Title: The Limits of Freedom / Topic: God's Sovereignty, Our Choices

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 18; Jeremiah 19; Jeremiah 20; Psalm 93; John 17

Scripture: Jeremiah 18:5-11
5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
11 "Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, 'This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.' 12 But they will reply, 'It's no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.' "

Observation: There is a tension in these verses between the freedom of choice that God gives man and His sovereign power. God asks permission to do with us as the potter does with his clay. He wants us to let Him shape us according to His plan. Yet in the following verses He makes it clear that He has complete power over our fate. He can bring prosperity or pain. But His decisions are largely controlled by our choices to obey Him or to rebel. God is totally sovereign, yet He has chosen to limit His power. From the beginning He limited His power to control man. He gave us free will to choose what we wanted to do. But the Father makes it clear He can control our environment and that ultimately He also is in control of judging each of us for the choices we make. He is forgiving; but there is a limit to His forgiveness and if we are wise we will choose not to offend His sense of justice. Truly, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31)

Application: If we had good fathers here on earth, we both loved and feared them. The fear came from the fact that we knew they would punish us if we crossed the behavior lines they had set. But as long as we stayed within those lines there was the full enjoyment of our father's love and protection. It is the same with our Heavenly Father. I want to make the wise choices of keeping within the boundaries He has set for me. There is no such thing as completely unfettered freedom. Those who want that want anarchy, because that is what the sin nature of humans will lead them to every time there is no law or boundary. God's boundaries give me joy, peace and freedom to enjoy His fellowship with no guilt.

Prayer: Father, may we all learn this lesson for ourselves and also teach it well to our children. In a society that is pushing to break past all the boundaries You have set for us may they understand that there are severe consequences for choosing to live with no restrictions at all.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.