God Decides
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COLUMN: Decisions
God Decides
by J. Randal Matheny
"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness. ...'" (Gen. 1:26, ESV).
At some point before the world began, God decided
to make man. As he reached the right point in
creation, he said, "Now it's time. Let's do what
we set out to do. Let's make a man."
A vital part of man's similarity to God is that
he, too, can decide. That will be the theme of the
next few weeks.
But God decided to make a man. Why did he do that?
There isn't much direct information for that
question, only what we pick up here and there in
the Biblical text. But in a word, to quote Rex A.
Turner, Sr., "God is a social being. He desires to
have the company of his own offspring [with] whom
he can share his love, his righteousness, and his
glory."*
That answer prompts another question: If God
wanted company besides himself, is he not
sufficient within himself? It's not a given that
the Lord NEEDED us, but it is appropriate to say
he WANTED us.
Man's sad story is that he always needs God, but
often doesn't want him.
But God wants us so much, he decided on a plan,
also before the world began (1 Pet. 1:20), just in
case anything went wrong and man chose what he
ought not. No matter what man chooses, God's
choice is greater and extends wider and further in
time and eternity. While God doesn't cancel out an
individual's decisions, God's decision folds it
all into his plan and will and produces good even
from man's evil. He doesn't turn man's evil into
good, but makes good result when man means evil
(Gen. 50:20). Something like the saying, "Man
proposes, God disposes." Or as a wise one said,
"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is
the purpose of the Lord that will stand" (Prov.
19:21).
God loves, and in his desire and decision to share
that love, he created a being capable of
appreciating it and of responding to him, one able
to say "yes" to his love and, though it seems
unthinkable, able to say "no" as well.
In every decision of his, in every move he makes,
he still seeks someone to say "yes".
What do you say?
__________
*Systematic Theology (Montgomery, Ala.: Alabama
Christian School of Religion, 1989), p. 131.
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