From Psalm 37:23-24 and Proverbs 16:1-9, we learn God controls every minute detail of everything we think, say, and do, and from these our personality is fashioned, because we either think, say, and do things God’s way or Satan’s way, even though we believe they are done our way.
Here is Proverbs 16:1-9 from the New Living Translation. 1 We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer. 2 People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives. 3 Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. 4 The Lord has made everything for His own purposes, even the wicked for a day of disaster. 5 The Lord detests the proud; they will surely be punished. 6 Unfailing love and faithfulness make atonement for sin. By fearing the Lord, people avoid evil. 7 When people’s lives please the Lord, even their enemies are at peace with them. 8 Better to have little, with godliness, than to be rich and dishonest. 9 We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps. Everything in life has already been determined.
Compare Proverbs 16:4—4 The Lord has made everything for his own purposes, even the wicked for a day of disaster. And Exodus 4:10-11—10 But Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I am not very good with words. I never have been, and I am not now, even though You have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” 11 Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear, or do not hear, see, or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord?
Now we quickly understand God does things strange to our thinking, which lets us know what Isaiah says in 55:8-11—8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. 10 “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. 11 It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
God is unique (incomparable); He is knowledge, love, and wisdom, who says in Hebrews 13:5-6, He is always present with us regardless of what we face, and His plan, purpose, and timing determines the outcome of everything we face in this life. Therefore, it should be easy to fully trust everything to His care, so we can enjoy His complete peace in everything we face.
Faith—believing and fully trusting God is so essential He warns us in Romans 14:23, “whatever is not from faith is sin”, and in Titus 1:15 He says, “Everything is pure to those who are themselves pure; but nothing is pure to those who are defiled and unbelieving, for their minds and consciences have been defiled”. We each know ourselves as the kind of person God knows we are thus, we see this truth in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known”.
You have been reading how excitingly joyful each day of my life is, by all I am going through, for many blood tests and other test, including a pet scan have been done; thus, it seems surgery is next, yet all this was planned, purposed, and timed long before God created anything, so nothing could have changed anything, since Psalm 139:13-16 says it was written in my book before any of my life began, which is what makes all this so excitingly awesome—God knew and wrote my life story before creation, for God loved me way back then, and He still does—God also loves you.
Predestination is not that God predetermined for some people to be saved and others not to be, but predestination was God foreknowing every detail about everything each of us would face and if it would bring us to Him or turn us away from Him. Although God already knew which would happen, yet He does all He knew we would allow Him to do to get people to turn to Him instead of away from Him. Ezekiel 22:29-31 proves God looked for praying people to intercede for the wicked so He could save them and not destroy them for their wickedness, but He could not find anyone to pray for them, so God is forced to allow wicked people to be punished for their wickedness. This is why God commands in John 13:34, for us to love others the same way He loves us. Predestination is a good thing and not a bad thing. God knew every detail of our life before we were born; therefore, He tries to guide us into a holy, joyous, grateful life in His Son, Christ Jesus.
Jim, Kim, and Tim Nabors
