Yesterday we left off with a question: if we have free will then couldn’t it trump God’s will, making us more powerful than our Creator? Whether admitted to or not, this is the motive behind the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender community. It is an attempt to say to God “I am my own man/woman/transgender person and there is nothing you can do about it. My will trumps yours.” It appears that we can indeed thwart God’s will.

There are two important considerations here. The first is that we can indeed thwart God’s will, but only for our own lives. There are exceptions to this, which we will discuss tomorrow. Generally speaking, God permits us to do what is right in our own eyes. We can try to ascribe God’s motive for this in many ways, as many have done throughout history but the truth is God doesn’t explain his choice. Some may say God wants us to desire him, to seek him out which means we have to have the ability to reject and hide from him. Possibly, but this is never stated in the Bible. He permits us this liberty for his own reasons that may or may not be explained to us at a later time.

The second is that we thwart God’s will for our lives at our own peril. Disobeying God and shaking our fist in his face does not diminish God’s authority. He will judge us for our decision. That is his right and responsibility as our creator. Should we choose to separate ourselves from him in this life without repentance, then we will be separated from him in the afterlife for all eternity. That separation is not pleasant. Jesus describes it as torment in a lake of fire where there is eternal consciousness and regret. It is the price of defying God.

The Bible makes it clear, however, that despite our choices God’s will eventually triumphs. The transgender person may alter their body, but their spirit remains eternally in the gender God assigned. The bi- or homo-sexual individual may disobey God’s commands but they face judgment for doing so should they remain unrepentant, which is also the case for all of humanity. Our failure to love God back does not thwart the fulfilment of his will for humanity, though it may thwart his will for us. Perhaps an illustration would help clarify this essential truth.

While American’s complain loudly if their president spends too much time on the golf course, Xerxes, king of Persia, held a celebration that lasted 180 days! At the end of the celebration the king extended the party another seven days for himself and his trusted advisors. During this week long binge of indulgences the king drunk-dialed his queen, summoning her to dance for him and his staff. For reasons not spelled out in Scripture she flat out refused the request, earning her early termination as queen. Women from around Persia were then gathered to the palace and became contestants in the world’s first ever episode of The Bachelor. The king spent time with each of them and eventually gave a Jewish girl named Esther the final rose. The book details many palace intrigues but (spoiler alert) in the end it is queen Esther who ends up saving the entire Jewish race from a genocidal maniac named Haman.

How does this story relate to our discussion of free will? The story of Esther is one where many people freely chose to enter conspiracies, everything from disobedience to the king to attempted assassination and genocide. Their sinfulness climaxed in an attempt to destroy God’s chosen people, the very people from which God had promised the Messiah would come. Haman, through the power of Xerxes and the Persian Empire, had the ability to wipe out any hope of Jesus coming as Savior of the world. Yet all that authority and might was nothing compared to the power of God to fulfill his own will. The point is this: while we are permitted to rebel against God, God’s declared will -- his intentions and purposes for humanity -- will come to pass by his own power.

There is one final thought worth mentioning today. I am not suggesting that God uses people as puppets to accomplish his will; I am saying that God is powerful enough to accomplish his will in spite of all our bad decisions and rebellion.