If we ask God to change the mind of another person, are we asking God to infringe on that person's free will?
According to scripture, has God granted man absolute free will?... Or does God allow only partial free will? To answer that question, please prayerfully consider the following scriptures:
"Someone told David, saying, 'Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.' David said, 'Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness' " (2 Samuel 15:31). See 2 Samuel, chapters 15-18 for context.
When David's son Absalom executed a coup against David, taking the kingdom and starting a civil war, David prayed, "please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness". David knew that Ahithophel had sided with Absalom. Ahithophel's advice was regarded "as if a man inquired at the inner sanctuary of God" (2 Samuel 16:23). David needed someone to take action so that Absalom and his followers would not follow the advice of Ahithophel. So, David asked God to "turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness". Then David sent Hushai to offer bad advice to Absalom (2 Samuel 15:32-34, 34). When Absalom and his followers heard the wise advice of Ahithophel and the unwise advice of Hushai, they ALL decided to follow the bad advice of Hushai, BECAUSE God had ORDAINED them to follow the bad advice of Hushai. See below:
"Absalom and all the men of Israel said, 'The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.' For Yahweh had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom" (2 Samuel 17:14).
Had God merely hoped that they would not follow Ahithophel's advice, the scripture would not have stated, "For Yahweh had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel".
So, God controlled the minds of Absalom and his followers to bring them into consequences for trying to overthrow God's anointed king, David.
God determined which advice Absalom would follow. Absalom was defeated and killed "to the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom".
God could not have answered David's prayer to "turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolisness" if God had allowed man to have absolute free will.
But God did answer David's prayer.
God is all powerful, all knowing, good and just. By His power, He controls the future to answer prayer, bless, protect, discipline, and execute judgement... all while justly preserving the free will of man to choose good or evil, but controlling the way in which free will choices are implemented.
Absolute free will results in anarchy while absence of free will results in fatalism. By allowing partial but not absolute free will, God controls the future, knows the future, answers prayer, prevents anarchy and avoids fatalism.
According to scripture, God controls many things.
God controls
- Elections (Daniel 2:21, 4:17)
- Politicians (Proverbs 21:1)
- War (Proverbs 21:31)
- Health (Exodus 4:11)
- Decisions (Proverbs 16:1)
- Disasters (Amos 3:6)
- Satan (Job 1:12)
- 666 (Revelation 17:15-17, 13:18)
- and many other things
Click here for an in depth study of these scriptures and how they relate to omnipotence, omniscience, fatalism, free will and foreknowledge.