Life Given to Us for a Specific Reason
On Thursday evening, we did not know what Friday would bring.
Then, on the evening of Friday, we did not know what Saturday would bring.
Here we are, on Sunday, and truly, we do not know what this day will bring or even what tomorrow will bring once it arrives.
We cannot know—BUT GOD KNOWS!
Since only God knows what the days of our lives will hold, then it makes perfect sense that we must trust His perfect plan—completely!
In the Old Testament, we find some significant examples of this truth—
“Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, because I have chosen a king for Myself among his sons.”
(1 Samuel 16: 1 NASB)
Let us consider the youngest son of Jesse the Bethlehemite. His task: Care for the Sheep. David was living out there in the field when his dad sent word to him, saying, “Come to the house.” I am sure that David never dreamed he would be anointed the King of Israel that day when he strapped on his sandals or when he ran to the house when Jesse summoned.
God is in charge of our number of days, our moments, and our plans.
Life—It is Given to Us for a Specific Reason!
- It is God who made a way for David to rise to kingship.
- It is God who looks intimately at our heart.
When we peer inside our hearts, do we see the same?
When we look at our lives, do we see God’s hand directing our path?
A second time in the Old Testament, we find a second example of this truth—
“So Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined; and he was there in the prison.
(Genesis 39: 20-23 NASB)
But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the warden of the prison.
And the warden of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it.
The warden of the prison did not supervise anything under Joseph’s authority, because the LORD was with him; and, the LORD made whatever he did prosper.”
God is in charge of where we are born, into which family we are placed. We are never asked.
We did not choose our biological parents or our plot of land where we would be placed the day our parents brought us home from the hospital.
Life—It is Given to Us for a Specific Reason!
- It is God who led a traveling band to pass by the deep well where Joseph’s brothers had placed him and left him for dead.
- It is God who ordains our days, those same days he counted before He placed us inside our mother’s womb.
When we look at the place we live, whose family we have been born into, do we find ourselves thanking the LORD?
When we look at all the families, all the continents, all the homes we could have been placed, do we bow down on our knees, praising God for His plan?
Thus in closing, we read in the Old Testament, a third example of this truth—
“Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi.
(Exodus 2: 1-8 NASB)
And the woman conceived and gave birth to a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful; she hid him for three months.”
[She hid him because the midwives of the king of Egypt had been instructed
to put to death the male Hebrew boys.]
“But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and covered it with tar and pitch. Then she put the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.
And his sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.
Now the daughter of Pharoah [the king of Egypt] came down to bathe at the Nile, with her female attendants walking alongside the Nile; and she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave woman, and she brought it to her.
When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the boy was crying. And she had pity on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
Then his sister said to Pharoah’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a woman for you who is nursing from the Hebrew women, so that she may nurse the child for you?”
Pharoah’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.”
So the girl went and called the child’s mother.”
Even when life seems bleak, still God has a plan.
Even when we lift our hands in despair, God makes a way.
Life—It is Given to Us for a Specific Reason!
- The exodus of the Jewish nation began with a little baby boy’s cry.
- The future of the Jewish nation began with a little baby boy floating on the Nile.
When life seems to take an odd turn, quite possibility it is NOT A COINCIDENCE BUT PROVIDENCE!
When our life plans seem to suddenly change direction, quite assuredly it is NOT AN ACT OF CHANCE BUT AN ACT OF HOLY GOD!
- God placed Moses inside the palace of Pharaoh where he grew, prepared, and trained for the task God would have him one day accomplish—Leading the Children of Israel out of bondage and into the Promised Land.
- God placed Joseph in Potiphar’s house where he would be accused of a crime he did not commit, so Joseph would then go to prison where the LORD would give him favor with the warden, preparing him for the task God would have him do—Saving the Hebrew nation from sure famine and death.
- God placed young David (the anointed King of Israel) into Saul’s palace because God gave David the talent of playing an instrument to calm Saul’s troubled mind. The LORD knew what He was doing, & the LORD knew He was physically moving David (God’s chosen King of Israel) to the task God would one day commission David to do—Saving the world with God’s Only Son—Jesus—who would come from the lineage of King David.
We cannot know what this day will bring—BUT GOD KNOWS!
We cannot always know up-front why God is moving us—BUT GOD DOES!
Life—It is Given to Us for a Specific Reason!
MAY WE LIVE TODAY FULLY AWARE HOW GOD’S HAND DIRECTS OUR STEPS!