Understanding Regret
Was what you did the will of God?
It is a feature of human experience that we make mistakes. Every human being does things they regret. But it’s possible to view our mistakes in a light that allows for us to accept them and move on, if we consider certain things related to the nature and attributes of God.
My work in the field of philosophical theology has largely been an exploration of divine sovereignty. I have thought and written a great deal about the nature of God and in particular the question of how the sovereignty of God relates to the human will. What I came to understand through this exploration is that in reality there is one God who is in control of everything that happens, and that in this context free will is impossible. This perspective may seem radical to some people, but I believe I have made convincing arguments that this is true in the books I have written, especially in God’s Grand Game which contains what is perhaps my most thorough and articulate discussion of this perspective.
In a nutshell, I believe that the nature of God is boundless being. He is omnipresent, meaning there is no place in existence that it outside of or separate from the His being. For us to have free will would mean that the things we do are not brought about by God, but if we consider that He causes all of our bodily processes to function, including our growth, circulation, digestion, etc, it becomes easy to see that really we are not free at all. When we understand this we can view all of existence as rather like a play directed and animated by God.
I believe all activity, including our thoughts, feelings, and actions, is willed and directed by God. So when we do something we regret, it would be true to say that it was the will of God that that happened, whatever it was. God may cause us to feel regret about certain things, but this doesn’t mean it wasn’t His intention that they happened.
Understanding that all our actions are under God’s sovereign control can be liberating and it can help us to move on from past mistakes. We can see our lives as a journey that God is unfolding, with all our experiences being meaningful parts of the divine plan.
It’s worth noting that even while this perspective may be true, it doesn’t mean that God won’t manifest consequences for the things that He has caused us to do. The question of responsibility is only partially resolved by understanding that we are not free. One theologian, after considering these matters deeply, argued that God’s sovereignty does not diminish our accountability, and we have to always keep in mind the freedom of God to do whatever He will — if He wishes to punish beings for their actions He has the power to do so, even if those actions were not undertaken freely.
When feelings of regret surface in your life, the understanding that the actions you regret were meant to be can help you to accept and move on with a greater sense of peace than if you were to consider they were undertaken freely. I invite you to spend some time pondering the nature of God and to decide for yourself whether or not what I have argued in this article is true.