You make thousands of decisions in your life but a few of them are turning points and have the power to change your existence.
Birth was the first important turning point of your life. Until then, life had been good. You lived as a little parasite in your mom’s tummy while you ate like the survivor of a minor famine, did a little jogging and karate each day, and slept the majority of the time—kind of like the average teenager during the summer, huh?
One day, though, mama’s body said “That’s it! Out!†And that was a turning point. It didn’t look like it had worked too well because you entered a cold world of blazing light. Immediately this strange man lifted you up by the heels, your head down, and whacked you on the booty. Upon which you yelled with everything within you.
And life has gone downhill since then.
Your decision didn’t have a lot to do with what had happened to you up until that point. It was more mom and dad’s decisions than yours, but since then you’ve faced important choices in life. This time you had to decide and sometimes what your life would be, depended on your choices.
Your life’s work? Study? Who will I marry? Where will I live ?
Some think that everything is decided in advance and what you will choose has already been determined. I’m not convinced of that. There may be ten possible lives standing before you.
I’ve thought at times that I would love to be a football coach. At the moment that my life reached a major turning point, I was preparing to be a journalist. I kidded my friends that I was going to be a foreign correspondent and that I would live in Paris (I thought I was kidding but it looks now like I was prophesying).
Only, there was this “voice,†this tugging in my heart, like the tug of a fish one my line as he tried to run away with my bait. This tugging pulled me in a different direction. When I imagined the future I saw myself as a pastor.
I choose to obey the prompting of this “voice.â€
If God had wanted me to be a football coach or a journalist, I could have served the Lord like that, but that wasn’t God’s plan for me. If the journalist or football coach tried to be a pastor, they wouldn’t fit either. I could have done those things but I don’t think he created me for that, just as he didn’t create the coach to be a pastor (some do both).
God created each of us for a reason.
We need to be doing what we were created to do. Some miss it because they prefer money or an easier life, or want to live somewhere else, or because those around them pressure them in a different direction.
How do you know what God wants ?
Some seem to know from an early age why they’re here and they prepare. It seems most of us find this plan in the middle of living. It doesn’t matter. The most important thing is to prepare yourself right there where you are.
You know what David did before he was king, fullfilling his destiny ? He was a fugitive, leader of a band of outlaws in the desert. Before that? Super-hero warrior! Before that?
Shepherd of a tiny flock of flea-bitten sheep.
When David was a shepherd he didn’t waste his time, dozing under a bush somewhere for most of the day. His herd of sheep was his life. Do a study and see how many times the Bible mentions David’s sheep and his attitude towards them. It’s crazy how faithful he was in that job. And that was a long way from the throne.
David used his day to prepare himself to be a warrior. I can imagine two birds that perched on the limb of a small tree, 50 yards away from him. “Hey Ralph! What’s that little shepherd doing over there?†And suddenly Ralph disappears in an explosion of feathers, victims of a stone from David’s sling. The birds probably stayed away from this shepherd’s camp.
Practice time.
The future king grew in his knowledge of God during this time. I can see Him walking under the stars, communing with his Maker and thinking about His Word. He was gathering strength for the man he was becoming.
While he fought lions and bears, he didn’t realize he was getting ready to fight giants.
While he tended a flock of sheep hidden somewhere in the desert, he didn’t know that God was getting him ready to be the shepherd of a whole nation.
He just did his best in whatever situation he found himself, knowing that God would bring those dreams churning around in his heart, to pass.
Lots of people think, “When I know God’s will, I’ll do it with all my heart ! No, if you don’t do the thing before you with zeal, you may not be passionate about accomplishing God’s destiny for your life later on.
“Who, then, are those who fear the Lord? He will instruct them in the ways they should choose. They will spend their days in prosperity, and their descendants will inherit the land.” Ps 25:12, 13 NIV
One day, the turning point day came for David. It was called Goliath!
We look forward to our day of destiny but when it arrives it may be scary. I try to imagine how it would be to look down in the valley and see a nine-foot tall man booming, “Give me a man so that we may fight.â€
Yeah.
I would have been tempted to pass on that one. David didn’t have anything to prove. He wasn’t a soldier. It wasn’t his war. But, it was His God who was being insulted. He knew this God. He talked to Him all the time in the desert and his faced glowed red with anger at the giant’s insults to God and His people.
If he had let the moment pass, we may have never heard of him. He was ready so he went out and jumped into his destiny.
You make all kinds of choices in life. Sometimes these choices are turning points. Be ready for the moment.
God challenges you today. Don’t say you’re too young or too old. Are you going to obey Jesus or are you going to camp in your corner, afraid to seize your destiny?
Your choices are so important.
What about that choice before you now: marriage partner, calling for your life, where will you live, do pick up that challenge or not? Sometimes the rest of our life depends on our choice. Seek God’s will with all your heart.