If God knows everything I'm going to do, do I still get to choose?

 

God’s total knowledge never erases your free choice. Scripture says God “declares the end from the beginning” (Isa 46:10), yet also calls you to “choose this day” (Joshua 24:15). The 1689 London Baptist Confession captures this balance: God has “freely and unchangeably” decreed all things “yet so as…no violence is offered to the will of the creature.” How can both stand? God’s decree sets the story’s plot, but He writes it through real human decisions. You act from the desires of your own heart; God never forces sin into you, nor does He scramble your motives. At the same time, He ordains every detail with perfect wisdom, guaranteeing that history serves His glory and your good.

 

This is not fatalism; it is providence that upholds, rather than cancels, secondary causes like your mind, prayers, and actions. Many Baptists call this view “compatibilism.” Your will is free in that you voluntarily choose what you most want at any moment, yet those wants unfold under God’s comprehensive plan. Peter said Jesus was crucified by “lawless men” who were “carrying out” God’s “definite plan and foreknowledge” (Acts 2:23). Joseph told his brothers, “You meant evil…God meant it for good” (Gen 50:20). Both passages show the same act as fully planned by God and fully chosen by people, making them accountable.

 

John Piper notes that a will is not less free because God sovereignly rules it; instead, divine grace can liberate the sinner’s bound heart to choose Christ. For you, this means your choices matter eternally. God’s foreknowledge does not excuse sin or paralyze risk‑taking obedience. It gives courage: every faithful step fits into a secure design. Pray, study, evangelize, repent—these are real means God uses to accomplish what He has already resolved. In Christ, you are not a puppet but a redeemed son or daughter whose renewed will now delights in doing the Father’s will. Trust the mystery, rejoice in the security, and walk in responsible freedom.

 

For Further Reading:

 

1689 Baptist Confession of Faith

 

Chosen by God, R. C. Sproul

 

“Is God Sovereign over My Free Will?” (Desiring God), John Piper

 

Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility, D. A. Carson