Consider Your Destiny
Yurena asked me, “Does destiny exist?”
We often wonder about “fate,” or a predetermined outcome that we can’t escape. Does it exist?
In looking at this, Lamentations 1 has an interesting note:
“Jerusalem has sinned gravely,
—Lamentations 1
Therefore she has become vile.
All who honored her despise her,
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and turns away.
Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She did not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome.”
The reason that Jerusalem collapsed is modified (“therefore”) by the fact that she did not consider her destiny. Literally, the people did not consider their future, and what God had called them to do.
When we choose to ignore what God has planned for us, God does permit us to go astray; He can certainly make other provisions to accomplish His plans if we ignore Him. Esther 4 presents a clear example of this, saying,
“Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther,
“Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have come to the Kingdom for such a time as this?”
Scripture also teaches that we choose to have faith. The oft-repeated command in Scripture to believe implies that we do have a choice in the matter. “Be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27; see also Acts 16:31; Acts 19:4).
Yes, we do have a destiny; God has in a way pre-destined us for certain things. At the same time, He also lets us go astray if we choose.
