God in a Box

Who can thwart God?

This question has haunted me forever. It is responsible for lack of hope infiltrated in everything: prayer, faith, works, evangelism. How... can God be prevented from His purposes? How can God be stopped by me, from achievement of his will? If someone came along and said "But what you do, does matter," secretly on the inside I'd think "God can do whatever He wants; He's God after all." The M.O. of a bully.

I am irrelevant when it comes to affecting good. I am also helpless to prevent the bad.

However, if free will is true, then it must mean there is a limitation God enforces upon himself, a substantial restraint. If God's restraint is not true, then free will is just a pretty idea.

I learned recently in this class that most all Christians have a notion of specific sovereignty: God is in control of every detail, and has decreed all things, yet we cannot and must not ever think He was lending a hand toward sin. The only way to do this is to appeal to mystery and the inscrutibility of God. I never thought that was good enough. How does it make you feel?

Free will is real in a concept of general sovereignty: He is the ultimate boss, but leaves individuals their choices. God works all things together for good just like in a chess match; ultimately no matter if it takes us five moves or 50 moves, we're still the winner, God's purpose is still the winner.

If someone says "God causes all things," but then clarify that He only causes half, the good

If we really do have a child/parent relationship with God, then it makes sense to use an analogy from our own experiences. Certainly our children are free to choose where they go on the playground. There are times when we're lucky to catch them when they are about to fall, but, sometimes a child falls