Freedom and Liberty under Sovereignty                                                              6-5-01

Today
I learned freedom and liberty under the all-encompassing Sovereignty of a Great
and Loving God.  For the first time in my
life, in a certain way I am not accustomed, it is without reservation I came to
the Father as His child, of whom has been given free will – yet approaches,
asks, and receives from his God, of Whom no detail is missed nor passes without
consent.

I
write this at my usual table, yet in an unusual place we currently call
home.  It has been a long road coming to
this place, as well as in coming to the place I now stand before my
Father.  I have much joy and satisfaction
in recognizing that it was only yesterday at the threshold of my arrival I
asked Him to help me understand this issue of living as a free being, Saved by
His Grace, yet doing so under His inescapable oversight of all Creation.  How can these two truths coexist?  I have wondered and pondered this from my
rebirth.  I sat yesterday in a parking
lot of some business park, in the shade of trees; in my usual position I prayed
out to God for help and understanding once again, and finally I am in a place
to understand.  I might marvel that He
took me this far from home and so much farther from my previous self to make me
to understand – yet I also can report no surprise because I enjoy such an open
freedom and liberty to roll along with whatever He might have of me.  Not without a hitch, of course, but I look to
this abandon as paramount in enjoying His teaching me how to live under Him.

Freedom
to choose.  Freedom under a Sovereign
God.  Freedom under a God Who is over
all, without fail.  Perhaps a simple
issue to some, but to this child, a very insurmountable concept until now.  How personal our Salvation and
Regeneration.  Each person a universe in
his mind, a world in his personal dealings and consciousness.  How is it a God and Saviour over just one
lost and rebellious being can persevere and unravel so many intertangled
issues, let alone his countless brothers’ and sisters’?  How mandatory a personal relationship with
the One Who would do this.  Only through
an intimate understanding and relationship might anything like this be realized
by the forgiven.

Only
through that intimate relationship might we approach our Creator; that approach
made possible through the Reconciliation He has provided; that intercourse
maintained and made possible by His encompassing Spirit Who attends and roams
this Earth for our quickening, conviction, connection, communion, and benefit
until we are gathered rightfully.  How
else might this Miracle of Regeneration be possible while still preserving our
free will, without arresting it or denying it? 
And not for the sake of us because of some perceived value or rights we
might wish to claim, but in fact to honor what He has created, that which makes
us what He intended – capable of a choice, of a real and loving relationship,
of communion of an intimate nature as it was in the beginning before the Fall.

What
are God’s responsibilities, and what are ours? 
How many times have I uttered that question?  We are to exercise our free will, choosing
that which is pleasing to God, under Whom all things are made able to exist, as
He is truly God; in freedom and liberty afforded us despite our beginnings in
failure in condemnation; freedom and liberty which now has been Gifted to us by
the same Provider.  We may make our
choices, and do best in making them under His precepts; made attainable through
Forgiveness, made possible only in a relationship and true walk with our
Saviour Jesus, and thus with God on His Mighty Throne, through His Gift of the
Counselor He has poured out for our benefit.

Today
I asked the Father to make way for a job for me here for the next few months,
to bring us back home to Indiana, to provide us property and a new place we may
come to find as a home, and to let us make good use of our time here, enjoying
His creation in the Northwest.  And for
the first time, I perceived no fear, reservation, or concern that I was out of
the bounds of our respective responsibilities. 
All of these things I desire to do as a free child of God, who desires
to live in a way pleasing to Him. 
Comfortable in my freedom, content and thankful under the God of all.