Join the Hit the Mark panel as they discuss Sabbath School Lesson 8 – Free Will, Love, and Divine Providence. It’s the fastest hour of the week!

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/free-will-love-and-divine-providence-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/

Daily Lesson for Thursday 20th of February 2025

If everything occurred according to God’s ideal will, there would never have been evil but only the perfect bliss of love and harmony. Eventually, the universe will be restored to this perfect, ideal will of God. In the meantime, God is working out His will in a way that takes into account the free decisions of His creatures.

Imagine a baking competition in which all participants are required to use some particular set of ingredients, but they can add any other ingredients they want in order to bake any kind of cake they want, as well. In the end, whatever cake a baker ends up making will be determined, at least partially, by some ingredients that the baker did not choose.

Image © Phil McKay Goodsalt.com

Similarly (in this limited respect), because God has committed Himself to respecting creaturely freedom of the kind necessary for love, many of the “ingredients” that make up world history are not chosen by God but are actually the opposite of what God desires.

In this view, divine providence is not simply one-dimensional, as if God unilaterally controls everything that happens. Rather, this requires (at least) a two-dimensional view of God’s providence. Some things in this world are caused by God, but other occurrences are the result of the free decisions of creatures (as are all evils). Many things happen that God does not want to happen.

Particularly in times of suffering or trial, people’s faith may waver because they hold the mistaken belief that God will or should spare them from suffering and trials in this life. But Jesus tells us a very different story, warning His followers they will experience trials and tribulations in this world, but there is hope, for Christ has overcome the world (John 16:33).

The fact that we encounter suffering and trials does not mean that this is what God ideally wants for us. We must always keep in mind the big picture: the great controversy. However, we can be confident that, while evil itself is not necessary for good, God can bring good even out of evil events. And, if we trust God, God can use even our sufferings to draw us closer to Him and to motivate us to be compassionate and to care for others.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-08-christ-has-overcome-the-world/

This coming April I will be celebrating 21 years in Florida. I have a heart full of wonderful memories and experiences here, but it was not exactly a smooth start when I first came here.

by William Earnhardt

I would not trade the last 21 years for anything. However, there were a few bumps in the road when I first got here. For one thing I was not prepared for the  spike in car insurance prices.

I first came to Florida as a local-hire Bible Worker, which means my pay came from the local church which hired me and not the conference office. The church made some mistakes in quoting my salary, and, in the end, the conference had to point out to them that my actual salary was much less than what was quoted in my offer letter.  After I discovered that I would be paid much less than promised,  I wanted to leave right away, but  I was broke and had no money to move back home to Texas.

So, there I was back in 2004 in a strange place with no money, without any close friends yet and a job that was not going to pay enough to cover my living expenses. It looked like I had made a huge mistake, and I thought I was really foolish to have made  this move. Then I ran across this passage that brought hope to my heart.

Whatever our situation, if we are doers of His word, we have a Guide to direct our way; whatever our perplexity, we have a sure Counselor; whatever our sorrow, bereavement, or loneliness, we have a sympathizing Friend. If in our ignorance we make missteps, the Saviour does not forsake us. We need never feel that we are alone. Angels are our companions. The Comforter that Christ promised to send in His name abides with us. In the way that leads to the City of God there are no difficulties which those who trust in Him may not overcome. There are no dangers which they may not escape. There is not a sorrow, not a grievance, not a human weakness, for which He has not provided a remedy. –Ellen White, Ministry of Healing, Pages 248-249

This was so encouraging! Even if I had made missteps and ignorantly ended up in the wrong state with the wrong job, Jesus was still with me and was still going to care for me! That passage comforted me with all the assurance I needed to hear. So many times, we comfort each other with promises that God will take care of us when we are making wise choices, but now I was assured Jesus is still with me and cares for me when I make mistakes.

Incidentally, during this time I thought I had found a better job here in Florida. The pest control man came to my church one week day, and I started talking to him and asked if he was hiring. He told me he was, and we talked a little more. He had already basically hired me when he asked how I was going to do my Bible work while working for him. Now, keep in mind the pest control man was not a Seventh-day Adventist. I told him I would be quitting my Bible Worker job to work for him. He stepped away from me and waving his hands, he said, “No way! I am not going to hire  you. I will not be responsible for taking a man out of the ministry!”

