5/7/2023
Turn with me to Proverbs 16:4. This is our verse to study and memorize this week.
Proverbs 16:4 The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil.
Introduction
In the first 9 verses of this chapter all but one of them specifically reference the Lord. The focus here is on the Lord’s sovereignty over the plans and ways of mankind. This is one of the first truths that we will need to learn to have wisdom.
Last time we saw from verse 1 that the wise person seeks out the right answer from the Lord as they plan. In verse 2 we saw that in our sinful flesh we will tend to justify and excuse ourselves for our sin. Since God will judge us and our motives we need to humbly let the truth of God’s Word—with its evaluation of right and wrong— truly reveal our sin for what it is. Then in verse 3 we saw that when we align our life and purpose with God’s purpose for us our way is established. Therefore we must continually commit our plans and lives to Him.
As we now turn to look at verse 4 we will see another very important reason for going to God’s wisdom for our plans and way of life.
4 The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil.
God has designed everything for a reason and will accomplish all His purposes for His creation.
In our world today the truth of this proverb is often ignored. By cutting God and His purpose for their lives out of the equation people have left themselves with no true purpose for their existence. Because of that they resort to making one up for their lives. Even many Christians, or people that call themselves Christians, do this. They do not know God’s purpose for their lives or they ignore it. So they flounder around for something else to make their purpose. They pursue pleasure—drugs, alcohol, sex, sports, games, music, movies. They pursue things— more money, land, houses, cars, boats, ATV’s, RV’s, bigger TV’s, more electronics, gadgets, tools, etc. They pursue self-seeking power and authority—within their families and jobs, within the government and politically, within the military and physically. They make the pursuit of these things their true goal. It becomes the god of their lives.
Yet, none of those things in themselves can bring fulfillment and true, lasting satisfaction. They can bring a temporary pleasure or a novelty that distracts us for a time, but they do not fulfill the purpose for which we were created. When we deny the main purpose for which God has made us—to glorify and enjoy Him— we eliminate our ability to fulfill the very reason for our existence. The more we deny God’s purposes in different aspects of our lives in relation to our work, our family life, our marriage, our sexuality, and even our very gender the further we push ourselves from being able to carry out God’s good and perfect design for our existence.
As all of those things are called into question and made optional to the whim of every changing fancy, our lives will fracture around us. We were not designed for distortions from God’s perfect plan for us. That produces stress, chaos, discordance, dissatisfaction, and an endless pursuit of something more which somehow might be fulfilling. Yet it is not.
The farther we go from God’s purposes in the various areas of our lives the worse it becomes. Ignoring the fact that God Himself has made everything for specific purposes that He designed will only lead to the breakdown of our lives. Unless, we turn back to His purpose for our lives we are on an inevitable, hopeless path. The denial of reality leads nowhere good. It does not change reality. It just destroys us.
On the other hand, when we are going to God for our purpose in life this is a very comforting and exciting proverb. It is packed with truth that has profound implications. This proverb lets us know that there is a specific purpose for each of our lives. We do not have to flounder around looking for it ceaselessly. We do not have to struggle between all the competing voices of people around us telling us what matters and how to live. We can go to the wisdom of God’s Word and see it for ourselves.
This proverb also lets us know that even in this broken world God is still completely sovereign. It lets us know that God’s plan is still going to be accomplished. It lets us know that God’s sovereignty and purpose encompasses even the wickedness of evildoers. It lets us know that there are no exceptions which will keep His specific purposes from being accomplished. The wickedness of sinners will not be gotten away with. They may ignore certain aspects of His general purposes for a time, but they cannot outrun them. This proverb lets us know that God has an appointed time of justice when the wicked will receive the consequences of their evil in His judgment of them. Though it may look like they can get away with flouting His purpose and design for their lives, that is not the case.
In the end every knee will bow to God. We can glorify Him now by going to Jesus for life, forgiveness of sin, reconciliation to God, and purpose. Or we can glorify Him when we bend the knee and receive the justice of our sin in eternity (Philippians 2:9-11, Psalm 2:6-11). We will fulfill God’s purpose for our lives one way or another. It will either be through being saved from our sin and given new life in Jesus, or through being judged for our sin in the lake of fire. Both magnify the goodness, love, justice, mercy, grace, holiness and other attributes of God. They just do it in opposite ways.
