Hunting is an interesting opportunity to learn about God. When I go hunting I must do my homework. I need to scout out where the deer are moving, I need to practice my shooting, and make sure that my guns are sighted in properly. I need to prepare my stand and then do the work of getting up, getting my equipment ready for the hunt and then get out on the stand. I must then wait for the deer to come to me.

How does all this teach me about God? Well, I can do all the work I want, but it is the Lord who moves the deer into the area that I am hunting, while I am there. It is the Lord that takes all the preparation that I have done and makes my shot accurate. It is the Lord who provides the liberty to harvest one of His creatures for food for my table. No Hunting can be successful unless the Lord provides.

What spiritual lesson can we learn from this? Each of us has the responsibility to prepare ourselves for the potential circumstances that may come into our lives. We must sharpen our aim, by studying the Word of God, and spending time in prayer to understand the working of God in our lives. Without that time of preparation we will fail every time a circumstance comes before us. And with that preparation, we will be ready for the big events of our lives. While the Bible asserts both God’s sovereignty and people’s freedom and moral responsibility, it never attempts to explain their relationship. Most likely because even if God were to attempt to explain it, it would not make sense to us. We should never use God’s sovereignty as an excuse for our own shortcomings, and we should not allow Gods’ sovereignty to cause us to respond passively to the actions of other people that affect us. We should take all prudent steps within the Will of God to protect and advance our situation. Deuteronomy 29:29 says “The secret thins belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, That we may do all the words of this law.” Our duty is to obey the “things which are revealed” for every area of life. In order to do that we must spend time in preparation by reading and studying what the Lord has said in His Word.