God's Sovereign Protection - Ecclesiastes #27
Ecclesiastes 6:10-12 - part 2 of 2
10 Whatever one is, he has been named already,
For it is known that he is man;
And he cannot contend with Him who is mightier than he.
11 Since there are many things that
increase vanity,
How is man the better?
12 For who knows what is good for man in
life, all the days of his vain life which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell
a man what will happen after him under the sun?
Is it
possible that, for our free will to truly be free, it will rest under the
protection of God’s sovereign will? Is it also possible that the only people
who truly have this kind of freedom are those who choose to serve their Master
and Lord, Jesus Christ? See Galatians 5:1 –
“Stand fast therefore in the
liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with
a yoke of bondage.” Also consider John 8:36 – “Therefore if the Son makes you
free, you shall be free indeed.”
What we
call free will the Bible calls free people, and these people are made free by
the will of God, through Jesus Christ, in the presence of the Holy Spirit (2
Corinthians 3:17). Those who have not been made free continue to be under the
bondage of sin. Romans 3:10-11 – “There is none righteous,
no, not one; There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks
after God.” Regardless of your background, you are a sinner, you cannot truly
understand the truth of God, and you are not able to seek that truth apart from
God working in your heart. This work of God brings about true freedom, the kind of freedom that Uncle Tom enjoyed (used as an
example in Wednesday’s devotion).
However,
this freedom in Christ comes with a responsibility: “do not use liberty as an
opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13).
Also, as 1 Peter 2:16 makes clear, freedom in Christ is becoming a slave to God.
He’s the only one who knows the rest of our days, and the rest of time. So,
along with the Psalmist, let’s call on our Master to “teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).
In Christ,
Dan
These thoughts are day 2 of a two-day devotion on Ecclesiastes 6:10-12. For this day and yesterday’s devotions, I used notes from the MacArthur Study Bible and this website: https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/do-humans-really-have-free-will.html
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