You saw me before I was
born; every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed. Psalm 139:16
An
author is writing an action scene for his latest manuscript: “Dorothy leaped from the window and—“.
Then he realizes he is thirsty, so he lays down the pen, goes to the kitchen,
and gets a drink. He gazes out the window, puts away some dishes, and then
returns to his work. Picking up the pen, he continues: “—landed in the bushes below.” Although an hour has passed since he
began the sentence, there is no time lapse in the character’s world. When a
reader reads this book, they will see no evidence of the gap, because the
author exists outside the time and space of his created world.
God
works with us like that. Because He exists outside the time and space of His
created world, He can record every day of our lives in His book before we live one
of them. He sees the end and the beginning simultaneously. Although He placed a
free will within His human characters, God is sovereign over His creation. What
we often call “chance” or “coincidence,” God calls purpose. Consider these
passages that put seemingly random events in a different light: Isaiah 46:9-11; Proverbs 16:33; and Exodus
4:11.
Because we are so limited by the parameters of space and time, we don’t
always understand how it all fits together. But we can trust the God who sees
the beginning, the middle, and the end simultaneously. He works out the events
of our lives to accomplish His ultimate plan. We have His word on it.
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