The thought had been put in...the gift is bought....the gift is wrapped....the gift is presented....now what? In your analogy God is just waiting to see what will happen. "Will they won't they." So He is not sovereign...He is waiting...waiting to see if His hard work paid off.
But we could argue the analogy all day. The truth is you are not reformed and others are so the debate continues.
Receiving the gift of salvation does not violate God's sovereignty, because that is the method God has determined. Imposing salvation on someone actually violates God's sovereignty, because that is not the method he has chosen.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
The power of receiving in this verse is "to them". It is the person who receives this gift, and "to them" God gives the power (Holy Spirit) to "become" the sons of God. And then it explains this method of receiving as believeing on his name.
And notice you do not receive the power or Holy Spirit until
after you believe, not before. So they could not have been regenerated, not yet having received the Spirit.
You may not like the idea of man playing a part in his salvation, but that is the method God has chosen. To deny that is actually to ursurp God's sovereignty.
Look what Peter told the Jews on the day of Pentacost.
Acts 2:40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
Peter told the Jews who heard his preaching to "save themselves". This was Peter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it is scripture.
Do you actually believe Peter would tell them to violate God's sovereignty? Peter had no problem telling these people to "save themselves" and he was an apostle. I would listen to Peter before I would listen to a Calvinist. But that's me.
And then it says those that "gladly received his word" were baptized. So, it shows the receiving was done by the hearer. There is not a word mentioned of anyone being regenerated to believe. In fact, there is not one verse in all the Bible that shows that. If you think you know one, then show it, nobody has shown it in hundreds of years.
And what did Paul say to the Philipian jailer when he asked how to be saved?
Acts 16:30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
First of all, this passage shows that an unsaved, unregenerate man can desire to know God and how to be saved. And we know he was not saved because Paul told him he needed to believe and
then he would be saved. So the Philipian jailer was an unregenerated man when he asked how to be saved. There goes the doctrine of Total Depravity out the window right there.
And if Calvinism is really true, then there is no sure way to answer this question. Paul should have told him that he should do nothing whatsoever, and if he so happened to be fortunate enough to be one of the elect, then God would do it all for him and regenerate him.
When the people came to Jesus and asked what works they should do to do the works of God, he should have told them to do nothing whatsoever, because that would violate God's sovereignty. But Jesus told them to believe on him.
John 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
So, do you believe Jesus himself would violate his Father's sovereignty? And do you believe Jesus would mislead people and tell them to believe when he knows they cannot possibly believe?
1 Tim 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
Oh my, Paul here commands Timothy to take heed unto himself and the doctrine he has been taught and says in doing so he will save himself and those that hear him.
Wow. So do you think the apostle Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit would tell a person to violate the sovereignty of God??
So, you may not like the idea that man plays a part in salvation, but you got that from the teachings of men, not the scriptures.
How does the analogy "tie God's hands"? He did everything from securing the gift to presenting it. The fact someone takes it doesn't undermine the gift givers sovereignty in the least! Even if man doesn't take the gift, God remains sovereign as man cannot attain eternal life without the gift, which is God's will.