To Be or Not to Be

The subject for a training meeting at our pastor's house Sunday night was "Do you have a destiny?" Then the same subject surfaced Monday night at a Bible study, unrelated to our church. The scripture, "Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations," Jeremiah 1:5, was read.

"I know these words were given to Jeremiah, but we each  have a ministry, too!" the leader proclaimed.

I also thought of the promise in Jeremiah 29:11, that says, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." Modern translations interpret the words as plans, and a hope and a future. Either way, the idea is that we are created with a purpose in mind.

David writes in Psalm 139, beginning in verse 13, "For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb," and going through verse 18 with assurance of God's awareness and thoughts of him, and even the days planned for him.

In our study, we found that both David and Saul were destined to be kings, but Saul eventually failed and was rejected by God, when David, despite failures, is remembered as being a man after God's own heart!

I think of the story of Esther in the Bible.  In the book by her name, chapter 4, verse 14, her cousin Mordecai is urging her to use her influence as queen to save the lives of her people.  "For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Italics mine.)

Joseph, the son of Jacob, had an insight into his destiny in dreams he had as a youth.  Much trouble came to him before those dreams materialized, when he, as prime minister of Egypt, was able to save his people from famine.  Through all his trials, Joseph stayed true to the Lord, Who was able to use him in his destiny.

The same is true for Daniel, who was carried away to Babylon as a youth, yet maintained an "excellent spirit" and continued his prayers to God three times a day, being used to interpret dreams and becoming a major prophet of the Bible.

Apparently, we are formed with a destiny in God's mind, but it is up to us and our cooperation if our destiny is to be fulfilled.  My husband is fond of telling a true story of a young woman trained in opera, yet owing to life's disappointments, never used her training, until one night, the night she died, she had surprised her fellow nursing home residents with a beautiful opera solo in a special program.  The sad footnote to the story is "Some people go to their graves with the music still in them."  Would that  we all fulfill our God-given destiny!