IWWB,

First of all I want to say thank you so much for opening my eyes to these truths that I somehow knew were there but didn’t know what they were, if you know what I mean. I am finding it very hard to accept that God is in control of the answer of the tongue (Prov16:11). I really want to believe this, but when I watch things with big crowds and there are thousands upon thousands of people there, I find it hard to take in that God is in control of the answers of all of their tongues. Maybe I am trying to fit God into my box, which I sometimes do. This is a very hard pill to swallow, and it does bother me from time to time. Also I know it’s all in his time, and there will come a day when I fully accept this, and you have given loads of scriptures stating we have no free will, but I feel this goes beyond that. I have a few other questions, but I know you’re a very busy man. Although this isn’t as much a question as a concern, I would really appreciate if you could give me something to help settle this in my mind.
I just want to thank you for all the hard work you are doing to get these truths out there for all whom God has chosen to receive them. God bless you in this fantastic role you have been given, and may the lord continue to bless you, your family and your friends.
Thank you so much again.

S____

Hi S____,
Thank you for your encouraging words and for your question.

You say it is hard to believe that the thoughts and answers of all the tongues of huge crowds of people, are all “of the Lord.”  Apparently you have already seen all the verses which say that “God is working all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11), so I will not belabor that issue. But I will point out that God’s ‘hard drive’ will never be overloaded simply because He is an all knowing, all powerful, and every where present God. That is not something God works at, that is what God is. The nations and all that is in them, to this very day, are no challenge for God:

Isa 40:15 Behold, the nations [ are] as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
Isa 40:16 And Lebanon [ is] not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
Isa 40:17 All nations before him [ are] as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

Man likes to use the word ‘invent,’ when speaking of scientific advancements. But the Truth is that man does not invent anything. All man is capable of doing is discovering what God already is. There is nothing new about a car, an airplane or a rocket which can travel into space. The car, the airplane and the rocket, are all made of preexisting materials, and they are all operating according to preexisting laws. That is what is meant by these verses:

Ecc 1:9  The thing that hath been, it [ is that] which shall be; and that which is done [ is] that which shall be done: and [ there is] no new [ thing] under the sun.
Ecc 1:10  Is there [ any] thing whereof it may be said, See, this [ is] new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.

Man may put what God has already made together in a manner which allows him to go to the moon, but the moon was already there, and everything and every bit of knowledge used to get man to the moon was already there for man to discover. None of it is new to God.
Every little detail of every life is known to God in advance.

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. (ASV)

That is the purpose of telling us that God is aware of every sparrow that falls to the ground and that the hairs of our heads are numbered. As a friend of mine put it, ‘God does not know the numbers of our hairs because He counts them, He is aware of every hair because He has predetermined when each one of them will fall out’.

Mat 10:29  Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
Mat 10:30  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

The very point being made here is that God has predetermined the death of every sparrow and the very “preparations of our hearts. It really is not hard for God to do, and as you come to know Him better the truth of His words will be easier to accept. Know and having the mind of God is the very definition of life eternal:

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike