It was a red 2000ish Toyota. It was sitting in the school parking lot with its lights on. A student walking across the lot wanted to help. So she went over and tried to get to the light switch but it was locked. How frustrating! In just a few hours the owner would have a real problem and she could not help. She walked away leaving the 2000ish Toyota with its lights sucking the energy from its battery.
Have you ever wondered if there are times when God wants to help us but He can’t. While it is true, God is all-powerful and could force His good sense on us, He will not violate our power of choice. To do so would shatter the principle of love, which only exists where there is choice. Love is not love when it is coerced. Once coerced, it becomes benevolent tyranny.
Our coed could have broken a window of the Toyota to gain access to the light switch, but the broken window would have been a violation of the owner’s property. The solution to the problem would have been worse than the immediate difficulty. Should God violate our freedom by imposing His wisdom on us, His intervention would have long-term effects worse than the fruit of our immediate danger.
God could have forced Eve away from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, but had He done so everything He has asserted about freedom and choice would have been a lie. (Titus 1:2)
Written April 13, 2003