Man Plans, God Orchestrates

Man Plans, but God Orchestrates

Acts 2:22-36

“Jesus the Nazarene… delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to Death.”

                  The blind delusion of humanity is that we think we can control our destiny and determine the plans for our life and future. We devise our plans and then ask God to bless them as if He were subject to our whims and desires. However, in the end, God remains sovereign, and He controls the future, destiny, and direction of our life.

When Peter stood up to preach to the crowds that had gathered to see the great commotion occurring because of the disciples. They were shocked and amazed when the disciples and followers of Jesus spoke, but each listener heard the message in their language. Confused, they could not understand how these uneducated Galileans spoke multiple languages. As they gathered, Peter seized the opportunity to proclaim the gospel of Christ. Peter points back to Joel's prophecy that, in the last days, God would pour out His Spirit in a powerful new way (17-21). This new era would be the time when the Messiah would come to establish His kingdom.           

In addressing the crowds, Peter confronts the Jews for executing Christ, who had demonstrated that He was sent by God through the miracles, wonders, and signs He had performed (vs. 22). As Peter confronts the Jews, Peter reminds us of a critical principle that governs all of life. While the Jews thought they were in control of the events by orchestrating Jesus' execution, Peter points out that, ultimately, it was God who was governing and determining the events. Peter uses two important words to describe God’s sovereign control and determination of the events that shaped history. The first word, “predestination,” means to decide and determine the event's outcome before it happens. The second word, “foreknowledge,” does not just mean to know something will happen before it happens but also to plan and determine the outcome before acting upon it. In other words, the events that led to the crucifixion of Christ were part of God's fixed plan that He had determined with perfect foresight. While using the free choices of the religious leaders and the betrayal by Judas, God, in His sovereignty, had orchestrated the events so that the outcome was determined beforehand. In this event, we see the paradox between our free will and God’s predestination of the result.

Throughout scripture, we are constantly confronted with these two truths: God is sovereignly governing the outcome of the events that happen, but we are free moral agents who have the choice to choose right or wrong. The latter leads to our responsibility for our actions; the former gives us confidence and the assurance that God is sovereignly directing the events that happen in our lives, so He determines the outcome. Rather than see these two truths as contradictory, we must view them as complementary, even though we do not fully understand how. The sovereignty of God is what gives us confidence and hope in a chaotic world. Even though the events in our world and the circumstances in our lives seem threatening and uncertain, we have the assurance that despite man’s folly in his choices, God is still orchestrating the events in the world and our lives to accomplish His perfect plan for us. We may not fully understand “how” these two truths are complementary, but we can rejoice in their assurance. While we make our plans and make our daily decisions between infinite possibilities, we can do so with the confidence and assurance that God remains actively involved in our lives, governing our choices and circumstances so that the outcome will conform to His perfect plan for our lives. Today, express your faith and gratitude to God for His sovereign working in your life, for even as we seem to be lost in deciding between all the options of life, we can be assured that even as we make our choices, God remains the unseen mover, orchestrating the events of our life according to His perfect plan for us.