Theologians debate all sorts of things and some of my best seminary memories were those incidental conversations that came up during class. I used to say that real learning happened “in the cracks.” Those are the non scripted conversations that happened to come up when we take a detour and end up discussing a topic that had never even been on the radar.
Almost a decade ago, a friend of mine asked me about whether God experienced the emotion of “hope.” I don’t know that I had ever thought about it and we went around and around – trying to look at it from every angle. It never got resolved, but recently I heard a sermon on the topic and it ignited all those old memories again. However, ten years down the road my faith has given me additional perspectives and I am at least ready to take a stand on the subject. Of course, there is a counter argument that some people believe holds water as well. But here goes… Oh, by the way, all of this is conjecture and opinion. None of us will know for sure what the reality is until we get to heaven and ask God Himself.
Terms such as predestination, preordination, fore knowledge, free will and omniscience all have a part in the discussion. Many people believe that God gave us free will and, therefore, we have the ability to decide for ourselves what we will do or what we will believe. This element, in and of itself, would tend to lead us to the conclusion that God wants us to choose wisely – that He hopes we will make the correct choice.
But this position leaves out one important element. The Scripture is quite clear that God is omnipresent (everywhere at once), omniscient (all knowing) and omnipotent (all powerful). Since God is all knowing, nothing is hidden from Him. That means that even though we have free will, God already knows the future outcome and what we will decide. Therefore, it wouldn’t seem that there would be an element of hope. I do believe that God celebrates when someone turns to Him and accepts Christ as Lord and Savior. Or that God grieves when someone turns away and rejects the gift of eternal life. But I don’t know that hope is in the mix.
So what about these other terms? Well, foreknowledge we have already talked about. It is knowing the outcome before it happens – knowing what team will win, or who will make what decision. Preordination refers to being appointed by God to a certain call, role, or specific assignment – allowing for free will and that the human element has choices – in other words, we can determine how to fulfill our calling. By contrast, predestination implies that God has pre-determined the ultimate outcome and there is no deviation from His plan. They are similar but have this one major difference.
An illustration by way of a true story may be in order. Years ago, I was invited to visit a local church that was interested in starting a career transition ministry for its congregation. I met with the associate pastor and after the usual formalities, he started to ask about my theological position on certain topics. During our conversation, he told me that he believed in preordination – he was positive that he was heaven bound and was one of the chosen. Likewise, he was just as sure that his own son was eternally damned and would never be in heaven. I was stunned by his statement. But he honestly believed that he had some divine insight that made him sure that his own son would never be in heaven – God had, in fact, already decided…
I felt sorry for this minister. At the conclusion of our chat, I turned to leave and on my way out, he asked me to pray for his son to get into heaven. Now he had just spent thirty minutes speaking on predestination and telling me that the future had already been determined. Yet here he was, wanting prayer. I asked him why he would want prayer for his son – after all, he believed that God has already made His decision. His response? Maybe God would change His mind… This is one of those times that you have to take a side… Either God has already made a determination or not. Regardless of which way you lean, God, being all knowing, already knows true ultimate outcome. You can’t have it both ways.
Of course, as believers, OUR HOPE is in Christ. So we experience hope when it comes to the Lord – that’s as it should be. And God can provide hope to us as we turn to Him in times of trouble or tribulation. Our verse for tonight comes from the psalms. Psalm 62 tells us, in Psalm 62:5-8, “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”
My encouragement this evening is that God gives us the gift of hope as part of our humanity. In a biblical sense, hope is “the sure and confident expectation of receiving what God has promised us in the future.” What a great definition! My prayer is that we will never lose our hope in the promises of God. He is steadfast and will deliver to us all that He has promised – and more… Life is easier, and better, when you put your hope in Christ. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…