I don’t hold with the theological doctrine of Predestination. But there is a reason to find value in the theory of the “Predestination” position - - not as the sole position, but as a balance for the “Free will” or “Decisional” position.
Joseph said to his brothers, “You decided to do evil to me, but God used it for good.” God had determined that Abraham’s seed would go into Egypt and grow there. Joseph’s brothers on their own volition decided first to murder Joseph, but then to sell him into slavery. Although their free choice was for evil, by God’s sovereignty the results of it turned out for good: God’s good, Joseph’s good, the brothers’ good, Israel’s good, and even our good.
To say God made Joseph’s brothers decide to do murder is to say that he made his creatures do something which is against the nature of God himself. They must have chosen to do the evil. God, being good by definition, converted the evil into good. But God, being in existence at all times (past, present and future), knew before the bad happened that it was going to happen. He did not preclude the brothers’ bad decision.
We should not be afraid to make choices, or be made to think that our choices have no real meaning or effect because some others are fully persuaded about predestination. “If God has predetermined things what choice do we have, is there really any choice at all, why bother?” Because, as Joseph’s brothers did, we have options before us that we can choose. But we should also know that God has all firmly in his control and in the end his will will work for the good. And if God has all in control, we can see he will be more than willing to give us the power to accomplish his will. And if we fail to accomplish his will God will make it come out his way anyway in spite of the mess we make.
If Joseph’s brothers can choose evil, then so can we. But, as an extension to this, we can also choose good.
At some time we are going to be in a place where we will have to choose - - we will not have the luxury of passing the choice by.