While it may be clearer that God’s love, mercy, and grace are magnified through the salvation of sinners by Jesus, it is also true that His righteousness, justice, and holiness are also exalted by the satisfaction of those attributes in Jesus taking our punishment for us on the cross. While being loving and merciful, God is also being just and holy. Likewise, while it may seem more evident that God’s justice, holiness, and righteousness are satisfied in the judgment of sinners, His love, mercy, and grace are also present in having delayed His judgment for a time, in allowing them to experience aspects of His common grace, and in judging their sin. In finally dealing with it God does not allow it to bring pain and destruction on His creation any longer. That is love, mercy, and grace upon everyone and everything which has been experiencing the oppression of their sin (Romans 8:18-23).
Thus God has perfect purposes for all that He has designed. He will bring everything to its right and fitting conclusion. Even in our sinful rebellion against Him and in our ruination of His good creation He will turn what was meant for evil to accomplish His good purposes. He is not the author of evil, but He has allowed it for a time while He turns things around to redeem some. In His sovereignty He has amazingly ensured that nothing will ultimately escape His good purposes. In both His merciful redemption and in His just judgment His good plan will be completed. His goodness will be glorified.
Scriptural Example: In Scripture we see some glimpses of this in the book of Habakkuk. In the first chapter we learn that the prophet Habakkuk had been crying out to God because of the wickedness and injustice that was occurring in Judah. God’s response, though, was not quite what he expected or hoped. God was going to use the notoriously wicked Chaldeans to judge Judah. Habakkuk did not understand why God would use an even more wicked nation to judge Judah’s sin. So he humbly asked God to help him understand why He would do that. God let Habakkuk know that this judgment He was going to inflict on Judah through the Chaldeans was not the end of the story. God would not only judge the proud Judeans, but after that He would also judge the proud Chaldeans.
Indeed, in the anger of God against sin, Habakkuk 3:12 says that He would march through the earth and trample all the nations. None will escape God’s justice. In His time and way He will deal with all sin. With all of that, God also said in Habakkuk 3:13 that He would bring forth the salvation of His people. They would not be forgotten or completely destroyed. God would still fulfill His promises.
God has a purpose in all that He makes and allows. Sometimes God even uses the wicked as part of the means of accomplishing His purposes. He has allowed mankind to rebel against Him with their sin. Yet, that does not thwart His purposes. Their ultimate judgment shows His righteous justice upon sin. It glorifies Him as the sovereign, holy, good, God that He is. Meanwhile, though, He also uses the wicked in connection with other parts of His purposes. In this case God used the Chaldeans to deal with Judah’s sin to teach them not to pursue idolatry.
Jonah would be another example of this. God had made him for a purpose. Part of the way that he was supposed to glorify God was to proclaim God’s Word to people. He was a prophet. He did that for a while. But when God told him to go to Nineveh and proclaim God’s coming judgment on that city he would not go. He did not want this archenemy of Israel to have any chance of repentance. So he flouted God’s command. He got on a boat and went the opposite direction from Nineveh.
God used a mighty storm to stop him in his tracks, to confront him publicly with what he was doing, and to get him back to fulfilling God’s purposes. God rescued him with the fish and gave him some dark solitude to mull over his defiance of God. God wanted to radically change the city of Nineveh. He wanted to bring them to repentance. That was His purpose for that generation. God was going to accomplish His purpose one way or another. And He did. Jonah went. He proclaimed God’s impending judgment. The people of Nineveh repented. God spared them from His judgment.
God also taught Jonah a lesson, and made sure that it was recorded for all time for us to learn from. God is sovereign. We are not. God is in control of everything. We are not. God has a purpose for our lives. We will carry it out one way or another whether in our lives or in our death. Even in our defiance of Him He will still ultimately have His way. We cannot outrun Him. How much better it is to bend the knee now and serve Him faithfully.
Proverb in Comparison: When we look at the rest of Scripture we see that it has a lot to say about God’s sovereign purposes. The book of Job provides some foundational principles.
In Job 38-41 God confronted Job for his pride in wanting to reprove God for allowing all of his suffering (cf. Job 19:6, 23:3-8, 40:2, 8). After these direct rebukes from God out of the midst of a whirlwind and then a storm Job was humbled and became teachable. This is what he learned:
Job 42:1-6 Then Job answered the LORD and said, 2 “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. 3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ “Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.” 4 ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ 5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; 6 Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.”
He realized that God was absolutely sovereign in all of His purposes. He also realized that God was good. His accusations against God were wrong. He did not understand the fullness of God’s actions. Many of God’s actions were beyond Job’s comprehension and understanding unless God were to explain them to him. When confronted by God Job was humbled. He repented of his pride and accusations against God. Job had been faithful to live out God’s revealed purposes for the way one was to walk in God’s redeemed way of life, but he failed in trusting God’s overall good sovereign purposes in these trials.
