Surely, there may have been times that we
all have wondered about our destiny and the reason of our presence in this
world. Why are we on this earth? What is the purpose of our presence in this
world? What are the thoughts of God about us? Today, I would like to see with
you what the Word of God says about questions as the above, so that we may
appreciate better the true answers that it gives.
To start we will go to Ephesians 1:3-6. There we read:
Ephesians 1:3-6
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as HE
CHOSE US IN HIM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be holy and
without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by
Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the
praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the
beloved"
God chose us in Christ BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE
WORLD, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. The fact
that we are here and we know God is therefore not "accidental". God
foreknew us (Romans 8:29), and before the foundation of the
world He
chose us in Christ to be HIS CHILDREN, holy and without blame before Him.
The Lord´s involvement concerning our presence in this
world, is also evident from Psalm 139. There, starting from verse 13, we read:
Psalms 139:13-16
"YOU made my whole
being; YOU formed me in my mother´s body. I praise you
because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. Your works are wonderful.
I know this very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the
secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days planned
for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."
God had seen us, before we were born. All the days
planned for us were written in His book while still nothing of them had
happened. His eyes saw our unformed body and HE gave us the shape and the form
we have. He made us in an amazing and wonderful way. His works are all
wonderful and we are one of them.
But Psalm 139 does not stop there. Taking it from the
beginning we read:
Psalms 139:1-3
"O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and
my rising up; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and
my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O Lord."
The Lord knows everything about us. He understands our
thoughts from afar and there is nothing hidden from Him. All that we do, and
all that we think are fully known to Him. And the same Psalm continues:
Psalm 139:5-12
"You have hedged me behind, and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I
go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the
heavens, you are there; If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I
rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even
there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say,
"Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around
me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like
the day for darkness is as light to You."
God has hedged us behind and before and His hand is
laid upon us. Each one of us is a man that GOD chose, GOD formed, and for whom
GOD cares and knows everything, even our sitting down and rising up. He is with
us always and there is no place where He is not. As Paul says in Romans 8:38-39
Romans 8:38-39
"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, not any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
There is absolutely nothing that is able to separate
us from God´s love. He loved us so much that He gave His own Son, Jesus Christ.
No wonder therefore that Romans 8:32 says:
Romans 8:32
"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how
shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?"
Really, would it ever be possible that God would spare
anything good for us when He didn´t spare His own Son? Would it ever be
possible to leave us for example? Who of us would leave something that he loves
so much and for which he paid such a high price? And if we would, He will
never. As He says in Hebrews 13:5:
Hebrews 13:5
"I will never leave you nor forsake you"
and
also
Isaiah 49:15
"I WILL NOT FORGET YOU."
God will never leave us nor forsake us. He will never
forget us, and there is nothing that can separate us from His love. He cares for
each one of us PERSONALLY. For us He went so far as to give even His own Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
But Psalm 139 does not stop here. Continuing from
verse 17 we read:
Psalms 139:17-18
"How precious are your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of the
sand;"
And Psalms 40:5
"Many, O Lord my God, are your wonderful works which you have done; and your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to you in
order;if I would
declare and speak of
them they are more than can be numbered"
God´s thoughts for us are precious and their number is
countless: THEY OUTNUMBER THE GRAINS OF THE SAND! And as He says for them in
Jeremiah 29:11
Jeremiah 29:11
"I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil"
The thoughts of the Lord for us are thoughts of good
and peace. We are not in His mind just for a few minutes in which He makes some
spontaneous thoughts concerning us. We were in His mind before the foundation of the world.
His thoughts for us outnumber any number and
nothing can separate us from His love. Thus, as Hebrews
13:5-6 tells us:
Hebrews 13:5-6
"For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake
you." So we may boldly say: "The Lord is my helper; I
will not fear. What can man do to me?"
And as Proverbs counsels us:
Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own
understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your
paths."
Let us trust in the Lord with all our heart and leave
HIM to direct us. He has not promised that storms will never come. However, He
knows how to calm them. In the great storm that hit the boat with the disciples
in Mark 4:37, it was enough a "Be still" of the Lord to the sea and
"there was a great calm". When a storm comes, when tribulation
arrives, He knows not only to bring calmness but also to use the tribulation
for our benefit, "knowing that tribulation produces patience; and
patience, experience; and experience hope. Now hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the holy spirit
which is given to us" (Romans 5:3-5)
But the Lord´s vision concerning us is not only about
this small life. In fact, as I Peter 2:11 tells us, we are but strangers and
foreigners here. And as Philippians 3:20-21 says:
Philippians 3:20-21
"For our citizenship IS IN HEAVEN, from which we also eagerly wait for the
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be
conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able
even to subdue all things to Himself"
Our real home is in heavens. There we belong, and
there is our true citizenship. It is there that God sees already, sited
together with the Lord Jesus Christ:
Ephesians 2:4-7
"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He
loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ (by grace you have been saved), AND RAISED US UP TOGETHER, AND MADE US
SIT TOGETHER IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS"
From God´s point of view, we are already sited in the
heavenlies, together with Christ. HE is our vision and the one to whom we
should look at. As it says in Hebrews 12:1-2:
Hebrews 12:1-2
"let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross despising the shame, and has sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God."
To run a race consistently we need to have a clear
vision of what we want to attain and the purpose we run. Otherwise, we will be
running "with uncertainty", "as one who beats the air" (I
Corinthians 9:26). We can run our race consistently only by looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our salvation. We are here TO DO THE WILL OF GOD.
WHAT HE SAYS IN HIS WORD AND WHAT HE HAS CALLED EACH ONE OF US TO DO. THIS IS
THE REASON THAT WE LIVE AND THE PURPOSE OF OUR LIFE. We are followers of Jesus
Christ and as He confirms us: "He who follows me shall not walk in
darkness but have the light of life" (John 8:12)
As it may be clear from the above, we are not people
who just happened to be here, without a purpose to live. God foreknew us and He
chose us in Christ BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. He has chosen YOU and it
was HE that formed you and gave you the shape that you have. As with all His
works, you are WONDERFUL too. He was personally engaged in your formation and
He saw your body before it was formed. All the days planned for you were
written in His book while nothing of them had still happened. You are not
accidental in this world. You are not part of a crowd but a wonderful creation
of God. You are a child of God chosen from Him before the world began. God is
with you, hedging you behind and before and there is no place that you are and
He is not. God loves YOU, PERSONALLY, my friend, and He loves you so much that
nothing can separate you from His love. His thoughts for you are countless.
They outnumber any number. His presence is not a matter of feelings but an
unchanged reality. God is not with you when you feel it and He disappears when
you do not feel it. He is with you either you feel it or not. He loves you
either you feel worthy of His love or not. You are His child regardless of how
much you feel it. This is what God´s Word, the TRUTH, says and truth is
independent of feelings. He has given you eternal life and you are going to be
with Him forever! Though others may just flow in the stream of life, aimlessly
and without purpose, you have a purpose: TO DO THE WILL OF YOUR FATHER. TO DO
WHAT IT PLEASES HIM. To run the race consistently concentrating not on the
things of this earth, but on the things of above from where your savior, THE
LORD JESUS CHRIST, is coming. There you belong, and there you will be forever.