{"id":1431,"date":"2013-04-11T13:22:47","date_gmt":"2013-04-11T17:22:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=1431"},"modified":"2013-06-26T11:09:37","modified_gmt":"2013-06-26T15:09:37","slug":"sovereingty-responsibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/?p=1431","title":{"rendered":"Sovereingty & Responsibility"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Man\u2019s steps are ordained by the Lord, How then can man understand his way?” (Proverbs 20:24)
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“Ultimately, we are not directors, but followers.\u00a0 The first line of the proverb is a repeat from Psalm 37:23.\u00a0 There, Solomon\u2019s father used it in a context of blessing.\u00a0 Solomon repeats it here, as he contemplates the mystery of man\u2019s freewill and God\u2019s sovereignty.\u00a0 Here, as in the multiplied centuries of both Jewish and Christian theology, the two strains of truth are not reducible to the smallness of man\u2019s understanding.\u00a0 In the end, God\u2019s sovereignty must win out, though Scripture squarely puts responsibility upon us to choose the Lord\u2019s way.\u00a0 Solomon has probed this mystery before (Prov. 16:1, 3, 9; 19:21).\u00a0 The word translated \u2018Man\u2019s\u2019 is distinct from the word used for \u2018man\u2019 in line two.\u00a0 The first word is used in distinction from the second to describe man at his strongest and wisest.[i]<\/a>\u00a0 The very highest of human insight, strength, wisdom and capability cannot ever search out completely the mystery of God\u2019s will and way with him.<\/p>\n

The second line echoes this mystery in the form of a question: \u2018How then can man understand his way?\u2019\u00a0 This is man, ordinary man \u2014 you and me, tangled in our frailties and faults.\u00a0 What hope do we have of ever tracing out God\u2019s way for us?\u00a0 Ultimately, we cannot.\u00a0 This can never become a copout, though, for it is the path of wisdom to understand one\u2019s way (Prov. 14:8).\u00a0 Yet, in the end we must confess: \u2018I know, O Lord, that a man\u2019s way is not in himself; Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps\u2019 (Jer. 10:23).\u00a0 Indeed, \u2018The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps\u2019 (Prov. 16:9).\u00a0 Ultimately, our only hope lies in the fear of the Lord: \u2018Who is the man who fears the Lord?\u00a0 He will instruct him in the way he should choose\u2019 (Ps. 25:12; cf. Prov. 3:5-6).<\/p>\n

This second line should not be read as expressing despair, but doxology.\u00a0 Though a sense of hopelessness can come to the one dependent upon his own resources, to the one shut up to the sovereign grace and providence of God, such surrender is the glad joy of worship.\u00a0 \u2018With Thy counsel Thou wilt guide me, And afterward receive me into glory\u2019 (Ps. 73:24).\u00a0 The so-called problem of God\u2019s sovereignty and man\u2019s free will always ends in either the folly of overemphasizing one over the other or in the doxology of holding both as absolute and non-competing truths of God\u2019s Word, whose interrelationship cannot be fully traced out by finite, human minds.\u00a0 Let us take the path of surrender, obedience and worship rather than self-reliance, arrogance and dogmatism.” (pp.454-455, Proverbs: A Mentor Commentary<\/a>)<\/p>\n


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[i]<\/a>. Oswalt, John N., \u2018g~bar,\u2019 Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament<\/em> (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), 1:148-149.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Man\u2019s steps are ordained by the Lord, How then can man understand his way?” (Proverbs 20:24) “Ultimately, we are not directors, but followers.\u00a0 The first line of the proverb is a repeat from Psalm 37:23.\u00a0 There, Solomon\u2019s father used it in a context of blessing.\u00a0 Solomon repeats it here, as he contemplates the mystery of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-proverbs","post-preview"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgYGxX-n5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1431"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1522,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions\/1522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jkitchen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}