“It was known long ago what each man would be. So there’s no use arguing with God about your destiny."

 

“It was known long ago what each man would be. So there’s no use arguing with God about your destiny.” (Ecclesiastes 6:10, LB)

 

In Ecclesiastes, the question is asked, how should we spend our lives?  What is wise when our days are few and we will all eventually end up in the grave?   He asks in Ecclesiastes 6:12 (LB), “In these few days of our empty lifetimes, who can say how one’s days can best be spent?  Who can know what will prove best for the future after He is gone?  For who knows the future?”

 

The Preacher goes on to say in Ecclesiastes 7:4, “Yes, a wise man thinks much of death, while the fool thinks only of having a good time now.”   Here, he is implying that thinking about one’s destiny, their impact on the future after they are gone, and how each day is spent in alignment to this is wisdom. 

In Ecclesiastes 7:23-25, the Preacher goes on to say that if we try to be wise, it will elude us.   Searching for wisdom, one only finds folly and that wisdom is far from them.  One must see where wisdom comes from. 

 

So how do we align on a daily basis to this wisdom?  Ecclesiastes 7:13 says, “See the way God does things and fall into line.  Don’t fight the facts of nature.”  He goes on to say, receive and embrace everything that God has for you, tackle those things in front of you with God’s help, fear God, and you can expect His hand in your life for blessing [fruitfulness and legacy].

 

It is not a wide path that many follow, rather it is narrow, and few enter.  The Preacher notes in Ecclesiastes 7:28-29 that, “One tenth of one per cent of the men I interviewed could be said to be wise, but not one woman.  And I found that though God made men upright, each has turned away to follow his own downward road.”

 

Do we give thought of how to best live our lives and have impact?  In a time when Solomon lived, Israel’s practices were set and established around following God and seeking His presence.  Yet, even then, less than 1 in 1,000 people lived their lives to follow this path of wisdom.    Most turned to follow their own downward road.

 

This means that in a church of 60,000 where all are there seeking God, only about 60 of them are fully living into their divine destiny and purposes.  Let’s hope there are also a few women in this number!  Speaking recently to one of the leaders at my work that used to serve as a lead pastor, there are even some pastors who have chosen to follow their own downward road rather than one living brightly for Christ.

 

Many don’t realize or see that God has a divine destiny for each one of us. Each of us were created to be fruitful and multiply.  We were created in the image of God to live not just ordinary and mundane lives, but extraordinary lives of impact filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

This impact starts with receiving Jesus Christ in our life as our Lord and Savior.  Without receiving God into our lives, our lives will lack meaning and purpose.  It is through Him and for Him that we live and have purpose.   When we receive Jesus, we receive the Holy Spirit.   Romans 8:9, Acts 2:38 and John 3:5 all speak of being born of the Spirit (receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit) as a means to enter the kingdom of God.   

 

Paul gives this advice to the church in Colossians 3:1-3 (LB), “Since you became alive again, so to speak, when Christ arose from the dead, now set your sights on the rich treasures and joys of heaven where he sits beside God in the place of honor and power.  Let heaven fill your thoughts;  don’t spend your time worrying about things down here.   You should have as little desire for this world as a dead person does.  Your real life is in heaven with Christ and God. And when Christ who is our real life comes back again, you will shine with him and share in all his glories.”

 

As we are saved, the Lord has placed an extraordinary treasure inside of us – His Holy Spirit. We have been given this extraordinary treasure in a clay pot.   Receiving the Spirit, we not to live ordinary but to have impact and bring the Kingdom of God in the earth.  We are re-born for extraordinary Kingdom purposes for such a time as this! 

We are baptized into his death (Romans 6:3).  Passing through from death to life, the fruit of the Spirit are Born in us.  As noted in Galatians 5:22-23 they are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such things there is no law."  The fruit of the Spirit in our lives is amazing but it does not demonstrate the fullness of the Holy Spirit or enable us to walk out all God has for us. 

So, what is this for us and how do we walk into it?  As we become filled with the Holy Spirit and baptized with fire as Jesus (and John the Baptist) promised and then demonstrated by Pentecost, we become empowered by the Spirit to accomplish His purposes. 

This is where, for some, there is confusion.  There is a receiving of the Holy Spirit when we receive Christ.   But we know that this is not all God has for us.  How do we know this?  It was the disciples of Christ who had received Jesus and already had the Holy Spirit who were baptized with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues at Pentecost (Acts 2:4).   Jesus called this being "clothed with power from on high."   

There are several examples of further fillings of followers for further 'enablement' in the Spirit.  We see that the apostles Peter and John came to a group of believers in Acts 8:14-17.  They had already received the Word of God and Christ, but then the apostles came and prayed that the Holy Spirit would fall on them by the laying on of hands.  This was evidenced on the power of God coming upon them.   We see this also when Peter went to the gentiles.   While speaking to them, the Holy Spirit fell and they began speaking in tongues and extolling God (Acts 10:44-46).   We also see this in Acts 19:1-41 when Paul came across a group of believers.  He asked if they had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit but they had received the baptism of repentance (salvation).  When they received this Holy Spirit baptism, "they began speaking in tongues and prophesying."

