The word “destiny” is one of those words that evokes many different emotions. It can really cause some joyful and hopeful feelings in some and some anxiety in others. One thing that is unequivocally true, however is that we all have a God-given destiny.
In Numbers 27, we read a story about five daughters whose father had died and left no sons. Generally, Scripture from those days would only list men in the genealogy, because that was the custom of these times. However, these five women had no father and no brothers yet they were certainly included in the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey. The fact that they were females did not negate them from the promise. No one was left out, and these women had to petition Moses to get their inheritance. It’s amazing that this is listed because this is actually a pretty big deal.
I know that many of us have wrestled with whether we were going to fulfill our destiny. We have gone through times where we feel like it’s the goal that we will never reach, and that it is simply unattainable. We see from the story in the Bible that we are all able to obtain our destiny if we believe in Jesus and put our trust and our faith in Him. Psalm 37 tells us that the steps of a righteous person are ordered by the Lord. This is further proof that we don’t need to spend our life stressing about our destiny. We do have to line our will up with the Word and God’s will for us to be IN God’s will.
It’s important to know that when we are tempted to compare our lives with others, our destiny to others, we must not be jealous or envious. When your life feels like a desert, void of miracles and blessings and you see others with seemingly all they need, it’s human nature to feel envious. Instead of “Why not me?” You can say, “I’m next, it’s on its way!” This will help keep your heart right and your faith firmly planted on the bedrock of God’s promises.
Another story comes from Numbers 32:4 and it involves the twelve tribes crossing the Jordan. Reuben and Gad were two of Jacob’s twelve sons that did not want to cross. They approached Moses and basically petitioned him about their tribes not going with the other ten. They liked the land on the safe side because it was great for life-stock and they felt they had done enough fighting. Moses was not happy that they would abandon their people in the other ten tribes and make them fight without them. They just wanted their inheritance NOW. Moses told them that if they stayed the others would be discouraged and not want to go and this would not be pleasing to God. In the end they agreed to go with the others and help them fight for their land and then they received the land they wanted. We see from this story that they needed to help others achieve their destiny and so do we!! None of us can achieve it alone!
One last story is in Joshua chapter 4 and it takes place after everyone crossed the Jordan river. The priests were holding the Ark of the Covenant in the Jordan River as everyone passed on dry ground. God told Joshua to instruct twelve men representing the twelve tribes to go to where the priests were and to each pick up a stone. The twelve men carried the twelve stones to their camp and built a memorial to commemorate all that God had done for them. This would be a memorial for the adults to teach the children of God’s promises to their people. The point here is that we are to be a living memorial or a living testament to all the God has done. This is our destiny…our testimony that will live on in the hearts of others.
Let’s remember today that we will not miss out on our destiny as long as we are following the Lord’s leading. Let’s rest in the fact that we all need others in order to fulfill our destiny. Finally, let’s focus on our destiny being our testimony, one of God’s saving grace, His eternal love and our promise of an eternity with Him. Let’s tell as many as we can so that we can take as many with us as possible!