Our destiny was formed and fashioned in eternity. It continues on into eternity beyond this lifetime, but it is available for us to find here and now.
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book (scroll) were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them! (Ps 139:16-17).
One day we will have to give an account for whether the scroll of our actual life matches up with the scroll of what was God’s plan for us. God has provided all we need for our lives to produce the gold, silver and precious stones which make up our destiny. Wood, hay and stubble will not survive the testing fire.
Here is a definition I found: destiny – the treasure that God has set aside for you, designed you to possess (but it requires a battle and maturity to attain). It will enrich your life and bring you fulfilment based on your unique design and will advance the kingdom of God.
Our design matched with our destiny will bring fulfilment, rather than the futility and frustration we often experience when we are trying to do our own thing.
God chooses you
In biblical culture, the firstborn son had the right to a double inheritance. But God was never bound by that culture. He chose Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, David and Solomon, none of them firstborn; he chose Deborah and Esther, though the culture dictated that they could not inherit at all! Everyone has a destiny, regardless of gender, position or any other worldly measurement, and none of those considerations can hinder us if we pursue it.
Wisdom does not hinder us, but it is not why we are chosen. Strength does not hinder us, but it is not why we are chosen. Position does not hinder us, but it is not why we are chosen.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor 1:25-30).
It is ‘by His doing’. We will not find and fulfil our destiny by intellectual understanding, physical strength or willpower, nor by anything of our own doing, but only by His doing: He has brought us into intimate relationship with Him. And in that intimacy of relationship we are able to see, hear, sense and feel His vision, His voice, His heart. We will never find our destiny if we miss our eternal relationship with our Creator.
To know God is our highest calling and the central focus of our destiny. The first step in our destiny quest is for intimacy with the Lord: getting to know Him – Who He is, what He does, how He thinks, and what He desires; His character, His nature, and His ways. All that can only come by the spirit of revelation.
Close relationship
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words (I Cor 2:12-13).
Even though God is often invisible and inaudible to our physical senses we can still get to know Him by developing our spirit and soul senses. Close relationship with Him is cultivated in exactly the same way human friendships are, through spending time together, communication, vulnerability and sharing our lives.
We have access to the thoughts of God, and the tangible spiritual experience of His emotions, by the spirit of revelation. And when we agree together, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words, there is power in that agreement.
Is that the kind – and the depth – of relationship with Him that we are pursuing? He has opened up the door of access to Himself and is asking us “do you want Me?”
Our invitation
Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity (2 Tim 1:9).
Because of His purpose and His grace, all this was ours long before we ever existed.
He has saved us. ‘Saved’ comes from the Greek word ‘sozo’: to save, to deliver or protect (literally or figuratively), to heal, preserve, to do well, to make whole. Bringing us back into our eternal purpose is what our salvation is all about.
He has called us. ‘Kaleo’ means to call, to bid or to invite. He has invited us to participate with Him in our eternal purpose and destiny.
With a holy calling. Holy is ‘hagios’ – sacred, divine, pure, morally blameless, or consecrated. It is something uniquely designed for us by God. And calling is ‘klesis’, which shares the same root as ‘kaleo’ and means destiny, vocation, invitation.
God saves us, restores us to wholeness and invites us to participate in the pure and holy destiny that was established for us in eternity.
How will we answer that invitation?