Our modern assumption is that God no longer "meddles' with us like this, that we are stuck with having to create ourselves and find our own meaning. And when we fail at this ill-conceived venture, we are plunged into despair. Indeed, some of our most dangerous contemporary afflictions---anxiety, depression, and soul-killing nihilism -- are directly tied to this loss of a transcendent purpose for our lives. -- Paula Huston
One of my modern heroes is General Honore, the man who stepped off the helicopter in New Orleans a week or so after Hurricane Katrina had reduced that city to chaos and confusion. In a time when city leaders had abandoned the people to destruction, looting, and shooting; when first-responders could not communicate with one another or even locate their own leaders; when people were trapped in attics without resources, General Honore took charge. He did not call a committee to study the situation; he did not worry about being sued, or federal regulations -- He was a man called to a mission, and he responded with all of his knowledge, wisdom, authority, command, and talent. In just a few days, order was restored; buses were taking people to places of safety, and the work of restoration could begin.
One year later, General Honore was to tell a group of men seeking leadership that the two greatest days of a person's life were (1) the day he/she is born, and (2) the day that person discovers why God put him/her on earth. Honore knew that his entire life, he had been prepared for his mission. Queen Esther was told that she was prepared and sent "for such a time as this," a time of great crisis for the Jewish people. In the Book of Judges, God always had prepared a leader (a "judge") to rise up and take charge when His people were being attacked on every side. We are all sent "for such a time as this."
When Paula Huston says that we assume God no longer "meddles with us like this," she is referring to the birth of John the Baptist, who was called to his mission in his mother's womb, before he was born. Indeed, his very name was given to his parents before he was born. We assume that first we are born, and then we have to create our lives and find our own meaning. But the Biblical perspective is that we are created to do a work which God has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10): For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
When we are born, all of us have natural tendencies and inclinations toward some kind of interest or creativity. Wise parents do not impose their inclinations upon their children, but watch and listen for the child's 'inner man,' the spirit that guides the child -- and they nourish it whenever possible. All of the prophets speak of being called from their mother's womb to their mission. Isaiah: The Lord called me from birth; from my mother's womb, He gave me my name...(49:1). Jeremiah: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you a prophet to the nations (1:4).
John the Baptist lept in his mother's womb when he heard Mary's voice and knew the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah he was sent to announce. From birth, his parents had been prepared to nouish his calling as the forerunner of the Messiah.
Psalm 139 is a wonderful source of meditation for those of us who are asking, "What was I born to do?"
What is the "work" God has prepared in advance for me to do?
Truly you have formed by inmost being;
you knit me in my mother's womb.
I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works.
My soul also you knew full well;
nor was my frame unknown to you
when I was made in secret,
when I was fashioned in the depths of the earth.
We do not have to create our own meaning; it has been given to us -- but we do have to bow before the One Who sends us if we are to fulfill the purpose for which we have been sent. Praying Psalm 139 until the light breaks in our hearts is a wonderful place to begin.
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