UGW #2: Cause vs. Allow
"Understanding God's Will" #2: Well, what about verses like Proverbs 16:4 : “The Lord works out everything for his own end ... ” Doesn’t this mean that He causes everything that happens for His own reasons? I don’t think that’s what it means. It doesn’t say He causes everything that happens for His own reasons; it says He works them out for His own ends. (I’ll break this down further in later posts.) God has an end goal, and He knows how to take whatever we do and work it together to reach that end. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that He causes us to do what we do for His own reasons (because if He did then He would be responsible for our sins, not us) or that He causes the tragedies that we face for a reason. Now keep in mind as you read this series that I am not challenging the whole “Everything happens for a reason” idea for those who face trials in the quiet, optimistic assurance that there is some deep, unknown reason for their trial or tr