Every time we plan a vacation, and I am bustling about researching where we are going to stay, I get excited. I carefully seek out the perfectly located accommodations. I look for the most luxurious furniture, linens, and amenities we can afford based upon our preset housing budget. Then, when we actually commit, and the reservation is made, I joyfully anticipate what is to come. Yes, I can be a drama queen.
Coupled with that bliss; however, lurks an underlying anxiety, a niggling apprehension that something unforeseen will happen to cause our marvelous trip to be cancelled. When we travel to the Outer Banks, hurricanes can come into play. As we age, serious unexpected sickness can prevent travel. An inefficient property manager might have overbooked our desired rental. Any one of those events could prompt a cancellation. Consequently, I teeter between ecstasy and foreboding until the appointed departure time.
Unlike such earthly cancellable reservations, God's plan is NEVER thwarted. His reservations are uncancellable!!
Scripture tells us, "Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be," Psalm 139:16 (NIV). God, in His infinite wisdom and Sovereignty has a number of days set for each of us. They were planned, even before we came into existence.
"My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?" John 14:1-3 (NIV). God's accommodations for us, our rooms, are being prepared in advance for us. In fact, God's Son, Jesus, is going there in advance to prepare a perfect place for each of His children.
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand," John 10:27-29 (NIV). We, God's sheep, are His, and we listen to His voice. He knows each of us personally, and we know Him. We follow Him to our especially prepared rooms, at the appointed time. We absolutely do not have to fear that our rooms are taken by others because God has given us eternal life through His Son, Jesus. We will NOT perish (die) and stay in the ground. God guarantees our rooms. He guarantees that we will not and cannot be snatched out of Jesus' hand. We were gifted to Him, and NO ONE and NO unforeseen situation can cancel this reservation!
God has made our reservations; He has prepared our perfect accommodations, and no one and nothing can keep us from our appointed time!!
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time," 1 Peter 1:3-5 NIV.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time," 1 Peter 1:3-5 NASB.
Holy Father, I pray that I might fully understand and accept such words as "can never perish, spoil or fade"; "incorruptible, undefiled, and that not fadeth away", "imperishable and undefiled, and will not fade away". May I know without question that you are protecting and guaranteeing my reservation in heaven, my inheritance that you have granted out of your abundant mercy, and because of these absolutes, may I live every day in joy that could only come from you. Amen.
