The Lord can see how the mind of a person is tending, towards evil or towards good. When the tendency is toward evil the Lord will provide circumstances which allow the person to recognize this and to bend away from that course on his or her own, leaving the person in freedom because he or she is unaware of any actions except his or her own.

In this way a person may turn toward a lesser evil, or even towards good, or - still in freedom - may continue deeper into the evil if that is the strong desire. The Lord’s foresight is in no way a predestination.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 2679, 3854, 3869 [1-14], 5122, 5155, 5195, 6489; Divine Providence 67-73, 333)

5155. 'Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you' means a decision based on foresight. This is clear from the meaning of 'lifting up the head' as that which has been provided and therefore has been decided, or a decision based on providence, dealt with above in 5124; but here a decision based on foresight is meant because the prediction follows that he would be hanged on wood, by which a casting aside and condemnation are meant. The reason why a decision based on foresight, not on providence, is meant is that providence is used with reference to good but foresight with reference to evil. For all good flows in from the Lord and is therefore what is provided by Him; but all evil flows from hell, that is, from the human proprium which makes one with hell, and is therefore what is foreseen by Him. In its dealings with evil, providence is nothing else than the directing and steering of evil towards a milder evil, and so far as possible towards good; but evil itself is foreseen. Since therefore the subject at this point is the sensory power subject to the will part and the casting aside of this on account of evil, it is foresight that is meant.