If you could read a book containing all that has happened and will ever happen in your life, would you? If you choose to read it, you must read it cover to cover.
Daily Prompt: This Is Your Life
What a great prompt! What if I was to tell you that there really is a book written about me, you, and every other person who has ever existed, including those who don’t yet exist?
You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
(Psalm 139:16 NLT)
Before anyone is even conceived in their mother’s womb, God already knows us, and has a plan for each life.
“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as My spokesman to the world.”
(Jeremiah 1:5 NLT)
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It really amazes me when I think about it. And for those of you who may think that this allows us no opportunity to make our own decisions, think again. You see, God in His Sovereignty has indeed created each and every man, woman and child with a specific purpose, tailor made just for that person. He has placed longings and desires within each one of us, and given us dreams and visions for what could be.
He has gifted each and every person that He has made so that they are equipped to accomplish all they were created to accomplish in their lives, but then, He throws something else in there, which has the potential to either fulfill or destroy our destiny, depending on what we choose to do with all that He has given us. You see, man, who was created in God’s image, has been given a free will, by God, so that we can choose our own destiny.
“Now wait a minute,” I can hear some of you saying. “You just said that He recorded every day of our life in His book, and that each moment of our life was laid out before a single day passed, so how does that account for free will?”
Thank you for asking. Just because God, who is omniscient (all-knowing), knows what you are going to do before you actually do it, does not mean that He has rigged you to do something. For example, have you ever watched a television show, and known what was going to happen, before it happened? Did your foreknowledge cause that to happen? Of course not.
In the same way, God knows our hearts, better than we ourselves know them. In fact, before the foundation of the earth was laid, He knew us, and just like you knew what would happen on that television program, He knows every breath we will take, every move we will make, and every thought we will think. When He created us, He had already recorded our life in His book, because He had foreknowledge of what we would do, and what would be done to us by others. Some of us will fulfill the destiny we were created for, while many others, will fulfill their own destiny, that they create for themselves, and because of His great love and respect for us, God will allow each one to choose which destiny they fulfill.
Therefore, if you could read a book containing all that has happened and will ever happen in your life, would you? If you choose to read it, you must read it cover to cover. My answer is yes, because as I said before, there already is a book written about me, and in order for me to read that book, God would have to open it up for me and reveal it. I trust God, so if He wants me to know what will happen, He must have a good reason for it, and I will gladly read it.
Actually, there are times, when He reveals things that are about to happen to me, things that He’s recorded in His book about me, and then there are many other times, when I am completely surprised by what is happening to me or around me, and that’s okay. Whether I know in advance what is going to happen, or whether I’m taken completely by surprise, I find it comforting to know that God is never surprised or taken off guard by what is happening, because He had already seen it happen in His book about me.
In the end, when it’s all said and done, I’ve decided to fulfill the destiny that God created me to fulfill, rather than my own destiny, because there is abundant life in Him, and my plans just can’t measure up to His. My plans will eventually kill me. And just look at the plans He has for us:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
(Jeremiah 29:11 NLT)
As long as I stick with the plans that He has for me, even without reading the book He has written about me in advance, I know how it will end…
And she lived happily ever after.
© 2013
Cheryl A. Showers
Burning Fire Shut Up In My Bones 