God has individual purposes for our lives, and He also has purposes that He is working out for all of history and all nations. God’s purposes for how we are to live and trust Him has been made clear in Scripture. But the specific “why” for many of our individual experiences and how exactly many of our trials fit into His overall purposes is often not clear. In these areas we must learn to trust that He has good and perfect plans which will all be fully accomplished.
Likewise, on the broader scale Scripture proclaims many of God’s overall purposes for history. He will build His church from people of every nation. Jesus is preparing us a place to come live with Him. Jesus will return and judge this world. God will institute His coming kingdom. He will eternally judge Satan, his demons, and all unbelievers in the lake of fire. Yet the exact details are often hidden from our understanding of what, when, how, and why He is doing specific things and allowing them on the national scenes right now. In these areas, just like with our personal lives, we must learn to trust that He has good and perfect purposes which will all be fully accomplished.
Because of all this, on both the personal level and on the national level, we should continue to faithfully study God’s Word so that we better understand all of His purposes for us which He has taken the time to declare to us.
Understanding that God has specific purposes both for our lives and for our nations in history—which will not be thwarted—is very important for us to see. If we really believe that “the LORD has made everything for its own purpose, Even the wicked for the day of evil” it will really encourage and embolden us in our daily lives. It will help us in trusting Him with our current situations, whether individually or nationally. So let’s take a bit of a deeper look at some of the specific places in Scripture that God talks about His “purpose” for our lives and existence.
On the larger scale of things Micah 4 presents a picture of God’s future for Israel and the nations. It covers many aspects in its prophecy. We see God’s final judgments in the last days and the establishment of His glorious kingdom. We see Judah’s exile in Babylon, God’s rescue of them, their redemption, the judgment of the nations, and His final purpose in that judgment.
Micah 4:1-13 And it will come about in the last days That the mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, And the peoples will stream to it. 2 Many nations will come and say, “Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD And to the house of the God of Jacob, That He may teach us about His ways And that we may walk in His paths.” For from Zion will go forth the law, Even the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 3 And He will judge between many peoples And render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they train for war. 4 Each of them will sit under his vine And under his fig tree, With no one to make them afraid, For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.
Given these coming realities God declared how Judah ought to then live in the present.
5 Though all the peoples walk Each in the name of his god, As for us, we will walk In the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.
Just like the faithful remnant of Judah, that is how we too ought to respond to knowing what God is going to do in the future. The next verses continue talking about God’s larger purposes in history.
6 “In that day,” declares the LORD, “I will assemble the lame And gather the outcasts, Even those whom I have afflicted. 7 “I will make the lame a remnant And the outcasts a strong nation, And the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion From now on and forever. 8 “As for you, tower of the flock, Hill of the daughter of Zion, To you it will come—Even the former dominion will come, The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. 9 “Now, why do you cry out loudly? Is there no king among you, Or has your counselor perished, That agony has gripped you like a woman in childbirth? 10 “Writhe and labor to give birth, Daughter of Zion, Like a woman in childbirth; For now you will go out of the city, Dwell in the field, And go to Babylon. There you will be rescued; There the LORD will redeem you From the hand of your enemies. 11 “And now many nations have been assembled against you Who say, ‘Let her be polluted, And let our eyes gloat over Zion.’ 12 “But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD, And they do not understand His purpose; For He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor. 13 “Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, For your horn I will make iron And your hoofs I will make bronze, That you may pulverize many peoples, That you may devote to the LORD their unjust gain And their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
Judah would indeed go into exile, but the final outcome would be God’s reassembling of a remnant that God would reign over forever in Mount Zion. This has not yet happened in its fullness. Yet it will. The chapter ends with an acknowledgement that in the midst of it many would not understand God’s purposes. Regardless, God will bring them all about. All of creation should be dedicated to the glory of the Lord. Through Israel all the unjust gains of the nations, all of the wealth of creation, will one day again be devoted to the Lord. God will bring all of His purposes to complete fulfillment. Isaiah 46:3-13 reiterates this.
Isaiah 46:3-13 “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, You who have been borne by Me from birth And have been carried from the womb; 4 Even to your old age I will be the same, And even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; And I will bear you and I will deliver you. 5 “To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal and compare Me, That we would be alike? 6 “Those who lavish gold from the purse And weigh silver on the scale Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; They bow down, indeed they worship it. 7 “They lift it upon the shoulder and carry it; They set it in its place and it stands there. It does not move from its place. Though one may cry to it, it cannot answer; It cannot deliver him from his distress. 8 “Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind, you transgressors. 9 “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’; 11 Calling a bird of prey from the east, The man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it. 12 “Listen to Me, you stubborn-minded, Who are far from righteousness. 13 “I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off; And My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion, And My glory for Israel.