Soon things started turning around, and I got raises, and other miraculous things started falling into place. More importantly, I started making some of the best friends I have ever had, and God blessed my ministry with scores of Bible studies and baptisms. My church became very supportive of me and my ministry, and it soon became apparent that I had made no mistake by coming to Florida.

I look back now and see how even when I was broke, I was never stuck in Florida. I was securely fastened in God’s loving hands. Twenty-one years later I look back and think about the pest control man refusing to hire me because he was not going to take me out of the ministry. That was a God thing! God had a plan the entire time.

That passage from Ministry of Healing was  and is still encouraging.

If in our ignorance we make missteps, the Saviour does not forsake us. We need never feel that we are alone.

Twenty-one years later, after hundreds of baptisms, and countless Bible studies and precious friendships forged along the way, I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that moving to Florida was no mistake. God knew exactly what He was doing the entire time. I still make mistakes. I make wrong choices sometimes. How good to know that even when I make mistakes, or missteps as Ellen White calls them, Jesus is still with me, loving and caring for me.

Friend, I have no idea where you are right now. Maybe you have made missteps or maybe you are exactly where God planned for you to be the whole time, but things may a little rough right now. Either way, your Savior will not forsake you even when you make missteps. You are not alone. Jesus is with you just as much as He was with me. Jesus loves me a lot I know, but I am not His favorite. He loves you just as much, and some wonderful miracles are headed your way too!

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/does-jesus-leave-us-when-we-make-mistakes/

Daily Lesson for Wednesday 19th of February 2025

The Greek term translated “predestination” here and elsewhere in Scripture (prohorizo) does not itself teach that God causally determines history. Rather, the Greek term simply means “to decide beforehand.”

Image © Rolf Jansson from GoodSalt.com

Of course, one can decide something beforehand unilaterally, or one can decide something beforehand in a way that takes into account the free decisions of others. Scripture teaches that God does the latter.

Here and elsewhere (for example, Romans 8:29-30), the term translated “predestined” refers to what God plans for the future after taking into account what God foreknows about the free decisions of creatures. Thus, God can providentially guide history to His desired good ends for all, even while respecting the kind of creaturely freedom that is required for a genuine love relationship.

Ephesians 1:11 proclaims that God “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (NKJV). Does this mean that God determines everything to happen just as He desires? Read in isolation, Ephesians 1:9-11 might seem to affirm this view. However, this interpretation would contradict the many texts we saw earlier that show that people sometimes reject “the will of God” (Luke 7:30, NKJV; compare with Luke 13:34, Psalms 81:11-14). If the Bible does not contradict itself, how can these passages be understood in a way that is consistent with one another?

This passage makes perfect sense if one simply recognizes a distinction between what we might call God’s “ideal will” and God’s “remedial will.” God’s “ideal will” is what God actually prefers to occur and which would occur if everyone always did exactly what God desires. God’s “remedial will,” on the other hand, is God’s will that has already taken into account every other factor, including the free decisions of creatures, which sometimes depart from what God prefers. Ephesians 1:11 appears to be referring to God’s “remedial will.”

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-08-gods-ideal-and-remedial-wills/

Daily Lesson for Tuesday 18th of February 2025

That God is all-powerful does not mean that He can do the logically impossible. Accordingly, God cannot causally determine that someone freely love Him. If freely doing something means to do something without being determined to do it, then by definition it is impossible to make someone freely do something. In short, as we have seen, and must re-emphasize—God cannot force anyone to love Him, for the moment it’s forced, it is no longer love.

Image Copyright Kevin Carden Goodsalt.com

The greatest commandment, to love God, provides evidence that God does, indeed, want everyone to love Him. However, not everyone does love God. Why, then, does God simply not make everyone love Him? Again, that is because love, to be love, must be freely given.

According to Numbers 23:19, “ ‘God is not man, that [H]e should lie’ ” (ESV). God never lies (Titus 1:2); God always keeps His word and never breaks a promise (Hebrews 6:17-18). Accordingly, if God has promised or committed Himself to something, His future action is morally limited by that promise.

This means that, insofar as God, in most cases, grants creatures the freedom to choose otherwise than what God prefers; it is not up to God what humans choose. If God has committed Himself to granting creatures free will, humans possess the ability to exercise their freedom in ways that go against God’s ideal desires. Tragically, many people do exercise their freedom in this way, and accordingly, there are many things that occur that God wishes did not, but that are not, strictly speaking, up to God.

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/25a-08-to-love-god/