So Ruth went out to gather grain behind the harvesters. And as it happened, she found herself working in a field that belonged to Boaz, the relative of her father-in-law, Elimelech. (Ruth 2:3 NLT)
When Ruth was going out to glean, she just went to a field. The Bible tells us that she happened to be in the portion of land belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech’s family. This is chance, coincidence or luck. This is also predestination, for she was chosen to be the ancestor of the Messiah, so she had to glean in Boaz's field so that she can meet him and marry him.
For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. (Acts 4:27-28 NASB)
When Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel gathered together in Jerusalem to put Jesus to death, they were acting out of their own selfish interest. But yet everything they did was determined beforehand according to God's will.
However, Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the Lord’s presence. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, from the Lord’s presence. (Jonah 1:3 HCSB) Now the Lord had appointed a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17 HCSB)
But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; (Matthew 12:39 NASB).
When Jonah disobeyed God, he was doing it out of his dislike for the people of Nineveh. But his three days stay in the fish became a sign of Jesus's death and resurrection. It is predestined that Jonah had to disobey God; otherwise the sign of Jonah the prophet cannot be given. But he definitely did it out of his own rebellious will.
God's Will is usually acted out through agents in our temporal world. Everything that exists is an agent of God, out to accomplish His Will. Chance, coincidence, luck, Satan, demons, angels, the weather, planets, stars, galaxies, the unknown plant that grow quietly in some deep forest, the insects that live in the house, good and evil forces are all agents of God. On rare occasions, God intervened personally, appearing as the Angel of the Lord. He appeared to Moses in a burning bush. And He came into the world as Jesus to save us from our sins.
Our free wills are also agents of God, accomplishing His Will. We may plan without God, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." (James 4:13 NLT) or pray for God’s Will "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." (James 4:15 ESV), God’s Will is done. When you obey God, God’s Will is done. When you disobey God, God’s Will is done. Every event on earth marches relentlessly to accomplish God's Will.
This article is written out of my own free will. Nobody put a gun to my head to force me to write it. No voice in my head dictate the words. The ideas and words came from me, based on my experience in my many years of walking with Christ. Some people may chance on this article while browsing the web and opinions may be formed and may be passed to others. Others may come across this post because they are looking for words like "predestination" or "God's Will" or even my name.
No. This article is predestined before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11) that it should come about through the agency of my hand, my thoughts and my experience, formed by the many years that He lead me. He has determined the exact number of people who will read this post, just as He has numbered the very hairs of our head (Matthew 10:30, Luke 12:7). He will lead them by many means to this post. And they will generate more events, influence an exact number of people, for good or for bad, all of which are predetermined by God, and all will march relentlessly to the end of ages, when all of God's Will will be accomplished.
So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31 NLT)
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 KJV)
Don't be resigned to "fate" and said that God had determined everything, whatever I do is futile. The predestination of God is to give us assurance, not resignation.
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