Day 4 | Free Will or Fixed Game? Who Created the Rules | What the Bible Really Says

By now we have established that God did not create sin, correct? We know that He is sovereign over all things, and that His character is not one of manufacturing guilt over things He never called sin. But here is the question that comes next for a lot of people: if God knows everything, if He knew we were going to sin before we did it, did we ever really have a choice? Is this free will or a fixed game?

Father, we are so grateful to be here once again learning more of what You have said in Your Word. Today we ask You to help us understand the gift You gave us when You gave us choice. Help us not to use it as an excuse or despise it as a burden. Show us what free will really means in Your Hands. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Deuteronomy 30:19 is one of the most powerful verses in all of Scripture on this subject. God says: 'I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.'

God is not choosing for us. He is presenting the options and telling us which one to pick, but leaving the picking to us. That is free will. Real, genuine, consequential free will.

Joshua 24:15 echoes it: 'Choose you this day whom ye will serve.' Not who God will assign you to serve. Who you will choose to serve. The choice is ours.

So where does God's foreknowledge fit in? God knowing what you will choose is not the same as God making you choose it. A parent who knows their child well enough to predict their behavior is not controlling that child. The child picks what they want, and it confirms what the parent knows.

God's knowledge of our choices does not cancel the reality of those choices.

Romans 6:23 tells us: 'For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.'

Wages are earned. You do not earn wages for something someone else did. The fact that sin carries consequences assigned to the one who commits it confirms that the choice was ours to begin with.

This matters because some people use God's sovereignty as an excuse. They argue that if God is in control of everything, then nothing is really their fault.

He gave us the freedom to choose. Proverbs 4:26: "Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established". Galatians 6:7 reminds us: "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap".

Family, God is powerful enough to work within whatever we choose. The game is not fixed. The choice is real. And that means the responsibility is real too. But so is the grace that meets us when we get it wrong. Romans 5:20: "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound". Hallelujah.

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