Ultimate Security: Finding a Refuge in Difficult Times (7 page)

In this matter of scriptural insights about predestination, I want to add one more quote from Paul, which is our fourth example of this principle:

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance,
having been predestined according to His purpose
who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:10–12 nasb)

Notice again that we are predestined according to the purpose of God, who works all things according to His will. This simple fact should set our hearts at rest. If God has decided to do something, He is going to get it done. And everything He does is for the praise of His glory, which is always His ultimate purpose.

Let me sum up the essence of all these Scriptures in a very simple, practical application that will encourage you greatly: You are not an accident waiting to happen. You are part of an eternal plan. You are destined to become a member of God’s family. It is all going to take place through His grace and for His glory. This, in its totality, is complete security.

A Lesson from Jonah

In regard to the practical side of being predestined, we see that God’s predestination also provides for our mistakes. We can thank the Lord for that. God anticipates our mistakes and has prepared various ways to deliver us from them by His grace. The life of the prophet Jonah provides a clear picture of this truth.

God called Jonah from the mountains of Galilee to go east to Nineveh. He was to warn that city of impending destruction due to the people’s sin. However, Jonah was an Israelite, and Nineveh was the capital of Israel’s enemy, Assyria. Jonah did not want to see God spare Nineveh. So, instead of going eastward to Nineveh, he refused his call and went westward.

If you study Jonah’s pathway after that refusal of God’s call, every step he took was a step down. He went down from the mountains to the foothills, from the foothills to the plain, from the plain to the port, from the port to the harbor, from the harbor to the ship, and from the ship into the sea.

Jonah’s downward path should be a warning to each and every one of us not to refuse the call of God on our lives. However, God had His plan worked out:
“The
Lord
hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up”
(Jonah 1:4 nasb). God blocked Jonah’s path by a storm, and the sailors ultimately threw Jonah overboard. But later on in that chapter, it says,
“And the
Lord
appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights”
(Jonah 1:17 nasb).

God had prepared the fish. Think about it: If that fish had needed to swim fifty miles to get to Jonah, Jonah would have been dead by the time the fish got there. However, the fish was there waiting for Jonah because God had already provided it. That is God’s predestination!

After being three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, Jonah changed his mind. He went back to Nineveh and preached what God had told him to preach—and the city repented. However, Jonah got very angry because he really did not want to see his enemies spared. What was his response? He went off by himself to pout—and he sat down in an exposed area that overlooked the city of Nineveh. It was boiling hot, what they call in Israel a
sirocco
—a terrible hot wind that makes everyone miserable. To protect Jonah from the sun,
“the
Lord
God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant”
(Jonah 4:6 nasb).

Well, Jonah was very happy with the plant. But he still was not glad that God had spared Nineveh. Therefore, to teach Jonah a lesson, God caused the plant to wither.
“God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered”
(Jonah 4:7 nasb).

I want you to notice the word
“appointed”
in that verse, as well as in Jonah 1:17. God had appointed a storm, He had appointed a fish, He had appointed a plant, and He had appointed a worm to eat the plant. All these events were prearranged. God knew what Jonah was going to do the first time He called him. God did not approve of what Jonah did. But because Jonah was predestined, ultimately, God got His way.

That should be a word of encouragement to us. Not that we should be disobedient, but that we should know that even if we make mistakes or take a wrong course, God’s predestination has taken it into account in advance. He will have the storm, the fish, the plant, the worm, or whatever else is needed to cause us to realign with His way. This brings us back to the original purpose for predestination. What is that purpose? That we might fulfill God’s plan for our lives—even in spite of ourselves—in a way that ultimately brings glory to Him.

You are part of an eternal plan. It is all going to
take place through God’s grace and for His glory.

10

FOURTH STAGE: CALLED

The first three phases of God’s plan for us—“He foreknew us,” “He chose us,” and “He predestined us”—belong to the realm of eternity. They all were complete before time began. I believe it is important to understand this, because it gives us such a different sense of who we are, where we came from, and where we are going. We are not just creatures of time. Our roots are in eternity—in the eternal mind, heart, and counsel of God.

From Eternity into Time

The fourth phase—“He called us”—is different from the first three. At this point, God’s plan emerged out of eternity into time. When that happened to each one of us, God made His first impact in our individual lives. That is why the moment when God calls you or me is perhaps the most critical moment of our lives. Our future is decided by our response to His call.

I can remember very vividly my moment of being called by God. It was July 1941, and I was without any background in spiritual understanding or knowledge of the Bible—someone who had completely dropped out of church attendance. I was what you might call a nominal Christian. In that condition, I was suddenly, unexpectedly, and dramatically confronted by God’s call. In all my ignorance and all my darkness, I saw one truth by revelation:
I could never expect or claim that God would call to me a second time after that.
I understood what a critical moment this was in my whole life. I had to decide how I was going to respond to God’s call. With all my heart, I thank God that, by His grace, I made the right response.

Please note very carefully what I am about to say. If, as you read this, you have a sense that God is calling you—if what I have written here answers to something that is happening right now in your life—I want to tell you very urgently,
this is the most critical moment of your life
. Please give careful heed—not just to me, but to the voice of God as He speaks to you.

