I have heard Maccarthur speak on free will vs predestination and he explained it as a mystery that we can’t reconcile though they both are true. I see predestination taught in scripture but also the truth of making a choice. Phillipians 2:12,13
The way I look at predestination is God isn’t limited by time,he knows the past and the future before it happens but that doesn’t mean he predestined what our choices will be because some of our choices are evil & I don’t believe God wills us to do evil things.
The times predestination has been advocated seem to be restricted to individuals, say, Bob and Jim. God has selected Bob to be saved while God has deemed Jim to be lost.
Perhaps, God has predestined *categories* of “saved” and “not saved”. The choices that Jim makes can place him in the “saved” category while Jim can choose options that place him in the “not saved” category.
In that case, what God has predestined are the categories and the freedom to make choices.