God Fulfills His Purpose for Me

[This devotion is an edited version of one section of the September 2, 2018 sermon on Psalm 57. The audio for the sermon will be available soon at this link.]

Does God have a purpose for you?

David writes Psalm 57 at a low point in his life. King Saul is trying to find him in order to put him to death. He tried escaping to the Philistines, but found his life to be in danger among them too. So he has fled to a cave – which provides little protection or comfort.

But in the midst of danger and uncertainty, David writes:

I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me (Psalm 57:2).

To understand David’s cry, we must first note what the verse does not say. David does not write, “God fulfills my purpose for me.” For God never promises to fulfill your plans for yourself. We often make plans that fail – even plans that we think will be to God’s glory. We may imagine how God might use us and then take steps to bring that about – and those plans may well fall apart completely. My plans, my purposes, even my conception of God’s purpose for me, may end up being completely wrongheaded.

But God does have a purpose for you, and for all of His people. What is it?

First, He has a common purpose for all redeemed humanity. He makes this purpose clear in Scripture. If you are in Christ:

  • He intends for you to be like Him, your heavenly Father (Ephesians 5:1). That is, He intends for you to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).
  • He purposes for you to be set apart for Him – not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed through the renewal of your mind (Romans 12:2).
  • He purposes for you to be His ambassador, imploring those who don’t know Jesus to be reconciled to God through Him (2 Corinthians 5:20).
  • He purposes for you to stir up other Christians around you to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24-25).
  • He purposes for you to forgive the person who sins against you 70×7 times whenever he repents (Matthew 18:21-22).
  • He purposes for Jesus to be your treasure, your joy, your Lord (Matthew 13:44-46, Philippians 2:9-11).

We could go on and on – but you get the point: God has a common purpose for all believers, and He is working that out in your life.

But second, God has specific plans for individual Christians, which He is working out. In Acts 16, the Apostle Paul thought God’s plan was for him to preach the Gospel in Bithynia. But in some unstated way, God prevented that from happening and then revealed through a dream that Paul and his band were to go to Macedonia. The Apostle immediately obeyed by traveling to the city of Philippi – and shortly thereafter he was arrested, beaten, and jailed.

So note: God’s specific plan for the Apostle Paul included his being arrested, beaten, imprisoned – and then, as the narrative continues, to be freed miraculously, with saving effect on the jailor and his family. Indeed, the jailor’s family and the handful of others who come to faith during Paul’s brief time in the city are the foundation of the church of the Philippians, to whom Paul writes his letter.

In that letter, the Apostle says, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion” (Philippians 1:6). That’s another way of stating what David says in Psalm 57: God will fulfill His purpose for you.

So when we suffer, when we are in danger, when it seems that we are prevented from serving God as we would like, we are right, like David, to cry out to God. But we need not worry, “Will this enemy prevent me from fulfilling God’s purpose?” Or, “Will my frightened response prevent me from fulfilling God’s purpose?” Or, “Might I mess up and have to live with God’s Plan B for my life?”

That can’t happen. It won’t happen. For God is in control. He will fulfill His purpose for you.

In David’s case:

  • He will become king.
  • He will become a picture, a type of the coming Messiah.
  • He will become the ancestor of that Messiah.
  • His mistakes and sins along the way will not, cannot derail God’s plans for Him.

Just so in your case; just so in my case. We can know with certainty that He will fulfill the common purpose He has for all of His people in us. While we don’t know the specifics of God’s individual plans for us, we do know that we have a role in His filling the earth with the knowledge of His glory as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). He will use us to accomplish that purpose. Our responsibility is to step out in faith, to work to fulfill our calling by His grace as best as we can perceive it – and then to trust Him with the results. The individual purpose we fulfill in the end may be quite different from what we thought. But trust Him: He has begun a good work in you. He has His purposes for you. He will fulfill those purposes.

