What is God’s purpose for me?

 

By believing that God is sovereign, I often feel pressed to understand how the events in our world seem so willy-nilly, without logic and certainly out of control. Many of them seem horribly opposite to God’s will and I struggle to understand the PURPOSE He has in mind for allowing them to happen. At the same time, the Bible gives me enough to trust that He knows what He is doing, and enough to know how I can live according to His purpose for me.

I did a run-through on some verses that describe His purpose, will, and plans. Obviously, His ways are not the world’s ways yet His will can be discerned:

Romans 12:2. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Not only that, I am to do whatever I am doing according to His will as Ephesians 6:6 tells me to work, “not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.”

That said, here is an outline of what I found . . .

Job said, “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” The psalmist agreed with, “I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.”

The writer of Proverbs knew that God has reasons for all that is going on and we are not in charge. He said, “The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble” and “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”

The Lord Himself declared, “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand” and “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.” The prophet echoed it in Isaiah 14:26–27:

“This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?”

God also said in Isaiah 55:10–11. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

Such is the power and permanence of God’s purpose and will. Whatever He plans is a done deal! Because of His goodness, I can trust Him, even when I don’t understand what is going on.

Jesus knew the purpose of God, such as: He hid truth “from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.” Jesus also understood the reason He was on this earth . . .

John 12:27. “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.”

John 18:37. Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world — to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

The disciples knew Jesus’ purpose too as they declared that He was “Delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” and “crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

They also knew that God wonderfully works all things together for good, for those who love God, those who are called according to his purpose. We are in the hands of a God whose power has purpose in everything!

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Ephesians 1 repeats the reality that Christians are “predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.” And later, Paul says God’s eternal purpose for the church was that God’s wisdom would be “made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose that He realized in Christ Jesus.”

God plans and rules, not because of our works but “because of his own purpose and grace” yet our lives are also to be lived according to His will. He clearly says in 1 Thessalonians that “This is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality” and “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” The Bible is filled with more examples. All of them tell me that even if suffering as Jesus suffered is included, how important it is to live according to the will of God and fulfill the purpose He has for me.

 

Heaven on earth?

An age-old question asks, “If God is good, why do we have sickness, accidents, disasters…?” For the non-Christian, the answer is that “God is not good,” but for Christians, the answer is much more complex. We know that God is good, so what do we do with evil? How is it to be defined? What causes it? What do we do about it?

Jesus confronted the question before His crucifixion. He was totally innocent of any wrong-doing, but those who hated Him were going to put Him to death. As the man who is God, He said,

Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” (John 12:27)

Jesus knew the purpose of His death. He dreaded the suffering, even sweating blood as He prayed about it. Yet the Bible says, “Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith… for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

Jesus saw beyond the disaster of His unwarranted crucifixion to the plan of God the results that would come of it. Further, He knew that the sin of others was behind this, but instead of railing against them or what they plotted, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

That is our problem. We are so bent on having our own way that we are blind to the consequences of saying ‘yes’ to sin and ‘no’ to God. The greater population does not see or agree that sin is the reason for all the nasty stuff in the world either. We really don’t know what we are doing.

I’ve done it; I’ve blamed God for “allowing” my sin. I’ve also said to my children, “You make me so impatient” when the impatience is my response. Children have no power to make anyone do anything. God did give us the ability to choose. He also offers us Jesus. Instead of doubting the goodness of God, a better question might be, “Why do I sin when God offers me a solution?”

I cannot make others behave the way I want them to behave. When others sin, even against me, Jesus set a pattern of response. He looked beyond the immediate discomfort and pain to the plan and promises of God, and instead of fighting His circumstances, He yielded to them. He could do that because He knew that God “works all things for good to those who love Him” (Romans 8:28) and that God is in charge of disasters.

I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things. (Isaiah 45:7)

One day I will be in a sinless condition and a sinless place. That is why Christ died — that sinners like me could look forward to a very real deliverance from disaster and calamity and from our own sin. In the meantime, I can choose what I do about the mess that is in the world, and about the way I am treated by other sinners.

For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:20–23)

Faith in Christ means more than copying His example. He lives in my heart and gives me that same trust in my Heavenly Father. Because of Jesus, I know that God is just and in control. He has shown me that suffering helps me know two great truths: the depth of my sin and the depth of His forgiveness, grace and mercy. If I were plopped into heaven without either, it would not be heaven but a selfish indulgence.

Wanting a disaster-free world can be a compassion because I hate to see others suffer, but it can also be a sinful desire to be free of everything that hinders me from wanting and having my own way.