5 minute read
My Devotional: Born for this.
from TT 157
by TIMES TODAY
Born for this
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By Liz Omondi | Email: timestodayke@gmail.com
John 18:37 NASB
After completing my assignment, it was dark and had to get back home. I got into my car and as I drove down the road, it was dark, narrow and somewhat bumpy road. There were no streetlights and the road was lonely and meandered like River Nyakach. Surely, from my estimation, I should have reached home by now. Soon, I realised that I was lost and began to panic. This was nightmare on Karen streets.
With no service station in sight, I could not make any stop to ask anybody how to get back to my destination. There were no smart phones those days and therefore could not seek the assistance of Google Map as we do today. I was all on my own, thankfully with enough fuel to keep on driving until I find some familiar sight. It is a this point that I paused and whispered, ‘Oh God, help’.
Sometimes life can feel that way. Some of us crawl on this long, treacherous, road trying to find our destination. Others walk, while some run, albeit in the wrong direction. Adrenaline keeps them going. Still, others fly having figured out their definite destination. But many a people wander and wonder why on earth was I born?
At a time when the people of Jerusalem had gone into exile, Jeremiah may have struggled with this question, why on earth am I here? Where does this road lead to? And God speaks to him and reveals to him his assignment. In Jeremiah 1:5 the LORD telling Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” At this point Jeremiah the prophet knew his purpose.
In Psalm 139:13 and 16 David penned journaled saying, “For you created my inmost being you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
King David, though he went through numerous trials and temptations on a long, windy road before he actually become king, he along the way figured out his purpose. He was born to be a king.
As Joseph made himself known as second in command in Egypt, he revealed to his brothers he was born for this. Having been sold by his brothers several years earlier to Midianite merchants who took him to Egypt, Joseph experienced a long treacherous journey to his purpose. He said in Genesis 45:7-8a “But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.”
As the Jews faced the threat of annihilation from their enemy Haman, Mordecai in seeking Queen Esther’s help said this in Esther 4:14, “14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
As Jesus was about to complete his assignment here on earth and was going through trial, Pilate asked Him to confirm if he was a king. Christ responded in John 18:37 “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Lost and unsure where I was headed, I resorted to asking God for help. I kept on driving on that dark road. Soon I started seeing the light of other moving vehicles a long distance away across what seemed like a main road. I kept going and soon realised I was on Langata Road. What a relief. From there I was able to get my bearing and arrived home safely and soundly. It felt sweet getting to my destination.
If you are travelling that long, dark, treacherous road, not knowing your purpose and not able to say with certainty, ‘I was born for this’, just whisper a prayer to God, to help you find your way. He will surely guide you and reveal your purpose to you. Then like Christ you will say with certainty, ‘For this reason, I was born.’
