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God preknew they would answer, but he did not predestine them to answer

Looks pre-destined to me

The Call of Jeremiah

4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

6 "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."

7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you

And then we have Paul who says he's a prisoner, speaking of his call to be the Apostle to the Gentiles

Because of this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ (Jesus) for you Gentiles--

2 if, as I suppose, you have heard of the stewardship 3 of God's grace that was given to me for your benefit,

3 (namely, that) the mystery 4 was made known to me by revelation

In a similar vein, we have Samuel searching out Saul, who was clearly predestined for kingship, as well as David. Could they refuse?

All those verses talk about pre-knowledge, not the predestination idea of a puppet being pulled by the strings of it's master.

4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

6 "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."

7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you

God says that he appointed Jeremiah. Now J says he doesn't want to do this and argues against it. God then INSISTS. If this was predestination and God was the master puppeteer, then God would not need to insist, God would just control. He doesn't do that

In a similar vein, we have Samuel searching out Saul, who was clearly predestined for kingship, as well as David. Could they refuse?

They COULD, yes and some did try to run away. But they finally took it up, reluctantly at times, it was not that God took control of their strings and moved them to do this or that.

“”Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Foreknew.

Set apart.

Appointed for a purpose.

Sounds like Romans 8: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined...And those whom he predestined he also called, ...justified, and...glorified.”