Understanding God’s Destiny for You Amid Life’s Struggles
Do you believe in God’s destiny for you? I’m nearing half a century as a pastor. Fifty years is plenty of time to hear how many people struggle in life. I’ve learned the question to ask. If you and I were having this talk over coffee, this is the point where I would lean across the table and say, “What do you still have that you cannot lose?”
The difficulties have taken much away. I get that. But there is one gift your troubles cannot touch: your destiny. Can we talk about it?
You are God’s child. He saw you, picked you, and placed you. The choice wasn’t obligatory, required, compulsory, forced, or compelled. He selected you because he wanted to. You are his open, willful, voluntary choice. He walked onto the auction block where you stood, and he proclaimed, “This child is mine.” And he bought you “with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19).
You are God’s child. You are his child forever. Don’t believe the tombstone. You are more than a dash between two dates. “When this tent we live in—our body here on earth— is torn down, God will have a house in heaven for us to live in, a home he himself has made, which will last forever” (2 Cor. 5:1 gnt). Don’t get sucked into short-term thinking. Your struggles will not last forever, but you will.
God will have his Eden. He is creating a garden in which Adams and Eves will share in his likeness and love, at peace with each other, animals, and nature. We will rule with him over lands, cities, and nations. “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:12).
Holding Fast to God’s Destiny for You Through Loss and Pain
Believe this. Clutch it. Tattoo it on the interior of your heart. It may seem that the calamity sucked your life out to sea, but it hasn’t. You still have your destiny. My father had his share of struggles. Family didn’t betray him; his health did. He had just retired. He and Mom had saved their money and made their plans. They wanted to drive their travel trailer to visit every national park. Then came the diagnosis: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease), a cruel degenerative disease that affects the muscles. Within months he was unable to feed, dress, or bathe himself. His world, as he knew it, was gone.
At the time, my wife, Denalyn, and I were preparing to do mission work in Brazil. When we got the news, I offered to change my plans. How could I leave the country while he was dying? Dad’s reply was immediate and confident. He was not known for his long letters, but this one took up four pages and included the following imperative:
In regard to my disease and your going to Rio. That is really an easy answer for me, and that is Go. . . . I have no fear of death or eternity . . . so don’t be concerned about me. Just Go. Please him.
Dad lost much: his health, retirement, years with his children and grandchildren, years with his wife. The loss was severe, but it wasn’t complete. “Dad,” I could have asked, “what do you have that you cannot lose?” He still had God’s call on his heart.
We forget this in the middle of life’s struggles. We redefine ourselves according to our catastrophes. “I am the divorcée, the addict, the bankrupt businessperson, the kid with the disability, or the man with the scar.” We settle for a small destiny: to make money, make friends, make a name, make muscle, or make love with anyone and everyone.
Determine not to make this mistake. Think you have lost it all? You haven’t. “God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty— never canceled, never rescinded” (Rom. 11:29 msg). Hear and heed yours.
Living Out God’s Destiny for You with Faith and Hope
Here’s how it works. Your company is laying off employees. Your boss finally calls you into his office. As kind as he tries to be, a layoff is a layoff. All of a sudden you are cleaning out your desk. Internal voices of doubt and fear raise their volume. How will I pay the bills? Who is going to hire me? Dread dominates your thoughts. But then you remember your destiny: What do I have that I cannot lose? Wait a second. I am still God’s child. My life is more than this life. These days are a vapor, a passing breeze.
This will eventually pass. God will make something good out of this. I will work hard, stay faithful, and trust him no matter what. Bingo. You just trusted your destiny.
Several years after Dad’s death I received a letter from a woman who remembered him. Ginger was only six years old when her Sunday school class made get-well cards for ailing church members. She created a bright purple card out of construction paper and carefully lined it with stickers. On the inside she wrote, “I love you, but most of all God loves you.” Her mom baked a pie, and the two made the delivery.
Dad was bedfast. The end was near. His jaw tended to drop, leaving his mouth open. He could extend his hand, but it was bent to a claw from the disease. Somehow Ginger had a moment alone with him and asked a question as only a six-year-old can: “Are you going to die?”
He touched her hand and told her to come near. “Yes, I am going to die. When? I don’t know.” She asked if he was afraid to go away. “Away is heaven,” he told her. “I will be with my Father. I am ready to see him eye to eye.” About this point in the visit, her mother and mine returned. Ginger recalls, A man near death winking at the thought of it. Stripped of everything? It only appeared that way. In the end Dad still had what no one could take. And in the end that is all he needed.
With more than 140 million books in print, Max Lucado has been dubbed “America’s Pastor” by Christianity Today, “The Best Preacher in America” by Reader’s Digest, and the “Ted Lasso of Pastors” by the Dallas Morning News. His latest book is Never Give Up: God is Good When Life Isn’t, releasing in April 2025. Max Lucado has penned more than 40 works of adult nonfiction, standing alongside dozens and dozens of bestselling children’s books, gift books, Bible studies, commentaries, and collections. His books have been published in 56 languages worldwide and regularly appear on bestseller lists, including The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today. He has been pastoring in San Antonio at Oak Hills Church since 1988. Learn more at www.MaxLucado.com.
