The Lord knew the days of our lives which He had planned for us, not only before we were ever thought of by our parents, but even before the foundations of the earth. The psalmist mentions that the Lord knew us and all the days of our lives before we were born. “My frame was not hidden from You. When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book, they were all written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.” (Psalms 139:15-16). Paul also makes mention of the Lord’s foreknowledge of us. “…just as He (the Father) chose us in Him before the foundations of the earth, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” (Ephesians 1:4).
By knowing the days He had ordained for us, the Lord also knew His
purposes He had in mind for us to fulfill. “For we are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should
walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10). We all want to know that we are living and walking
in the will of God, day by day. But some Christians would wonder how they can
be sure they are doing and fulfilling God’s will and purposes for their lives.
If we truly believe that the
Lord has ordained the days of our lives, and the purpose for us to fulfill
during those days, then how would we think or believe that the Lord would allow
us to miss His will or let us go astray. In Galatians 5:25, Paul says, “If we
live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Just keep walking and
doing what is before you to do, and as you take one step at a time, you will
walk right into the will of God, as you have been doing all along. Continue to
be led by the Spirit and when it is time to build on what you have been doing
all along, or to turn the corner and go in a whole new direction, the Spirit
will lead you. The Lord has given each
one of us talents – things which we have been, and are naturally good at. He
has done so according to our ability. Jesus told a parable of the talents where
a land owner, before he travels to a far country, calls his servants to him, and
gives each servant talents. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling
to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them.
And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each
according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey.” (Matthew
25:14-15). The Master did not give them any instructions as to what the
servants were to do with their talents. After receiving the talents from their
Master, each servant had to decide what he was going to do with his talent(s).
The servants were being forced to step out of their comfort zone and go into
uncharted territory. The first two servants took the risk and stepped out to
put their Master’s money to good use. By doing so, both servants doubled their
Master’s money, even though they were given different amounts according to
their ability. But the third servant did not step out into uncharted territory.
He was not willing to take a risk and try doing something new, something he had
never done before, as the first two servants had done. Matthew 25:18 tells us
what the third servant did with the portion of money he was given. “But he who
had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money.”
Throughout Scripture, the Lord is always challenging His people to
leave the comfort zone they have been in, just as the mother eagle stirs her
nest when it is time for the eaglets to leave the nest and learn to fly. Yet the
mother eagle is there, ready to scoop down and catch them on her wing before
they fall to the ground.
The Lord called Gideon to step out of his comfort zone and save
Israel from the Midianites. “The Angel of the Lord appeared to him (Gideon),
and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor! Then the Lord
turned to him and said, Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel
from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent you?” (Judges 6:12, 14). The
Lord found Gideon threshing wheat in the winepress, hiding from the Midianites,
the very people to whom the Lord wanted to send him. But Gideon had doubts and gives the Lord
excuses. “So he (Gideon) said to Him, ‘O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed
my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.’
And the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the
Midianites as one man. Then he (Gideon) said to Him, “If now I have found
favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who talk to me.”
(Judges 6:16-17). The Lord granted Gideon’s request and reassured Gideon that
it was His leading. The Lord was not angry with Gideon for asking for a sign,
not once, but twice. Then end result was that the Lord saved Israel from the
Midianites by Gideon with only three hundred men.
Have you ever taken a risk and started a new thing? Or have you
sensed the Lord leading you to start a new thing, yet you were hesitant to step
out in case it wasn’t really the Lord you heard, but yourself. I remember when
I experienced this. I was already living in Long Term Care. One night in bed, I
had the impression that I should create a Newsletter of my own as a channel to
circulate my devotionals. I thought it was the Lord, but wasn’t 100% sure. The
next day, I called my life-long friend and told her what came to me the night
before. Irene not only encouraged me to go ahead and start my, “Sufficient
Grace Newsletter,” but has helped me along the way. From the very first Edition
I sent out the response has been overwhelmingly positive. My former church has
even posted each devotional on their Facebook page, or has put the link to my
blog up. I never expected a response like that, especially as I now live in a
different city.
Take the Lord at His Word.
Paul is a person who took the Lord at His Word and kept pressing forward,
looking ahead to all that the Lord had for him. “Brethren, I do not count
myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which
are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward
the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians
3:13-14). Paul was always willing to go and press on ahead into uncharted
territory. Every time he went into a different city to plant a new church, or
to preach the gospel at the leading of the Lord, he was entering uncharted
territory. Paul was willing to go and press on, even when it meant persecution
or being put in prison. At the end of his life, Paul was confident that he had
fulfilled the Lord’s purposes in his life that he was able to say, “For I am
already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is
at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept
the faith.” (2 Timothy 4:6-7). I pray
that when the time comes for the Lord to take me home, I will be able to make a
similar statement by God’s sufficient grace.
The Lord does not want us to
waste time looking back, when He has so much more for us to accomplish in Him
and for His glory in the future. Let us all be willing to follow Him along the
path He has marked out for each one of our lives. Sore like an eagle into the
heights of His presence and allow the Father to bring us into uncharted
territory with Him where He will overwhelm us with treasures untold. As we
press into Him, He will draw us so close that we will be able to hear His every
whisper and feel His every heartbeat. I don’t know about you, but that is how
close I want to be with my Abba Father.
By Cindy Mead