Invited and Summoned

The word
call
is somewhat of an Old English word, at least the way it is used in the Bible. As I mentioned earlier, it has two meanings that go together: “to invite” and “to summon.” When you receive an invitation, it means you are being asked to participate in something nice. But when you receive a summons, it always represents a mandate from an authority. The call of God is both. It is an invitation to all the blessings of God in Jesus Christ. But it is also a summons from the Ruler of the universe. When we receive God’s call, we cannot just shrug our shoulders and say, “Well, I don’t feel like accepting.” Rather, we must soberly recognize that we are dealing with almighty God.

In all that pertains to this matter of calling, God still retains the initiative. He calls; we answer. However, it is important for us to recognize at this critical point that His call requires a response from us. Again, His foreknowledge, His choice, and His predestination were events that took place in eternity apart from our involvement. But when we are confronted by His call, it is mandatory that we make a response. And I want to repeat: Our response to His call determines all that will follow in our lives.

God’s call requires a response from us.

Salvation Is a Call

The proclamation of the gospel is God’s invitation, and acceptance of it brings salvation. As Paul explained:

But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 2:13–14 nasb)

Paul again emphasized the fact that God chose us; in this case, he wrote about God choosing us for salvation. Paul said that God called us into salvation by the proclamation of the gospel. When the preaching of the gospel comes to us, it is God’s call. It is His invitation and/or summons into salvation. Paul concluded the above passage with the following words:
“That you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Please remember that everything God does in all His predestination is for the purpose of His glory.

God’s choice is expressed in our lives by His calling. Until God calls us, we do not know He has chosen us. But from the moment He calls us onward, we are confronted by the solemn fact that God has chosen us.

We are called into salvation. The acceptance of that calling brings salvation. When we experience salvation, we discover (or should discover) that salvation opens the door into the fulfillment of that for which God called us. This point is very important. Many people who are saved do not realize that when they are
saved
, they are also
called
.

Three Important Aspects of Our Calling

You may not yet feel that you have discovered your calling. Even so, you are called by God. Paul wrote to Timothy,

[God] 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 granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity. (2 Timothy 1:9 nasb)

We need to understand the following three aspects of our calling.

1. It Is a Holy Calling

First, our calling is a holy calling. It is something to which we should give our complete attention, and it should take total priority in every aspect of our lives. It is holy and sacred, and we need to treat it as such. You should never let anything come between you and the purpose and call of God in your life.

2. It Is a Calling by Grace

Second, Paul said our calling is not according to our works but
“according to
[God’s]
own
purpose and grace.”
In other words, our calling and our ability to fulfill it do not depend on our natural ability. It is essential to grasp this truth.

You might say, “How could God call me to do this or that? I don’t have the ability.” It does not depend on your ability; it depends on His grace. In fact, God’s grace begins where your ability ends. As long as you can handle something by yourself, you don’t need God’s grace.

Never refuse God’s calling because you feel unable. Almost every person in the Bible whom God called felt unable. It is probably a good sign if you feel unable. I question whether a person is really called by God if he says, “Well, of course, I can do exactly what God tells me to do.” The first realization that comes to you when you are called is the recognition of your own inability. That realization simply causes you to cast yourself upon the grace and mercy of God.

Let me give you a personal example. I am an only child. I never had brothers or sisters. I was educated in two boarding schools where there were no girls. Then I went to Cambridge University, where girls were very much in the background. At the beginning of World War II, I was called up into the predominantly male British Army, and, in the purpose of God by divine predestination, the army put me in the land of Palestine and ultimately in the city of Jerusalem.

Just before I left the army, I married a Danish lady, Lydia Christensen, a missionary who directed a children’s home. At the time, there were eight girls in her home: six Jewish, one Arab, and one English. From the background and experience I just described, you could not have thought of anybody less suitable than I to become the father of eight adopted girls. If people had made a list of possible candidates, my name would not have been on it.

However, God did not consult other people; He did not even consult me! It was divine choice, divine wisdom. The whole experience did me a lot of good. I had to learn that there were other people in the world besides Derek Prince. The point is this: God gave me the grace to do something for which, in the natural, I was completely ill-suited.

God’s call should take total priority
in every aspect of our lives.

3. It Is a Calling from Eternity

The third aspect of God’s calling is that we are called to fulfill a purpose that was conceived before time began. This truth is exciting to me. I see so many people today just adrift in the sea of time. They have no anchor—they have no past, and they have no future. They are like corks bobbing up and down on the waves. Why? Because they have never apprehended this vision of an eternal God who had a plan for them before time began—and who, in due course, would confront them with His plan when He called them.

The apostle Peter described the appropriate response to God’s call:
“Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure”
(2 Peter 1:10). When you are called, God has done His part. You must now respond. Peter said we should respond by being eager to make our calling and election sure. I would sum up this response in one word:
single-mindedness
. You have to have a single focus. You have to have one goal. You must say, like Paul, “
‘This one thing I do,…I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.’
I am not going to be diverted.” (See Philippians 3:13–14 kjv.)