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Does God have a plan for my life?

Absolutely! First, the Lord desires for you to be saved (1 Tim 2:4). Then, to preach the gospel (Acts 5:29) and make disciples (Mat 28:16-20). To be like him (Rom 8:29). To walk in the Spirit (Gal 5:16-25). To be one with him (John 17:20-21; Eph 1:3-4). To resurrect your dead body at the end of the age, just as Jesus received a glorious resurrected body after his death (Rom 8:11; Phil 3:21), so that even death will be defeated. This list could go on to greater detail.

These are all part of God’s grand overarching plan – his Macro-plan, if you will. This plan is eternal (Eph 3:11) and unchanging (Heb 6:17), will surely happen (Job 42:2; Isa 14:27) and are for us as a collective (Rom 11:2). You’re invited to participate and join the elect. Joining God’s team ensures you will (or are predestined to) have all of these things.

But does God have micro-plans, as it were: such as yearly goals for your personal development, a short-term mission for you to accomplish, or daily divine-appointments to anticipate and participate in? Is God’s providential control over the affairs of men as prescribed on the individual level as it is on the corporate level? Is there a blueprint for your future that would be for you a calling in the here and now? In other words…

Is the book of your life pre-written in heaven?

It’s clear enough that God has plans for individuals as well as collectives. Think of the many people in the Bible whom God had plans for. Such as Abraham, whom God called to leave his homeland and be the father of nations. Consider Moses, for whom God had planned would be a deliverer to his people who were slaves in Egypt. Consider Jeremiah, whom God foreknew and appointed a prophet before he was formed in the womb (Jer 1:5). Consider David, anointed to be King over Israel.

Speaking of David, he was the one who wrote;

“The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.” – Psalm 138:8.

In the next psalm David extols the excellence of God’s knowledge with poetic imagery. “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” – Psalm 139:16.

God even knows what you’ll say before you say it (Ps. 139:4). Many other scriptures attest to God’s perfect knowledge of the future (Isa 46:10; 42:9; 44:7; 1 Sam 23:10-13) So it’s clear that God knows everything that will happen in your life before it happens – even before you choose it. So in a way, the answer is yes – God does have his plans pre-written for your life. But is this really God’s plan?

Peter is interesting. Jesus knew what he would do – betray him (John 18:15-27), and later, after his resurrection, forgives him (John 21:15-25). This shows that the content of God’s knowledge and his preferences for your actions may not be identical. See Luke 7:30 for another example. God can have an idea about what you should do, yet know it’s not what you will do. Herod and Pontius Pilate (Acts 4:28) are two clear examples of people not doing what they should have done – according to the moral preferences of God, but nevertheless acted as they chose in accord with the prior knowledge of God.

Jesus is, as always, an excellent example. In Acts 2:23 Peter refers to Jesus – an individual – as someone whom God had a definite plan for and even foreknowledge of. The scriptures also affirm that Jesus chose the suffering and rejection that awaited him in Jerusalem (John 10:17-18; Luke 9:51). Jesus was predestined and he freely chose to die when he lovingly gave his life so that we may live.

Paul also saw his Damascus road conversion as both foreordained (Gal 1:15) and his own choice (Acts 26:19).

According to Ephesians 2:10 God has prepared in advance good works for us to do. Is this God’s “plan” for us? Of course! He wants us to do the good works he has prepared for us to do. But whether we do or not? Well, that is up to us.

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