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Dr. Harold J. Sala
“Show me, O LORD,
my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my
life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as
nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath.” Psalm 39:4-5
Life is not a
matter of chance or fate.
Winning is not the
equivalent of standing in front of a slot machine when you feel lucky, or
picking the right five or seven numbers in the lottery.
Some 3,000 years ago David wrote, “My frame was not hidden
from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the
depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained
for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:15,16).
David’s contention
was that even before he was born, God had a plan and a purpose for his
life.
A paraphrase puts it like this: “You saw me before I was born
and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was
recorded in your book!” (Psalm 139:16, Living Bible).
If David was right,
then God’s purpose for your life began even before you were born, and the fact
that God has a plan indicates two things: no random development, and
intelligent design by the Creator who knows even the end of your life from the
beginning.
The bottom line is
that, having been made in the image of God, you were created for Him,
and by Him, and to fulfill His purpose.
David talked about
being knit together, or literally being woven together in his mother’s
womb.
Only in recent days
have we gained a deeper understanding of what this means through scans,
ultra-sounds and a variety of others tests, and an understanding of how babies
develop prior to birth.
Here’s the
scenario. At conception over 200 million sperm compete with each other to
fertilize an ovum as two people come together.
Keep in mind that
200 million represents more than the population of most countries, but of these
200 million, only one succeeds.
At conception,
there is one perfect cell which begins to divide and multiply.
By the time you
were born, your body had 26 billion cells that made you an original, without
duplication unless you should happen to be an identical twin.
When that original
cell was formed, it contained 23 chromosomes from each parent — a male and a
female, and these united, making you YOU.
But attached to
each chromosome were literally thousands of genes, only four percent of which
are utilized, and these determined your genetic make-up: the color of your
eyes, the texture of your skin, the frame you have, whether you are tall or
short, whether you can eat anything you want in your life and always be thin or
struggle with weight.
Like two giant
rivers which merged, your genetic code made you the person you are, and (are
you ready for this), the Bible says that all of this is not a matter of random
choice but the determination of God whose plan for your life began before you
were born.
The fact that God
is personal and that He does have a will for you takes away the feeling that
you are a mistake, a failure, an accident which shouldn’t have happened.
The implications of
God having a plan for our lives are tremendous. No, you are not a
mistake.
No, you are not a
person who should never have been born, the abortion that didn’t succeed, the
offspring of someone who didn’t want to father a child.
You were created in
the image of God whose vocabulary doesn’t have the word illegitimate — only
child, only a son or a daughter.
Because life is
sacred, there are some powerful implications.
Resource
reading: Psalm 139:1-24
Are you
passionate about sharing the love of Jesus with the world?
People
all over the world are living in darkness and desperate for hope. You can help
transform their lives by introducing them to God. And you can make an impact
right where you are.
Whatever
your skills, resources, or time that you have, Guidelines has multiple
ways for you to get involved and change lives around the world.
Harold
J. Sala
is founder and president of Guidelines International, Inc., a ministry
communicating the message of Jesus Christ so that people come to faith in the
Lord and believers are discipled and strengthened.
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