Posted on 03/16/2020 4:59:09 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).
“A man’s heart,” seventy-eight times the word heart is mentioned in the Book of Proverbs. Proverbs deals with wisdom and God’s dealing with a man’s heart.
“A man’s heart,” now this is what a man desires, and that will determine his direction in life. We observe two things from this verse. This is the solution to the problem of Calvinism.
“A man’s heart deviseth his way,” there is free will. A man determines for himself through his own heart whether he will choose life, which is from above, or whether he will choose the way of sin and destruction which leads to hell beneath. Every man determines that way for himself. If he follows the desires of the flesh and the lusts of the heart, then down he goes. Not only can the heart lead a man astray, but within the heart are the walls of life. God’s Word says that the Law is written in the heart. The conscience bears witness to the right and the wrong. If a man will submit to that Law in the heart, realize that he has done wrong and has sinned, and try to find a payment for that sin, God will direct his steps to a payment.
First, we have the free will of man, and secondly, the sovereignty of God. They are both right there in the same passage. They are not in conflict. What you do with your will determines where God will lead you.
Do you know where it led Pharaoh? It led right into the deep depth of the Red Sea where he was drowned and went to hell. That is where God’s will led him. Do you know where God directed Moses? He led him into the promised land, and then took him home to glory. Do you know why? Moses chose the reproaches of Christ better than the riches of Egypt. He chose to do right, and then reaped the reward of his choice later on. There is no problem with the free will of man and the sovereignty of God. They are both in harmony.
“A man’s heart deviseth his way,” what a man allows his heart to do—if he allows his heart to deceive him and fulfill its own lusts—if a man wants evil, then God will give it to him. If the heart of a man wants righteousness and wants truth, then God will direct your steps. God directed Cornelius’ steps into the step of Peter’s. He directed Ahab into another direction. He directed Pharaoh’s steps into another direction. When a man hates the truth, God sends him strong delusion to believe a lie (II Thessalonians 2:10). What a man does in his heart using his own free will, that determines how God will direct his steps.
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