God who assigns our portion
Psa
16:5,6
LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my
cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for
me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
There
are two opposite beliefs that are both wrong according to the Bible.
On one hand there is ‘determinism', the belief that everything is
predetermined and we therefore can have no say in our destiny. The
opposite extreme is the belief that there is nothing that directs
life and that we are completely free agents in a free world. Now the
latter belief runs contrary to psychology which observes that our
behaviour, and therefore our outcomes, are partly genetically predisposed
(ie. because of genetic makeup we have a tendency to behave in certain
ways – but don't have to) and partly formed by the experiences
that we have had in life (but note again that we don't HAVE to respond
in predetermined ways!).
But
there is a middle way, according to the Bible, which involves God.
The Bible shows us that God gives us free will (otherwise there would
be no point in Him saying do this or don't do that, and then us doing
the opposite – see the life of Israel), but that He also speaks and
acts into this world and does things that change both us and our future.
Does God speak and work in such a way that we have no alternative
but to go His way, that His provision for us is such that we will
go His way? The answer is probably mid-way between yes and no.
There
are clearly those who do not turn to the Lord at any time in their
life, but David was not one of those. Later in the psalm he said,
“I have set the LORD always before me”
(v.8) indicating that he had entered into a relationship with
the Lord and because of that, now a number of things followed. The
first we saw in the previous meditation – that he had come to an understanding
the God alone was good, and that God was his refuge (we've seen that
idea in earlier meditations). Now he has this sense that God has allocated
a certain secure life for him.
The
apostle Paul when writing to the church at Ephesus, said, “we
are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which
God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10).
How far we take this depends on our faith level. The very least it
means is that God has designed the lifestyle of Christians, i.e. when
we become a Christian, the Holy Spirit will convict us and teach us
the way to go (Jn 14:16,17,26). It is then for us to obey Him and
apply what He says. But it may also be that God who knows you through
and through, who knows your gifts and talents and capabilities, also
knows how you will be most fulfilled and so has plans for you that
He wants to lead you into. This fits more into what David is saying.
Another
expression of this same thing is seen in Psa 37:4, “Delight
yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
What this says is that if you make God your total focus, He will put
desires upon your heart (that fit who you are) and will then lead
you and bring those desires about. Do you see this lovely combination
of God's activity harmonizing with your heart desires? Yes, as we
make the Lord the centre of our lives, we can, in a very real way,
have a sense of being led into a life that is good, a life that is
designed to match us perfectly, so that we have a great sense of fulfilment,
a great sense of being in God's will which is good! (see also Rom
12:1,2). Thus we can say with David, “I'm in a good place because
God has brought me here!