God's Plans for You: Before You Were Born

Known Before You Were Born

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Before Samson was even born, God knew him, chose him and planned his work. The Bible shows that God does this for every person He makes.

Samson. The Angel of the Lord said, “You shall conceive and bear a son,” and “he shall begin to deliver Israel” (Judges 13:3, 5). God had a job ready for a baby who did not exist yet.

Made by God. David prayed, “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb” (Psalm 139:13). Inward parts means everything inside you.

Wonderfully made. “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). You are not an accident.

A gift. “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward” (Psalm 127:3). Heritage means a gift handed down. Every child is precious to God.

Jeremiah. God told Jeremiah that He knew him and set him apart before he was born, to be a prophet (Jeremiah 1:5).

John the Baptist. An angel told Zacharias that his son John would be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb (Luke 1:15).

Paul. Paul said God had set him apart from his mother's womb and called him by His grace (Galatians 1:15).

Nothing too hard. When God promised a son to old Sarah, He asked, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14). God loves to give life where people have no hope.

Jesus. God planned the birth of Jesus long before it happened. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel” (Matthew 1:23). Immanuel means God with us.

Right on time. “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4).

Good works ready. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

Every child. Some children are born sick, or with bodies that work differently. God made them too, and He knows and loves them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them” (Matthew 19:14).

What we learn. God made you on purpose and knew you before anyone else did. Every life, from the very beginning, matters to Him.

What to do. This week, thank God for making you. Then thank Him for one person in your family He made too.

Judges 13 is one of several places where God announces a child before he is conceived. Together they teach that God's knowledge and care reach back before birth.

Judges 13:3-5. God gave the boy his calling, his way of life and his work before conception. His mother kept the Nazirite rules for his sake while she carried him (13:4, 14).

Psalm 139:13-16. David says God “formed my inward parts” and “covered me in my mother's womb.” The picture is of God weaving a person together. Verse 16 adds that God saw him and wrote his days in His book before any of them came.

Psalm 127:3. “Children are a heritage from the Lord.” A heritage (Hebrew nachalah, say: nah-khah-LAH) is a gift passed down, like family land. Children are God's gift, not a burden.

Jeremiah 1:5. God told Jeremiah that before He formed him in the womb He knew him, and before he was born He set him apart. To know here means to choose and care for.

Isaiah 49:1 and Galatians 1:15. The Servant of the Lord says God called Him from the womb. Paul uses the same kind of words for his own calling, which shows that God's call comes by grace, not because of what we have done.

Luke 1:13-17. John the Baptist was announced by an angel, was to drink no wine, and was filled with the Spirit from the womb. His work was to prepare the way for the Lord.

Genesis 18:14. “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” The barren mothers of the Bible (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Manoah's wife, Hannah, Elizabeth) show that life is God's gift.

The life of the unborn. Because God knows, forms and calls people in the womb, Christians believe every human life is sacred from its beginning. No life is an accident, and no life is worth less.

Matthew 19:14. Jesus welcomed the little children His disciples tried to send away: “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them.” Children are not less important to God than adults.

Matthew 1:21-23. All these announcements lead to the greatest one. Jesus was named before His birth, and His name tells His work: “He will save His people from their sins.”

Ephesians 2:10. The Greek word for workmanship is poiema (say: poy-AY-mah), something carefully made, like a work of art. God prepares good works for His people to walk in.

Application. If God planned your life before you were born, you can trust Him with it now. Ask Him to show you the good works He has prepared for you.

Good Thoughts Toward You

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Our memory verse is one of the most loved verses in the Bible. To understand it well, we need to know who first heard it.

The first readers. Jeremiah sent a letter to God's people who had been carried away to Babylon (Jeremiah 29:1). They were far from home, and many were sad and afraid.

A long wait. God told them they would be there for seventy years (Jeremiah 29:10). Many of them would grow old in Babylon.

Live well there. God told them to build houses, plant gardens, have families and pray for the city where they lived (Jeremiah 29:5-7).

The promise. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).

What it means. God's plans were good, even when life was hard. He had not forgotten them, and He would bring them home.

Not an easy life. God's good plan did not mean the exiles had no trouble. They still waited seventy years. God's plans are good even when they are slow.

Seek Him. God also told them to call on Him, pray and seek Him with all their heart, and He would be found by them (Jeremiah 29:12-13).

For us too. “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen” (2 Corinthians 1:20). In Jesus, God's good thoughts are for everyone who trusts Him.

God's plan stands. “There are many plans in a man's heart, Nevertheless the Lord's counsel—that will stand” (Proverbs 19:21). Counsel means plan.

Higher than ours. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord (Isaiah 55:8).

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

God guides. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye” (Psalm 32:8).

The best plan. God's best plan for you is to know Him. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).

What to do. When you feel worried about what is next, pray Jeremiah 29:11 and trust God with your future. Ask Him, What do You want me to do today?

Jeremiah 29:11 is often quoted alone. Read in its setting, it is even stronger, because it was spoken to people whose lives had fallen apart.

The letter (29:1). Jeremiah wrote from Jerusalem to the exiles in Babylon, taken there by Nebuchadnezzar. They had lost their homes, their temple and their land.

False hope (29:8-9). Some prophets were promising a quick return. God said they were prophesying lies. Real hope is built on what God actually says.

Seventy years (29:10). God named the length of the exile. Most of the adults who heard the letter would not see the return. The promise was for the people of God as a whole, and it still was not empty for them.

Seek the peace of the city (29:7). God told them to pray for Babylon, because in its peace they would have peace. God's people can serve Him faithfully even in hard places.

Thoughts (29:11). The Hebrew machashavot (say: makh-shah-VOTE) means plans or purposes. God's plans were shalom (say: shah-LOME), peace and wholeness, not harm.

A future and a hope. The future was the return to the land (29:14). The hope reached further, to the Messiah and the new covenant God promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34.

Jeremiah 31:33. The future God promised included a new heart: “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts.” That promise comes true in Jesus.

Seek Me (29:12-13). The promise came with an invitation: call on God, pray, and seek Him with all your heart. God's plan is not only for us but with us.

2 Corinthians 1:20. “All the promises of God in Him are Yes.” Every promise God made to His people finds its yes in Jesus.

Proverbs 19:21 and Isaiah 55:8-9. People make many plans, but the Lord's counsel stands. His thoughts are higher than ours, so trusting Him sometimes means waiting without understanding.

Romans 8:28. God works all things together for good for those who love Him. Verse 29 says that good is becoming like Jesus.

Application. God's good plan does not promise an easy life. It promises that God is for you in Christ and will finish what He starts. Pray, seek Him with your whole heart, and do faithfully the work in front of you today.

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