Are we the "masters of our fate" and the "captains of our soul?" According to this famous poem Invictus, penned by William Ernest Henley, and recited at a many a graduation ceremony, we are unconquerable and just don't realize it all the time. We should thus thank God for our own success. The irony of modern man is that he ruins his own life and blames God (cf. Prov. 19:3) however, he becomes a success and gives himself the credit. Like the definition of an Englishman: "A self-made man who worships his creator." There is no such animal as a self-made man. Isa. 64:8 says God is the potter and we are the clay. We should remember the rock from which we were hewn and the stone from which we were cut, says Isaiah in chapter 51:1. We are all a byproduct of all those we've been influenced by in our circle of friends and family. Very little of our personality or success is due to genetics per se, but the sovereignty and providence of God and, of course, environmental factors.
The psalmist says in Psa. 31:15 the following claim: "The course of my life is in your power." Another translation reads, "My future [my times] is in your hands." God can, and does control the king and sovereign of the state just like the course of a river according to Prov. 21:1. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way," says Psa. 37:23. The most devastating blow to think that we are in control of our lives and destiny is two verses that essentially say the same thing: Jer. 10:23 and Prov. 20:24. "I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his steps." "A man's steps are from the LORD, how then can a man understand his way?"
Did you know that your life was already planned out by God and written in a book before you were born, just like an author writing a play and you merely have a role to play? Psa. 139:16 says precisely this: "....in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as yet there were none of them." Fate is impersonal, like the blind "kismet" of Islam, but we have a destiny, which is different: We have a part to play and must cooperate with God to reach God's best for us. For instance, if your destiny was to be a piano virtuoso, you must practice diligently.
Isaiah says in Isa. 26:12, "...all that we have accomplished you have done for us...." Paul says he will not "venture to speak, but of what Christ has accomplished through him," in Rom. 15:18. Amos 6:13 speaks of Israel being proud of accomplishing nothing by themselves: "You who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar [nothing] and say, 'Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?'" All our fruit comes from God (Hos. 14:8). In summation, our destiny is ultimately in God's hands, but it isn't a blind, mechanical, impersonal fate that some seem to think--our input matters! Soli Deo Gloria!
The psalmist says in Psa. 31:15 the following claim: "The course of my life is in your power." Another translation reads, "My future [my times] is in your hands." God can, and does control the king and sovereign of the state just like the course of a river according to Prov. 21:1. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way," says Psa. 37:23. The most devastating blow to think that we are in control of our lives and destiny is two verses that essentially say the same thing: Jer. 10:23 and Prov. 20:24. "I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his steps." "A man's steps are from the LORD, how then can a man understand his way?"
Did you know that your life was already planned out by God and written in a book before you were born, just like an author writing a play and you merely have a role to play? Psa. 139:16 says precisely this: "....in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me when as yet there were none of them." Fate is impersonal, like the blind "kismet" of Islam, but we have a destiny, which is different: We have a part to play and must cooperate with God to reach God's best for us. For instance, if your destiny was to be a piano virtuoso, you must practice diligently.
Isaiah says in Isa. 26:12, "...all that we have accomplished you have done for us...." Paul says he will not "venture to speak, but of what Christ has accomplished through him," in Rom. 15:18. Amos 6:13 speaks of Israel being proud of accomplishing nothing by themselves: "You who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar [nothing] and say, 'Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?'" All our fruit comes from God (Hos. 14:8). In summation, our destiny is ultimately in God's hands, but it isn't a blind, mechanical, impersonal fate that some seem to think--our input matters! Soli Deo Gloria!
We are in no position to evaluate another's success or failure: to his own master he stands or falls. Man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart. Some people's lives are just wood, hay, and stubble, that will be burned up and worthy of no eternal reward, because they had their reward in this life (Psa. 17:14: "...whose portion is in this life." Prosperity is no sign of God's pleasure or approval, in other words.
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