Is even repentance a gift?

This morning I was reading in 1 Samuel concerning the priest Eli and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas. His sons were evil and forsook God's commands concerning the sacrifice and did other things in the sight of the Lord that caused him to be angry. Eli, their father was reasoning with them to repent from their wicked ways and then this verse struck me ... 1 Sam. 2:25b - "But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to put them to death."

Can it be that God is sovereign even over our acts of repentance? I believe this verse shows that he is. There is one word in that verse that kept echoing in my mind after I read it and it was the word, “for”. This word points to the reason why they would not listen to their father’s pleas to repent. They would not listen, FOR (or because)…

Another verse in the Bible that points to this same truth is 2 Tim. 2:24 -“And Gods servant must not quarrel; instead he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct in the hope that God would GRANT them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.”

Does this seem unfair? Should we not be able to be completely free in ourselves to respond to God as we should? If God has to grant us repentance how can he then hold us accountable? Paul in Romans 9 asks a similar question from an assumed objector and says to him, “One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' "Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”

I know that here I am reaching into the depths of over 2000 years of theological reflection, but all this to say that 1 Sam. 2:25 was a new verse to me that seems to affirm certain theological convictions that I find true in other parts of the Bible.

For more along these lines you can find a great article here.