Why God Chose You

God knew us before the creation of time and he predestined a purpose for us to accomplish on this earth. If you are submitted to God and being led by the Holy Spirit, your life will not be ordinary. You are called to live a set apart life and the path that you take will be chosen and ordained by God. Jonah was called by God to prophesy and his assignment pointed towards Nineveh but Jonah was resistant. “But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3).

I am not sure where Jonah thought he was running to and one would expect him to know that God is omnipresent. God caused a storm to come upon the sea and the lives of everyone on the boat were threatened. Jonah knew that it was of the Lord because he had disobeyed and tried to live his life on his own terms. Jonah admitted to the crew that he had caused the storm because he disobeyed the God who created the earth and all its elements. He advised them to throw him overboard to save their lives. “So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging” (Jonah 1:15).

Luckily for Jonah, God caused a whale to swallow him and spat him back on dry land. Jonah was given a second chance and he did what God asked him to do. I imagine that the question going through Jonah’s mind was, ‘Why did God choose me?’ Each of us were born at a set time to fulfil a specific purpose. This will often determine many major life decisions such as where we live, where we work, our career pathways and even who we marry. God even chooses our parents and our distinct set of genetics and DNA. Many of our relationships and experiences have been designed to help to mould us into who God wants us to be.

Why did God choose you for this career, marriage, ministry, community, geographical location and ethnicity? Remember that every aspect of your life that is surrendered to God is to bring about a greater purpose. Resistance to the life that God designed for us leads to frustration, guilt, shame and remorse. A life fully surrendered to God is a life of true freedom and abundance. Many unbelievers consider living for God to be the opposite and the devil convince them that being a Christian represents bondage. This could not be further from the truth. You don’t know true freedom until your life is fully surrendered to God.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

A.P.-Y.