God's sovereignty and his tender call

My conviction (and it has taken me years to come to this) is that God is sovereign. Nothing surprises Him. He is in control. I find it impossible to square all of Scripture, apart from this view.

Some would call God's sovereignty a paradox -- if God already knows who will come to Him and who won't, why is pleading with us? Why does Israel's unbelief (Rom 10:21) grieve Him?

And there are other examples:

God has hidden the truth from some, and he invites all. (Matt 11:25, 28)
All are invited to Christ, and the Father gives some to Christ. (John 6:35, 36)
All are invited to believe and be forgiven; as many as were appointed to life did believe (Acts 13:38, 48)

John Piper has some encouraging words on this : "This is what it means for God to be God. Man is not the final, ultimate sovereign over his own life. God is. God is the potter. We are the clay. But on the other hand God "desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 2:4). He holds out his hands all day long to Jews and the Gentiles of the Twin Cities [Piper ministers in Minneapolis/St. Paul]. He calls, he beckons, he invites.