When it comes to God's knowledge of future events, some say that God not only knows all things but that He must be the cause of all things.  On the other side are those who hold that God does not know all things about the future and that He leaves the future partly open for human freedom and decisions.  Arminianism falls somewhere in-between the two perspectives.  Arminianism holds that God, being God, does know all things and that He does foreknow all future events and decisions but we differ with the determinist view that all things must be not just known by God but caused by Him whether directly or indirectly if God is to be sovereign.  To me, this presupposes a human defining of sovereignty and reads into the Scriptures a human understanding of what it must mean to be sovereign.  But that is beyond my point.

To me, it is logical that since God knows all things and the Scriptures teach that He foreknows all things (Psalm 139:1-6).  I was reading in my devotions this week from Genesis 15 and I read the story of God revealing to Abram that his descendants would be enslaved (Genesis 15:12-14) but that Abram himself would die before this came to pass (Genesis 15:15) but God would lead Abram's children out of bondage (Genesis 15:16).  God could foresee even the death of His one and only Son on the cross (Acts 2:23).  That is because God can see all things from beginning to end.  He is infinite in His wisdom and in His understanding (1 Corinthians 1:25).  But that God knows all things doesn't mean that He causes all things.  That God foresaw the Fall of Man in Genesis 3:1-8 doesn't mean that He caused Adam to sin.  I have heard some Calvinists (not all of course) say that God did cause Adam to sin.  Some Calvinists, such as John Frame or John Piper, hold that God does cause evil and that He even causes some to sin (Piper points to the murder of Jesus as proof positive) for His own glory and purposes.  God could say of the Fall, that the Lamb of God was foreknown (1 Peter 1:20) for God knows all things.

Nothing happens that God doesn't know about it even before it comes to pass.  But to know about it is not the same as causing it.  That God knows all things and yet He doesn't cause all things doesn't mean that He has lost control.  As Martin Luther said of the devil, "Even the devil is God's devil."  The world around us can look chaotic at times and it can even appear that God is not in control but we can trust that He is in control and that history will end the way that God wants history to end.  And yet in the midst of evil, suffering, and so much death - how are we to have a proper view of God's sovereignty?

I have a friend who went through (and still is) a dark time with the death of their 4 year old child.  She was killed by a teenager who crashed into their car while high on drugs.  They have no answers for their loss.  Piper's hope to them is that God caused this for His glory and while they don't have any answers, they must accept this as God's perfect will for them.  The open theist, such as Greg Boyd, would say that God didn't cause this and He was as shocked as they were at what happened.  God grieves with them and He too detests this evil act that came to pass but because He has created this world with freedom, He will empower them to overcome and be witnesses for Him in the midst of their pain.

The Arminian reply is that God neither causes evil to come to pass but He does foreknow it.  Why He chooses to allow evil to come to pass is beyond us but God's ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8).  All God's ways are good (Deuteronomy 32:4) but our perception of goodness is taunted by sin and by our own human limitations.  We must bear in mind that the open theist is correct that God allows the world a limited freedom to operate according to both God's plan and His control.  Yet we differ with the open theist in that Arminians hold that God controls all things and that He foreknows all things but He does not cause all things.  He knows them but doesn't create them.

We can also trust that because God is good, He is able to comfort us in our afflictions (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).  God is able to take our momentary afflictions (Romans 8:18) and He is able to use them to glorify His name and to help us to teach others His ways.  God's heartbeat is for the lost (Luke 19:10) and His desire is to use all means to bring people to repentance (Acts 17:30-31; 2 Peter 3:9) even our trials (James 1:2-5 with emphasis on verse 5 praying for wisdom during trials).  Our life is but a vapor (James 4:14) and we must seek to glorify God even in the midst of trials and sufferings for His glory.  Is this easy?  No!  But God will reward us for staying faithful to Him (Revelation 2:10).

Do we, Arminians or Calvinists or open theists, have answers to suffering?  No but I do take hope in a God who knows all things and while He doesn't cause all things, He does control them and in the end He will be praised for His goodness and His love.