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We often remind one another at PBC that our God is sovereign. But the fact that our sovereign God ordains the ends doesn’t mean that we’re mindless robots or mere puppets on a string. God has so orchestrated the universe that the free, willing decisions of human beings have significance, yet none of our decisions can thwart His will. God is sovereign. We are responsible.

If that seems like a contradiction to you, let me ask you a question. I first read this in Orlando Saer’s marvelous little book, Big God. He asks this:

is light a wave or a particle? If you have a scientific background you can likely answer that question much more precisely than I can. But the answer, as I understand it at least is both!

Ever since the rise of quantum physics, it’s been accepted that there are some ways light acts like a wave, and some ways it behaves more like a particle. That’s frustrating for those of us who like everything neat and tidily categorized in different boxes. But it turns out reality is far more complex. Physicists realize they cannot take a single, flat approach to light. They need to think about it in different ways at the same time if they’re going to understand it properly.[i]

The same is true about our universe. Yes, God is sovereign. Yes, humans are responsible. Yes, God ordains the ends, but He also uses means. That’s what we see repeatedly in Acts 27.

Remember, Paul is on his way to Rome by ship. He’s been given a promise concerning how his story will end. He will stand before Caesar. But that promise doesn’t lead Paul to frantic risk or foolish apathy. It leads him to faithful action. Act 27:9-12—Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even the Fast was already over, [most likely referring to the Jewish Day of Atonement, which occurred in late September. The author’s point is that it’s too late in the year to attempt a trip like this.] Paul advised them, (10) saying, “Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.” (11) But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.  (12)  And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

If you know you’re going to arrive safely in Rome, why speak up? Why try to encourage the centurion to alter his plans? Paul knows that God’s sovereignty doesn’t negate human responsibility. Yes, God ordains the ends, but He also uses means. 

[i] Orlando Saer, Big God: How To Approach Suffering, Spread the Gospel, Make Decisions and Pray in the Light of a God Who Really Is in the Driving Seat of the World (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2014), 37.