{"origin":26694,"position":4},"title":"Is God’s sovereignty absolute?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to ask you about some verses a Baptist friend asked me.\u00a0 I hope you can help me understand these verses. Do these verses teach that God's sovereignty is absolute and that He predestined all things which happen, either good or bad? Isaiah 45:6-7; Exodus 4:11; Deuteronomy 32:39;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47970,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-sovereignty-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":26694,"position":5},"title":"The Sovereignty of God (Frost)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 31, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Gene Frost Sovereignty is the state of being sovereign, which is to be \"above or superior to all others; chief; greatest; supreme.\" We illustrate: In all the realm, the king was sovereign. There was no one holding\u00a0 greater rank, with greater authority, or greater power. 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