Has God Foreordained Our Days?

by Mike James

Among the various debates in Christianity, one revolves around the idea of determinism vs. free will. Some Christians believe God has already decided everyone's fate—whether we are saved or lost, and exactly how long we will live. The position of the Church of God is that God has not predetermined everything that will happen by His will.

Now, before I go any further, I do believe God can enforce His will on humanity and the history of the world, but He, for the most part, is not doing that. The Bible is full of examples in biblical history where God did make things happen. Examples like creation, the flood, the exodus, choosing Israel, the incarnation, converting Paul, and the last days before Christ's return involve God intimately with the details of history. But there has been a lot more history where God has not inserted Himself into the equation.

This topic can take on many facets, but since this is a blog, I'm going to focus on one specific scripture that is often usedto prove God has preordained everything. The scripture I want to focus on is Psalm 139:16. Let us begin by looking at a few different translations of this verse.

Psalm 139:16: Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (NIV)

Psalm 139:16: Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were appointed for me, when as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape]. (Amplified Bible)

Psalm 139:16: Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. (KJV)

Psalm 139:16: Mine unformed substance Thine eyes saw, And on Thy book all of them are written, The days they were formed – And not one among them. (Young's Literal Translation)

Now no doubt the first two translations seem to imply that God has foreordained how long each of us is going to live. The KJV seems to be implying that God sees us before we are born and takes note of us. I'm not quite sure what the YLT is saying about the matter.

One other thing to keep in mind about this scripture is it was most likely written by King David. Did God have an intimate and special relationship with David, more so than the average human born into the world? Most definitely! Jesus was going to be born from the lineage of David, so God obviously may have had a more careful watch on the details of David's life than the average person.

He probably watched over David in his battle with Goliath, and when he was a shepherd, He protected him from lions. Obviously, God wanted David to make it to adulthood and have children, but everyone's life is not as important as David's was to the will of God from a historical perspective. Yes, everyone matters to God, but God is more intimately involved in some lives than others. 

But one important point to understand in Bible study is to never base a doctrine or principle on just one or a few scriptures if there are many other scriptures addressing the same subject in the Bible. This one verse is far from definitive proof of God preordaining the days of all mankind. 

Now, the first thing to note here is that the manuscript translations on this verse are not in agreement on exactly what is being conveyed here. But a second major item to note is that there are scriptures in the Bible that throw cold water on the notion that God has preordained how long everyone is going to live.

Perhaps the most prominent example of this is found in Isaiah 38. In this chapter, we read (verse 1) that due to a sickness, God told a prophet to tell Hezekiah that He was going to die very soon. Notice no exact day provided. But once Hezekiah hears about this, he prays to God for this not to happen. Finally, in verse 5 God decides to spare Hezekiah and let him live for another 15 years! Now some might argue that God was still determining how much longer Hezekiah would live, but again no exact death date given. But we need to dig a little deeper.

This example still proves that the idea that everything is predetermined and cannot be impacted by human decisions is false. You can't get around it.

Let me stay on the subject of how long we live for now and provide a few more scriptures. In Psalm 90:10, we read the following: "The days of our lives are seventy years; And if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; For it is soon cut off, and we fly away" (NKJV).

Now, notice the context of this scripture, which is talking about how long humans live on average. The scripture tells us most humans will live to be between 70 and 80 years of age. Amazingly, if you check longevity research and the average age of humans, this range is the sweet spot. But more importantly, notice that those who may live longer are said to live longer because of their strength and not because God is deciding which day they should die on.

Further evidence is found in Genesis 6:3, where the implication seems to be that the outer limit of how long humans would live after the flood was about 120 years. Once again, do the research on this, and you will find the oldest humans live not much longer than 120 years since the flood.

These scriptures provide an average age for humans to live and an outer limit age for humanity, but they don't say God decides the date of death for the average human being. Of course, God could determine our date of death if He wills it, but that is not the norm according to Scripture.

In the next International News, I will expand on the subject of this short blog as we investigate more scriptures that some use to promote the idea that God has predetermined everything. Scrutiny of those scriptures will reveal something else. We will also provide more scriptures that make it clear God is allowing man to use His free will and choice to determine not only how long we may live, but the most important decision—whether or not we choose to be in relationship with Christ. God does not make that decision for us; we must make that decision.