God Has A Plan For You

 

Isa 8:3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the LORD said to me, "Call his name Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz; 4 "for before the child shall have knowledge to cry 'My father' and 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be taken away before the king of Assyria."

 

We must remember here that God named the child even before he was conceived. The very name of the child was a prophetic message from God for King Ahaz and Judah. His name means, “speed the spoil and hasten the booty.” Strange name right?

 

But God was telling Ahaz and Judah that they need not fear Damascus or Samaria, because before the child is old enough to say “mommy”  or “daddy” God would use the Assyrians to “speed the spoil and hasten the booty” of these two enemies of Ahaz.

 

As it turns out, this was a major event in the history of God’s people. The prophecy was fulfilled in 732 B.C. when both Syria and Israel (the Northern Kingdom) were conquered by Assyria. A decade later, Assyria removed Israel’s wealth (the spoil and booty) AND many of her people, obliterating their national identity. Those Israelites who remained in the conquered land, intermarried with a variety of foreigners imported by Assyria, eventually giving rise to the Samaritans that we hear so much about in the New Testament.

 

Grasp the depth of the truth found in these passages! God knows you, indeed He KNEW you even before you were conceived! He has a reason for your existence, a plan for you. You fit into His overall scheme of things!

 

Ps 139:16 tells us: “Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.”

And in Jer 1:5 we read,  "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

And then there’s the reminder concerning Esther:  "For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" ES 4:14)

 

God has had His eye on you from the beginning of time. 2Ti 1:9 put it this way: “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,”

 

Saved for “His own purpose.”  Want to discover that purpose? Then “Be, believe, and pray.” By that I mean, live your life as it comes your way, believing and trusting in God’s Word as Your guide. When you do, His plans will unfold for you one trusting and believing step at a time.