Tapestryনমুনা

Destiny: The Design Emerges

While we may one day have some of the answers, we may never see the full picture, the beautiful tapestry that God has designed (and, as Ephesians 2:10 states, laid out for us long ago). However, we CAN rest assured that God has a plan, a purpose, a destiny for us; we see this in both Psalm 57:2 and Psalm 138:8! He wants to use our lives and our stories to make an impact for eternity. Not just today and tomorrow: ETERNITY. How does it feel knowing that God can and will use you to impact others forever, that you can do something good with your life that God will never forget?

We all make decisions in life that can determine our destiny. We may mistakenly think that our purpose is our destiny; although they are tied together, they are two separate things. Often, people will miss the divine plan and the purpose that God has placed before them because they are not looking for it or do not recognize it as part of God's plan for their lives. Another reason we can miss the divine plan is that we focus on the pain of the past, the brokenness, and the hardships we have endured. We complain about the negative things that have happened rather than spend time focusing on the blessings we have received. Our attitudes affect what God can do in us and may eventually thwart our destiny.

Throughout the Word of God, we see men and women of destiny who were adopted and grew to adulthood outside their biological families. They were people who knew that God had a predetermined plan for them to follow and a bigger, better plan than they could ever put in place themselves, even if they did not know how that plan would unfold, what would be their next purpose, or what thread God was weaving into their tapestry.

From the moment Moses was born and adopted into Pharaoh’s household, God had a plan (Exodus 2). It was only after Moses spent years on the back side of a desert and saw a burning bush not consumed by the fire that Moses began to see part of God’s plan unfold. As a result of this moment in time, Moses was responsible for saving the entire nation of Israel.

After the death of her parents, Esther was adopted into her uncle's home and then taken into the king’s house to become a part of his household. She became a favored queen and was put into that place to save her people. When a plan was put into action to destroy her people, she was in a place to help save them. Her uncle, who had raised her, told her that she had been placed there and that the destiny of God was culminating, “For such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

As a young child, Samuel was given to the house of Eli, the prophet, so that he could be raised as one of God’s servants. His barren mother promised God that if He gave her a child, she would give him back to God. Part of Samuel’s destiny was to establish the monarchy of the nation of Israel and to bring righteousness back into the kingdom (1 and 2 Samuel).

Joseph adopted Jesus when Mary found she was pregnant with the Son of God (Matthew 1:17-19). His destiny as a God-man was to bring salvation to the entire human race.

God’s plan of destiny affected these people's lives, but of all these examples, only Jesus truly understood the destiny that God had placed on his life. Although we may have a sense of God’s destiny for us, we may never fully understand or define it, BUT the fact that we may not know does not change the fact that God always has a plan, a purpose, and a destiny.