God will fulfill all of His purposes and promises to Israel, the nations, and His church. He is not like the false gods which are the works of man’s hands. He is God. There is none like Him. From our vantage point in history we see how He has partially fulfilled this in bringing His Messiah, Jesus, to bring spiritual salvation. He will also fulfill the rest of His good pleasure among the nations when He judges the world and institutes His direct dominion over all things. His purposes will be accomplished among the nations.
Another thing that we must realize is that God’s purposes and plans for creation do not stop with us as individuals, nor even with the nations. It extends beyond that to Satan and the spiritual world that we cannot see and do not understand very well. Listen to what God said in 1 John about that.
1 John 3:8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
If we are not careful we can get a very shortsighted and self-focused view of God’s purposes in history. We are not the center of God’s purposes. He is. Nor are we the only ones who have sinned against Him. Satan and his fallen angels also have. God’s plan encompasses dealing with all sin, and with all of those among His creation who have rebelled against Him.
Because of this reality, all those who trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior and have thus been freed from their slavery to sin and Satan become Satan’s enemies. We must realize this so that we also understand that our struggle in this life is not really against flesh and blood. It is against the spiritual forces of darkness whose works are in the process of being destroyed by Jesus. Since the devil continues to scheme against God we must put on the full armor of God to resist him as Ephesians 6:10-20 tells us.
Having understood some of the scope of these large national and universal (or spiritual) aspects of God’s purposes, it is also very important for us to understand that God’s sovereign purposes also include each and every one of us as individuals. When Proverbs 16:4 says that God has made everything for its own purpose it means everything. That there are no exceptions to this is emphasized even more when it says that this includes “even the wicked for the day of evil.” Luke 7:30 records an instance of this.
Luke 7:30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John.
Though they rejected God’s good purpose for themselves they could not reject His ultimate purposes. God used them to bring Jesus to the cross. Jesus willingly submitted to their evil designs. In so doing He accomplished His purpose of taking the sin of all who would believe on Him upon Himself and giving those believers His righteousness. Thus, despite the religious leaders defiantly rejecting God’s good purposes in offering the kingdom to Israel to them at that time God still accomplished His purpose of bringing salvation to the world. Meanwhile God is still saving a remnant from Israel, and setting the stage for the future redemption of all Israel when they will receive the kingdom. God’s purposes will not be thwarted. God will also still fully accomplish His purpose for those wicked leaders to bring Himself glory. Ultimately they will bow the knee before Him at the final judgment.
Acts 4:27-31 notes God’s predestined purposes at work despite the defiance of many people. It does so in the midst of a prayer from the early church after they had experienced some persecution.
Acts 4:27-31 “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. 29 “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, 30 while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
God used the people’s wicked actions against Jesus to accomplish the predestined purpose that He had for Jesus’ atoning redemption. Because these believers knew the way God had worked in, through, and despite the wickedness of evildoers in the past it was a great encouragement to them to take their current situation to the Lord. Knowing God’s purposes would come to pass enabled them to boldly pursue God’s purposes for their lives. They mightily proclaimed Jesus as Savior and Lord regardless of opposition.
Truth in Connection: This too is our reality. Since God is for us, it does not matter who is against us. We can confidently expect that God will fully work out His purposes through us regardless of who might be against us. We just need to be faithful and trust God. He will accomplish His purposes with or without us—and even despite us if need be. So may we boldly trust Him and courageously seek out our part in His purposes of making disciples of all nations. Notice Acts 13:36.
Acts 13:36 “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers and underwent decay;
God had a purpose specifically for David in his own generation. God also has a specific purpose for you and me in our generation. Indeed, the Lord has made everything for its own purpose. But how do we know what it is? Look at Acts 20:27.
Acts 20:27 “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.
We can know God’s purpose for our lives through His Word. God had His Word carefully written and preserved for all generations so that we could know it and trust Him for it. In the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus specifically commanded that we teach all that He commanded to new disciples. This is how we know God’s purposes for each area of our lives and for each situation that we face. As we pursue living in God’s purpose for our lives He then gives us this encouragement in Romans 8:28.
Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
God is sovereignly working in all situations to bring about good for those who love Him. He has specifically called us, predestined us, and saved us. He is working all things out for good. He will bring about all of His purposes. When we know this and are resting in this truth we can then boldly walk in those purposes and trust Him throughout whatever we experience. No matter what happens nothing will be able to separate us from His love as Romans 8 concludes by saying. Why is this true? Because it is part of God’s sovereign purpose which He had for us from His very creation of all things.
The very next chapter of Romans expounds on this further. Like our proverb it extends God’s sovereign purposes to everyone, including the wicked. Notice carefully what it says in Romans 9:11-24.
Romans 9:11-24 for though the twins [Jacob and Esau] were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.” 13 Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” 14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! 15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” 16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” 18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
God’s Word is consistent. God is sovereign. God is good. God is just. God is love. God is holy. God will accomplish all His purposes for both the wicked and those He makes righteous. To some this could be disconcerting. We must understand, that because of Adam’s sin we are all born spiritually dead to God (Romans 5:12-14, Ephesians 2). Thus all of us are slaves to our sin. We will not and cannot choose anything else. We will never on our own choose righteousness and faith in Jesus. Thus by default, apart from the merciful choice of God, we are all vessels of wrath who will receive the righteous judgment of God. We will glorify God through the demonstration of His justice. That is only fair and right.
Thanks be to God, though, for His abundant mercy. Yet, make no mistake, that mercy is in full accordance with His predestined purpose and choice of those He would save. He made that purposeful choice from before the foundation of the world as Ephesians 1:4 says, “He chose us in Him (Jesus) before the foundation of the world.” Revelation 13:8, and 17:8 reiterate that. Truly, God has made everything for its own purpose. (cf. Mathew 24:22, 24, 31; Mark 13:20; John 15:16, 19; Ephesians 1:5, 11)
Those upon whom God has mercy only receive that mercy because God has chosen to spiritually raise them from the dead. In that new life from Him they truly see, they truly want, and they truly trust in God’s way of redemption in Jesus. Every aspect of our salvation, even the faith which we have to believe, is itself a gift from God as Ephesians 2:8 says.
Therefore, in both situations of judgment and mercy, God always righteously and justly receives the glory. His purposes are accomplished. Since we all deserve God’s eternal judgment, no one has a right to talk back to Him about it. That He has made a way of salvation at His own expense on the cross is an amazing undeserved demonstration of His love and goodness. Yet even that by itself would not be enough for any of us to trust Him. He has to raise us from the dead so that we see and want to receive that love. He has to draw us to Him (John 6:44). Otherwise, we would all remain defiant against Him in our sin.
Thus, as our proverb tells us, God has made everything for its own purpose. Nothing and no one will escape that. He will bring about the completion of those purposes. He will receive glory from every one of us. Even the wicked who have been prepared for the day of evil will ultimately bow the knee to Him and bring Him glory.
Conclusion
What does this all then mean for our lives? If you are here today, and you see your sin, and you realize that the purposes you have been living for in your life are not the good and perfect purposes of God, but rather the self-destructive purposes of sin, then I would urge you. Trust in Jesus for God’s perfect, good purposes. If you see your need for Him and want His love with the reconciliation to God that Jesus gives, then surrender your life to Him and trust Him. He is working in your heart to enable you to see your need and to see the amazing-ness of His love in Jesus. He is opening your eyes to call you to the one and only way that you can fulfill the original purpose for which He designed you. Do not be deceived any longer by the lies of the devil. We cannot make up our own satisfying, fulfilling, eternal purpose. We must go to our Creator for that purpose. The devil cannot give it. He will only drag you down to the lake of fire. Jesus came to destroy his works and his doom is certain. Trust in Jesus. Bow the knee to Him now and walk in God’s purpose for you: to glorify and enjoy Him forever.
If you have trusted in God for His purpose for you, then be sure that you are continuing to walk in it. Boldly trust Him and His purpose for you. Do not let anything distract or discourage you from it. Seek out the further details of it from God’s Word. Live for God’s glory. Ephesians 1:9-14 put it well:
Ephesians 1:9-14 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, 12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. (See also 2 Corinthians 5:1-15, Ephesians 3:8-21, 2 Timothy 1:7-12, and 1 Peter 2:21-25.)
We are to be to the praise of God’s glory. That is what God is redeeming us for. Within that we have an eternal inheritance from God and a set purpose for our lives here and now. The way we live should boldly be within God’s purpose. May God’s glory be what we each live for in every aspect of our lives. Selah.
If you have any questions on any of this or want help in coming to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior please come talk with us. We are available. Let’s pray.
© 2023, Kevin A. Dodge, All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org
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