I’ve always believed that there was a pre-planned destiny for each of us. The reason for this is my belief that there is a God who creates, animates and binds all things in existence… this happens to include you and me. So therefore, there's a plan for each one of us.
As the Alpha and Omega He's pretty clued in and knows the exact time and place of my death, the woman I marry, the career / job I take, where I will drink my 2 millionth cup of tea and so on. I know this because He knows this. He is all-knowing.
And because all the plans are His, He should be the one to tell us where to go.
And so the battle begins as we try to work out what ’God is saying’. By the way, what an annoying Christian cliche question... "Yeaaaah, but.. what is 'God' saying?" All us Christians have been there with that one. What’s really disturbing to me is that sometimes when I need answers to respond to this, I hear nothing. Zip. Nada.
I have a friend who was in a job that she didn’t know whether to stay in or apply for a particular new one she was considering. When she woke up one morning, an application pack came through the door for the new job which she hadn’t requested or even enquired about. She applied and got the job. I’ll take signs like these any day over my method of opening the bible and letting it fall open at the page with the hope of the answer staring me in the face. Preferably something nice and obvious, like: "and so it was, he traded his donkey and went to a start a new job".
The pressure that comes from staying on 'His path’ is sometimes pretty heavy. Especially when you feel like you might not be where God wants you. Then you wonder if you’ve made an irrevocable wrong turn along the way.
What if I marry the wrong person? That’s bad for me because I just married the wrong person and now the person I was
supposed to marry is marrying someone else who isn’t me and that means
she's marrying the wrong person… A domino effect that ruins everyone‘s life, and it all started with me and my balls-up of a decision.
Thats quite a lot of pressure for anyone!
Here’s the pressure release. We firstly have to believe that if God is good to His word. We need to have faith that where we are is precisely the place He wants us to be. Even if we ended up there by accident or apparent fluke.
Second. God is way more interested in the kind of
person you are becoming rather than where you’re going or what you’re doing. God is way more interested in the increasing likeness to Himself that He sees in you than He is about how successful you are.
Lastly. There is a path called Wisdom. Proverbs is all over wisdom like bees on honey. It refers to it is as the greatest treasure. God did not design us to be mechanical and robotic. The path called wisdom is a path we are all called to walk in order to
make decisions and make them well. Not simply follow a command at every turn. We are called to be wise in our decisions. And as Proverbs says, “whatever you do, do it well”.
I went to university because I wanted to be a writer. That’s what I like doing. Its what I’m half-decent at. I didn’t hear God’s voice and an application pack didn’t appear through my door. Writing is a desire of my heart and seen as God created me - I think that’s a pretty wise reason to pursue it.
Sometimes what we are ‘supposed’ to do and where we are ‘supposed’ to go is just to follow our heart or our instinct (if you will). Make the choice. If you’re in faith and your eyes are fixed on Christ, wherever you end up will be where He wants you.