We also see this when the disciples were being persecuted, arrested and flogged.  They got together and prayed for a greater baptism of the Holy Spirit's power to be witnesses of Christ.  While they received the Holy Spirit at salvation, and then a baptism at Pentecost,  they were asking for more enablement to accomplish their purposes.   As they did, the ground was shaken and they had a whole new level of power and faith that came upon them.  

This baptism of the Spirit is important because it, just like the disciples, enabled them to walk out the fullness of what God had for them in an extraordinary way.  It empowered them with the gifts of the Spirit and not only the fruit of the Spirit.  The gifts are a manifestation of the Spirit and include such things as prophesy, tongues, healing, extraordinary faith, working miracles, discernment for the building up of the body and witnessing (1 Corinthians 12:4-11)

 

The Holy Spirit enables and empowers.   We see this with David as someone who was overflowing with the Spirit of God.  1 Samuel 16:13 says, "So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward."     When David played his harp, the Spirit would come upon those who heard it and they would have peace.   We see this with Saul who hired David when Saul was being disobedient, he was tormented by fear as a result. 

David, a man after God’s own heart, is an example of someone who, empowered by the Spirit, lived a life of wisdom in pursuit of God.  As we look to the end of his life about what has meaning, it was birthing forth the everlasting kingdom of Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit and the faithfulness of God. 

 

David proclaims his last words in 2 Samuel 23 1-7, “David, the son of Jesse, speaks.   David, the man to whom God gave such wonderful success;  David, the anointed of the God of Jacob;  David, sweet psalmist of Israel:  The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue.  The Rock of Israel said to me: ‘One shall come who rules righteously, who rules in the fear of God.  He shall be as the light of the morning; a cloudless sunrise when the tender grass springs forth upon the earth;  As sunshine after rain.’  And it is my family He has chosen!  Yes, God has made an everlasting covenant with me;  His agreement is eternal, final, sealed.  He will constantly look after my safety and success [He will cause my help and my desire to sprout.]  But the godless are as thorns to be thrown away, for they tear the hand that touches them.  One must be armed to chop them down; They shall be burned.”

 

David also describes himself in relation to God as anointed (filled with the Holy Spirit), chosen out of smallness but given success and anointed by God.   Lastly, as the sweet psalmist of Israel (a worshipper) who was empowered by the Spirit.   He knew who he was in the Lord and carried the purposes of the Lord deep in his heart.  He was a friend of God and sought the Lord’s purposes above all.

 

At the same time, David had a messy life.  He had moments of great victories by the power of the Spirit such as killing Goliath and leading Israel into battle. He brought the presence of the Lord back into the center of Israel and re-established 24/7 worship to the Lord.  

 

He also had moments of great defeats where he was seemingly empty spiritually.  There were times in his life that he was not sensitive to the Holy Spirit and missed the mark completely.   He took the wife of one of his most faithful and loyal soldiers, got her pregnant and then killed him before he found out.   He pushed Joab to do a census when it was all about his pride and power as a leader and he did a terrible job raising some of his kids.  He lost two sons and many soldiers needlessly over an event with his daughter who never should have been sent to the oldest son's bedroom to care for him and put in the predicament she was placed in.  David should have protected his daughter as a treasure from the lust of a man rather than treating her like property.   But in each case that David got off course, we see God's faithfulness to correct, confront and bring him back on track. 

From David, we see that wisdom is not about getting everything perfect and making all the right choices.  Rather, wisdom is the choice to live one’s life for God and with God and filled with God -- allowing Him to enable us and correct us as needed.   David, filled with the Spirit of God, learned dependence and surrender rather than rules to follow.   It is only in the Lord that our way is made sure and it is only in the Lord that we will be able to endure [difficulties in following him].  

As we pursue God, seek to be filled by Him, and repent when we sin, our lives become filled with uncontainable riches and extraordinary adventures through the Lord.   In the midst of a lot of messiness, David lived an extraordinary life for God and with God that was rooted in worship, prayer and love of the Lord.   It was extraordinary because he was filled with the extraordinary Holy Spirit.

Out of his love for the Lord and spending time to deeply know God and his purposes, David also had developed a strong faith.  And it is faith that pleases God.  David was willing to go against all odds if God was in it.  David proclaims, “With God’s help we shall do mighty things, for He will trample down our foes.”  (Psalm 60:12, LB)

 

Lord, most of all, we desire to know you like David.  Fill us with Your Holy Spirit and direct our path.   Give us wide open hearts to see you and share in your purposes.   We want to be your friends.