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You cancelled my ticket to hell, that’s not my destination!

Psalm 16:10 The MessagE

I’m not certain how many parents when hearing of their daughter’s intention to marry, reply “what are his prospects”? But I am sure that it is with their best intentions to ensure that their daughter will be well looked after!

Sometimes people judge a person by the same criteria immaterial of that person’s character. To some people, it matters greatly what the prospects are.

I was watching a programme when the presenter asked the chap why he changed his career. The person replied that they soon realised that they could not become a surgeon due to not liking operating on people and the prospect of becoming a doctor seemed highly unlikely. Therefore a new career was sought. His initial prospect was to be a doctor but in reality, he knew that it was not going to happen.

David had been told by God that he would be a king. In fact God had already anointed him as king by the prophet Samuel. David’s present situation seemed far remote from that of being a king. David though believed in God’s prospect and destiny for him.

On one occasion David had a perfect opportunity to kill the present king who was seeking his life. David’s army could not believe such an opportunity had been given and they must have thought their prospects of being free from being on the run would now come to an end.

To their surprise, David refused to kill the King. The prospect of David being a king surely had passed David by. Not so! David had learned a principle in life, that if God says something is going to come true, then no matter how long David had to wait, wait he would, because Gods timing was perfect. 

What about you and me?

Perhaps you find it hopeless regarding the prospect concerning yourself, family, business. You believed God had made a promise to you and the prospect of that promise now seems a million miles away.

David though not only knew his prospect on earth would be fulfilled but also when he left this earth. David had confidence in God (we talked about that yesterday) to the extent David could quote the words at the beginning of this blog. You cancelled my ticket to hell, that’s not my destination! 

What a prospect David pictures here. David looking at the future could relate to a day David believed a deliverer would come to save the human race. 

For David, it started with the resurrection of Jesus Christ which David foretold in this beautiful messianic psalm. Peter on the day of Pentecost referred to the words David had used (cf. Acts 2:25–28, 31), I’m glad from the inside out, ecstatic; I’ve pitched my tent in the land of hope. I know you’ll never dump me in Hades; I’ll never even smell the stench of death. You’ve got my feet on the life-path, with your face shining sun-joy all around. Heard those words before? I think we have.

In facing life or death, David rejoices and is hopeful (v. 9). He is confident that God will preserve him from the decay of death and that death will not result in his corruption (v. 10). In fact, David is so confident that he says his ultimate end will be in God’s joyful presence (v. 11). 

I ask is that how you feel today? You can feel like that by simply believing as David did that Jesus Christ has come to deliver us from sin and a broken relationship with God, admitting we have and do sin and asking for God’s forgiveness by believing in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He took our place and removed our sin to bring us into a new relationship with God. All we need to do is ask. Your prospect on earth matters, but not so much as your eternal destiny. That prospect matters a great deal. I hope you can say like David You cancelled my ticket to hell, that’s not my destination!

Author Edward Lawrence

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