OUR ORDAINED LIVES

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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 ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:1-2

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

These words from David echo in my mind as I ponder the unfathomable greatness of God.

Earlier in the Psalm, God’s word speaks about us being known by God in every way. There is no place where we are free from His presence and watchful eye.

We are also reminded that the Lord made us wonderfully, masterfully and perfectly stitching every fiber of our being together when we were conceived and developed in the womb.

Our Lord God Almighty is simply amazing and extraordinary. We need these reminders from the scriptures to remained focused on these truths.

So today, we find out one more incredible fact about God as He applies to our lives. For as with David and other people in the scriptures that we’ll look at in a minute, the days of our lives were ordained by the Lord before any of them came to be.

In other words, the Lord not only has in mind every birth before they happen but He has a set blueprint for every life before it begins. Consider these passages:

The word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”  Jeremiah 1:4-5

The prophet Jeremiah was told by the Lord that he had been ordained to be a prophet. His life had been mapped out well before he was born and God’s plan played out over his life as we read in the book that bears his name.

For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. Galatians 1:13-16

The apostle Paul, like Jeremiah, knew he was set apart by God for the purpose of spreading and suffering for the cause of the Gospel, instituting the Christian church in its infancy to many part of the world during his missionary journeys. As we look at his amazing life, we should be fascinated looking at the blueprint that God used to bring Paul to and through his appointed purpose in Christ Jesus.

When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:12-14

With the Jews facing annihilation in Persia, the devout Jew Mordecai reminds his beloved Esther that the experiences she went through to become queen were not by accident but rather a part of God’s plan to save his people. God had placed her in position to make a difference at the prescribed time or as Mordecai put it, “for such a time as this.” We should remember Esther and her experience with the Lord as we go forth in our ordained lives. For you never know what special purpose God might be calling you for and we need to be ready to trust Him and allow Him to work His good in and through us when the time comes, just as Esther did.

“Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb He has spoken my name.” Isaiah 49:1

These are the prophetic words of Jesus as spoken through the prophet Isaiah. Perhaps there is no greater example than Jesus when we look at how the Lord maps out and ordains our lives toward His purpose and plan. Our Savior was indeed conceived in a supernatural way as the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary with Him and gave Him the name above all names, the name of Jesus, before He was even born. After that, we read about Jesus’ life in the gospels and have to marvel at the complexity of what God used Him for as His plan was played out to its fullest measure. In Jesus, we see the perfect example of an ordained life played out through a man who was perfect in every way to include perfectly obedient.

The result was the gift of salvation and triumph over sin and the grave being available for all mankind.

Now that’s an ordained purpose!

My dear brothers and sisters, have you considered what the Lord has ordained you for? Have you prayed for and sought His special purpose for life?

For no one is here by accident or happenstance but rather for a special divine reason. The Lord has fashioned us and placed us in His creation to play a part in making His glory be known to the world. Every day is set forth and planned by God and so we should embrace this truth and revel in it as the psalmist did when he wrote these words:

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24 (NRSV)

My prayer is that you will do this today and give thanks to the Lord who has ordained your life.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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