Apples of Gold
Radio Script for April 3, 2008
“Does God Have a Specific Plan for My Life?”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
What would you say if someone asked you, “Does God have a plan for my life?”
You might say that God created them, and that God’s plan was that they get saved and live for Him.
But then what if they say, “I know all that. But does God have a specific plan, a specific course of action for me to follow?” What would you say?
Well, most of us probably believe God has a specific plan for us, but is that in the Bible?
A lot of people will bring up Jeremiah 29:11 which says, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
Yes, I think that is true for all of us, but, you know, that verse was written specifically to the exiles in Babylon. You really can’t prove that God has a specific plan for everyone based on that.
So anyway, I have searched the Scriptures, and I can’t find a definitive passage that plainly states that God has a specific plan for each person’s life. If you know of one, please let me know.
Yes, God has many general plans that apply to us all. But I’m talking about a specific plan just for me, and a specific plan just for you. Does God have one, and does the Bible say so?
Here is what I found – two main points.
The first point is, God made us, each one, individually. Both Romans 9 and Isaiah 29 indicate that God is the potter and each of us is the clay.
Psalm 119:73 says, “Your hands made me and formed me…” I think that is not only true of that Psalm writer, but it’s true of all of us.
In Jeremiah 1:5, God told the prophet that he “formed” him in his mother’s womb.
Job 31:15 calls God the one who “made me in the womb.”
A longer passage about this was written by David in Psalm 139. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
I think it’s clear that we are not just random accidents of chance in the womb, a product of our parents’ DNA. God takes credit as the potter. He formed and fashioned each of us in the womb.
That means if we are tall or short, dark or light, gifted in one way and not another – the Potter did that.
“But Doug, what about children born with handicaps? Are you saying God did that?”
You know what? We are all handicapped, just in different ways. None of us is the “complete package.” I am handicapped when it comes to painting and drawing. I have seen so-called handicapped people paint masterpieces with their feet, and I can’t even draw a good stickman.
I know it doesn’t sound fair to say that God made someone with a serious handicap. But God’s ways are not our ways, and I believe that He fashioned each of us in the womb. We are, each one, “fearfully and wonderfully made.”
Romans 9:21 says, “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”
Back to Jeremiah 1:5. God specifically told Jeremiah, “…before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Does that mean God has a specific plan just like that for all of us? That verse doesn’t prove it, but we do know this for sure. From the womb, each of us has a unique set of gifts. So we can know this one thing for sure, God specifically created us this certain way.
Obviously God’s plan was not for me to paint the next Sistine Chapel because, from the womb, I had no painting ability. Meanwhile, there are small children who can already paint circles around me because God created them with that gift.
So yes, God has a specific plan for our lives, at least to the point that He formed us each differently in the womb.
Now here’s my second point.
God has a specific plan for us as a part of the body of Christ. First Corinthians 12 goes into great detail about how we are each a specific “body part” and it is God Himself who decided which part we would be. Verse 18 says, “…in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.”
It goes on to talk about how spiritual gifts are divvied up – and it’s not the same for everyone. We are each given gifts that correspond with our part in the body of Christ. Hebrews 2:4 confirms this by saying that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are distributed according to God’s will.
So the question is, “Does God have a specific plan for my life?” which is always followed by the question, “How can I find out what it is?”
The answer is yes, at least to a degree, God has a specific plan for your life. And you can narrow down what it is by looking at how He formed you in the womb, and by discovering your spiritual gifts and your part in the body of Christ.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
I realize the discussion of God forming handicapped children can get deep real fast. What about babies born deformed because their mothers did crack? Did God fashion them that way? In such cases, God allows us all free will, even the free will to harm one another, both in the womb and out.
What about handicaps not caused by anything the mother did? Did God form them? Logically we can’t say that God formed some of us but not all of us. Did He form any of us, or are we all just a result of our parents’ genes, or the wrong sperm getting there first? I rely on the Scriptures that say God is the potter, and that He formed us in the womb. Yes, the free will of our parents, and the fallen nature of our world play a part. But God is the still the potter. Counting that as truth, is there any other logical conclusion but that God formed handicapped children? I don’t understand it, so I lean heavily on the truth that God’s ways are higher than my ways, and that I have a severely handicapped understanding of the big picture of life.
My research on this turned up some wonderful articles from people who work with severely handicapped children. Many of them point out the blessings these children are, how many of them see the world in a much more Christ-like way than “normal” children. Many of them lack the jealousy and envy and cut-throat competitive spirit that “normal” children display. One writer asked, “Which group of children is actually behaving ‘normally?’”
© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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