25th. November. 2021. Daily Devotion.

Free Will and God’s Knowledge

I am God, and there is none like me,
declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done. ~ Isaiah 46:9

Everyone who believes in God at all believes that He knows what you and I are going to do tomorrow. But if He knows I am going to do so-and-so, how can I be free to do otherwise?

Well, here once again, the difficulty comes from thinking that God is progressing along the Timeline like us: the only difference being that He can see ahead and we cannot. Well, if that were true, if God foresaw our acts, it would be very hard to understand how we could be free not to do them.

But suppose God is outside and above the Time-line. In that case, what we call ‘tomorrow’ is visible to Him in just the same way as what we call ‘today’. All the days are ‘Now’ for Him. He does not remember you doing things yesterday; He simply sees you doing them, because, though you have lost yesterday, He has not. He does not ‘foresee’ you doing things tomorrow; He simply sees you doing them: because, though tomorrow is not yet there for you, it is for Him.

You never supposed that your actions at this moment were any less free because God knows what you are doing. Well, He knows your tomorrow’s actions in just the same way—because He is already in tomorrow and can simply watch you. In a sense, He does not know your action till you have done it: but then the moment at which you have done it is already ‘Now’ for Him.

Lord God, help me to understand that I have free will, even though you must know what I will do, for my mind is not adequate to comprehend your truth. Amen.

~ C.S. Lewis, from “Mere Christianity”

For God’s Guidance

Heavenly Father, in you I live and move and have my being: I humbly pray you so to guide and govern me by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of my life I may not forget you but may remember that I am ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Past Mistakes

Holy Jesus, help me to surrender past mistakes; not to dwell on them, but to accept your forgiveness in the certainty of hope. The past is over and gone forever. Having made such restitution as is your will, there is nothing more I can do about them.

Lift the burden of my past failures from my spirit. Let me go forward in faith. Clear the clouds from my path and lighten my step. If you do not reproach me, let me hear no reproach from myself or any other person, but only your promise of new life. And bring your Word and your light and your forgiveness to all who have wrecked their lives, I pray; for your power is greater than sin, and there no human being you cannot heal, no matter how wretched and vile, if they only surrender their lives to you. Amen.

God of all grace, you do not need us to agree with one another, but you do call us to love one another just as you love us. We know your love to be generous and gracious. You created us to be a part of your diverse creation, richer for being a gift, not a threat, to one another. So give us courage every day, not just to worship you but to follow where your love leads. Amen.