The Nature Of Free Will

In my understanding of Scripture, I simply do not glean the concept of an autonomous, unhindered free will. We are always influenced by something. The Bible tells us that the unregenerate person - the one who is at enmity with God, dead in trespasses and sin See Ephesians 2 - is unable to choose anything other than that to which he is bound. Namely sin. Romans 8:5-13 (There's so much more in Scripture on the subject, but this is a short post. Really.)

Trite but true is the adage - we're not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. Our nature is sinful. That is our essence. And we are slaves to sin. Romans 6:16

And we will remain that way unless and until the Sovereign God interrupts our lives to change us and give us a new nature. And make no mistake - God interrupts and intervenes. He does according to HIS will. Human will can NEVER supercede God's will. Period. Paragraph.

Here's but one example: Genesis 20. Pay particular attention to verses 3-7. There's no getting around the fact that God prevented a man from sinning against Him. Of course there are countless other examples in Scripture of God doing exactly as He wills, when He wills, and how He wills. The Bible is, after all, God's revelation of Himself. Probably the most well known account of God's radical intervention in someone's life is the story of Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus. Acts 22 Saul was doing anything BUT seeking God. In fact, he was actively involved in killing God's people. And, as you can see from the story, God intervened in Paul's life in a rather dramatic way. Then he spent the rest of his life proclaiming the high and holy name of Christ. As an aside, I argued online once with someone who told me that Paul STILL could have rejected/said no to/not chosen Christ. He could have resisted. The only problem with that is...there's no basis for it in Scripture!!!

One of my favorite passages emphasizing the will of God, NOT man is Daniel 4:34-35, which reads:

For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
But He does according His will in the host of heaven
And among the inhabitants of earth;
And no one can ward off His hand
Or say to Him, 'What have You done?'

I pray that God, would not leave us to our own devices. Left to our own will, we're doomed.