Can God accomplish His plans through our free will?
Good question. The underlying assumption is that God’s sovereignty and man’s free will are incompatible. However, it seems to me that there is not inconsistency or tension between sovereignty and free will. Why? Because a sovereign God is powerful enough to accomplish His will through our free will.
That, by the way, is a higher view of sovereignty than you find in Calvinism.
Of course, how we define “sovereign” is important. It does not mean that God does meticulously control everything, but that He could if He wanted to. But what He wanted to do was give us the ability to choose whether or not we will obey Him.
Why would He give us the ability to choose for ourselves?
1. He receives glory when we choose to obey
2. He receives glory when He forgives
3. He receives glory when He punishes
