Summer 1981
We Are Predestined
Wade Taylor

The word predestination has become the foundation of philosophy and theology evolving around the core of God’s sovereignty. In this view, God is supreme in His determination as to who will be saved and who will be lost and how far each may progress. This theology says that I have no choice or part in what I do or become. If I succeed, it is because God caused it to be so. If I fail, it is because I was not predestined to full salvation in the first place. The responsibility is placed on God, not on the individual. This perhaps over simplified, but in essence sets forth the view that has stifled and hindered God’s people from entering a personal walk and relationship with Him. It has been a serious block to all He had made available for His body to possess and inherit.

We must acknowledge, without question, that God is sovereign, but we must also acknowledge that God is Holy and holiness brings forth judgment. He did not harden the hearts of kings in the Old Testament without the insight that the heart was already hardened toward Him. He took that hardened heart and used it in a circumstance that worked for good in His people. In that sense, predestination is simply God knowing what we will do or be.

God, in His infinite wisdom and foreknowledge, knew before we were born the extent of the desire in our heart for Him. He knows our hearts better than we, but He gives each one the free will to make choices in an infinite number of decisions throughout our earthly lifetime, which causes us to reach varying degrees of depth in Him.

We hear the phrase, “There is a call on this person’s life” and this expression is valid in that God does make it very hard for some to get out of His reach, simply because He sees the potential within. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:14)—not because God doesn’t want them, but because few are willing to pay the price of giving up all and going the Lord’s way. This verse could read, “Many are called, but few will pay the price in order to be chosen.”

The word “predestination” as used in Romans 8:28 applies to those already saved. It established His intention towards those who have placed their lives in His hands as the Master Potter, that He may mold them into an image conformable to that of His Son. This passage does not refer to foreknowledge or an act of God causing some to be saved and others to be eternally lost. It is rather the expression of the heart desire of God that His people become conformable to the image of His Son and His expressed intention to cause everything in our lives to lead to this end. Since molding or conforming anything to a pattern requires heat and pressure, we are assured in Romans 8:28 that all things touching our lives are meant to work together for this good—His image—upon our spirits. He is not promising that all things are good in themselves, but that no matter how seemingly terrible the situation, if we can trust ourselves in His hand, good will be produced—His image and character wrought in our lives.

This is what He meant when He said, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” “Good” is an Anglo-Saxon root word from which the word “God” is derived. It means God-like. To work together for good means we are being changed and made like Him. He has promised this and asked that we place ourselves in His hands, completely yielded as clay in the hands of the potter. If we ask for bread, he will not give a stone. If we ask for fish, he will not give a scorpion (Matthew 7:9-11). Only He can form the vessel. We must trust Him. All this is the result of a process. First comes the grinding of the clay to the right consistency and then moisture is added. The forming and shaping is next and then heating is done to remove any imperfections and to set the shape and form. The glaze or finish is added for luster and beauty as well as to protect and seal the finished product, that it retain its quality and beauty.

Maturity does not come through a prophetic word or a revelation, but rather through a long process of His dealings as we remain trustful and confident that He knows what He is doing, and that His intention for us is good. Yield unconditionally into His hands and allow Him to begin the process.