Now, perhaps you’re thinking: “I thought God’s purpose for me was to make me healthy and prosperous – to give me success, a victorious life. I thought Jesus would solve all my problems so that I can be joyful in Him.”

No, my friends, that is not what the Bible says. That is not what God promises us. Quite the contrary. Jesus says, “In this world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). The Apostle Paul says, “Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

Instead of earthly ease and success, God promises us something far better: He promises us Himself. That’s what David found while writing Psalm 57 (Psalm 57:7-11); that’s what Jesus promises those who trust in Him (John 17:3). God promises us that in Christ we have Him; and God plus nothing is worth more than having all the world and not having Him.

So humble yourself before Him. Come to Him, and find that His purpose for you is far greater than you could imagine. And know: He is certain to fulfill that purpose. You will know Him. You will make Him known. To the praise of His glorious grace.

Is Anything Too Hard for God?

Is anything too hard for God?

God tells the prophet Jeremiah that He is going to punish the people for their rebellion against Him. Indeed, He promises to destroy Jerusalem and the very temple that pictures His dwelling in their midst. But He also promises that decades later He will gather the people from where they are scattered and show them His redeeming love; they will be His people, and He will be their God. It is in this context that He says: “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27).

If God can do that – if He can punish and He can redeem, if He can scatter and He can unite, if He can use human empires both to destroy according to His plan and to build up according to His plan – is there anything He cannot do?

No. Nothing is too hard for Him.

Consider a few of the many Scriptures that make similar claims:

  • [When God promises that a 90 year old woman who has been barren her entire life will bear a son fathered by her 99 year old husband] “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14a)
  • [Similarly, when the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she, a virgin, will give birth to a son, and that her elderly, barren cousin Elizabeth is already pregnant] “For nothing will be impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37)
  • [Job speaks after God has displayed and spoken of His power, glory and wisdom] “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)
  • [When there are hundreds of thousands of Israelites in the wilderness and God has promised them meat. Moses is skeptical]  And the LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” (Numbers 11:23)
  • Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Num 23:19b)
  • Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. (Psalm 115:3)
  • Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. (Psalm 135:6)
  • For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? (Isaiah 14:27)
  • Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. (Isaiah 40:28-29)
  • “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’ . . .. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.” (From Isaiah 46:9-11)
  • All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Daniel 4:35)
  • [When a man asks Jesus for healing for his son, after Jesus’ disciples were unable to heal him]  “But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.”  Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:22-24)
  • [When the disciples wonder if anyone can be saved if it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom] Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)

So the claim of Scripture is all-encompassing: God has authority over conception, over illness, over sin, over rebellion, over repentance, over faith. We need His help always, in all areas – including our faith!

But God is not our all-powerful genie in the bottle, at our beck and call, who grants us any wishes that we might ask. He has already declared the end; He will accomplish His purpose. Our purpose will not stand; God’s will.

And so consider the way that Jesus Himself prays as He notes the Father’s unstoppable power:

“Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

Jesus shrank back from the horror of the cross. He knew that protecting Him from the Jewish leaders and the Roman governor was simple for the Father. God could thwart their plans; that was possible for Him. But Jesus also knew that God’s plan, God’s will, included His going to the cross. He knew that the end God had stated from the beginning – blessing all nations through the seed of Abraham, covering the sin of rebels by the sacrifice of His Son, ushering in an eternal Kingdom of righteousness and peace ruled by a descendant of David – Jesus knew that this glorious end required that He go to the cross. And so He went.

So God is more powerful than the illness you face, than the sin that tempts you, than hardness of anyone’s heart; God is well able to comfort every sorrow, to grant wisdom to the foolish, to bring rebels to repentance. Nothing is too hard for Him.

Therefore, trust this almighty God! He works all things together to fulfill His great plan. Whatever trials you are facing, however weak you are in yourself, look to Him! Delight in His sovereign power, which He wields for the good of His people and the glory of his Name.