Yesterday while eating breakfast with long-term authors and biblical counselors Howard Eyrich and Joe Propri, we discussed a special verse in Psalm 139. The breakfast conversation stayed with me throughout the day and provides an encouraging reminder about this day – your day.
Psalm 139
In Psalm 139, the psalmist David considers his day and God’s presence in it. As he thinks through God’s presence, his spirit turns from discouraged to encouraged. Toward the end of the psalm, he makes the following observation:
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them. (Psalm 139:16)
For the sake of making sure you read the verse right, notice this again…
All the days ordained for me
were recorded in your book
before one of them came into existence.
Friends, the text highlights the sovereignty of God, which, as I describe below, provides an encouraging reminder about this day.
God saw you when you were formless – in the womb. All your days were written in His book and planned before a single one of them began. Before you lived one second on earth, God had your life already recorded in His sovereign plan in heaven.
Again, this provides an incredible and encouraging reminder about this day and every day. Let me explain.
An Encouraging Reminder about This Day
The text highlights the following implications which together provide you an incredible amount of hope and encouragement.
God is sovereign and has a plan.
It reminds us that God is sovereign and has a plan. God’s plan includes our entire lives before we ever live one day. God functions both in time and outside of time. His sovereignty and your life both connect in His character. If you say this is hard to understand totally, then yes. Join the millions of others – like our psalmist David here – who do not completely understand it, but ultimately are grateful for God’s sovereignty.
We know the author of the story.
Thankfully, we know the character of the author of the book. Every one of your days are listed in God’s book. It would be nice to know what comes next; however, that is impossible. Yet, thankfully, we know the author of the story. We know His character. Friends, we can rejoice that God is too loving to be unkind and too gracious to be unloving.
This teaching does not eliminate human choice.
This teaching does not eliminate or erase human choice however. Over and over, the Bible commands that we choose to live holy, make right choices, and do what honors the Lord (cf., 1 Peter 1:14-16; 1 Cor 10:31; John 14:15). God’s sovereignty does not mitigate human freedom. In His sovereign plan, it includes your freedom. For this reason, we can rejoice in Romans 8:28 which states, “All things work together for good…”
We know the end of the story.
Remember, we know the end of the story. As a follower of Jesus, the end of the story is secure and great! You go to heaven and spend eternity with Jesus. I mentioned this recently in another blog (What Do You Think Lazarus Would Say?). Do you think that Lazarus would be in heaven 2,000 years later wondering why he didn’t get everything he wanted while on earth, or do you think the glories of heaven this many days later would put his momentary trials in perspective?
You live today for the glory of God, but realize tomorrow is a different page on the story.
Please do not miss this. Although we do not know what is on our path today or what is written on today’s page, we do know that today’s page is limited. This chapter is limited as well. Whatever is our portion or on our plate today, tomorrow turns the page, brings a new page, and possibly a new chapter. We recognize that God limits today, controls our portion, and provides us grace to honor Him whatever we go through today (cf. 1 Cor 10:13). Therefore, I can focus simply on today and realize that although I do not know the future, I do know the end of the story. God wins. I do too. So do you if you have a relationship with Him. For that, my friends, we can rejoice.
An Encouraging Reminder about This Day – A New Page Tomorrow
Whatever you face today, God provides you the grace to face it, honor Him in it, and persevere through it. At the end of today, you turn the page in God’s book for another day. God provides you everything you need then as well. And, at some point, you reach the end of the book. The ending is so sweet that it makes the difficulties in today seem lighter. When you know the end of the story, all the difficulties in the midst of the narrative have perspective. Although in moment things may be tough, you see those things in light of the end. God wins. You win too. For eternity we will live in celebration, peace, health, sinless. That’s the end of the story though. Today, we need to live out today’s page for His glory.
Image Credit Hanny Naibaho
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