Placed for Purpose

December 4th

Every day during Advent 2020, we are sharing a short encouragement based around a promise in the Bible that God makes to His people. By faith, we can take hold of them to reflect on and present back to God in prayer; lifting our eyes to the hope of this season and drawing us close to the One who draws near to us.

Deuteronomy 28:3 — Your towns and your fields will be blessed.

What does it mean that both our “towns and fields” will be blessed, and why is this a promise worth pondering? Towns (and cities like Birmingham) can be full of hustle and bustle, of noise and activity, of temptations and challenges. Yet, to live in a city holding fast to the word of God is to find all the rest, life and courage you need. The fields of the countryside can be a place of peace and tranquillity, but also of isolation and loneliness, of poverty and hardship. Yet, to live there keeping your gaze fixed on Jesus is to find all the comfort, strength and perspective you need.

In other words, wherever we find ourselves, God’s desire is to be for us in that place all that we need, and to do through us more than we could ask or imagine.

Paul, speaking to the crowd in Athens, declared to them that God had “marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands” (Acts 17:26), and He has done the same for us. God looked at the whole span of human history, and decided that this time and this place would enable you to better know, enjoy and reveal Him than any other. That might be a difficult thing to believe in this year of all years, where so much of life has been stuck on pause or flipped upside down. Yet, even in 2020, God’s promise to us is that He has something unique for us in this time, even in a world and a year of immense challenges.

We are placed for purpose, and that purpose is to release the blessing of God out into the world; His hope, His peace, His life and His light.

This advent, we remember that God steps into the world at Christmas not just to save individuals, but to release the blessing of God that’s always been promised for the whole world. When we learn to live with daily, weekly and monthly rhythms which help us stay centred on Jesus, we will find in Him all the blessings we need to do what Jesus always did and bring life to every environment. You are uniquely placed today; to know and enjoy all the goodness that God has for you, and to reveal Him and bring the transforming life of His kingdom to whatever sphere of life or part of the world you are walking in.