The rhythms of life flow all around us: The cascading waterfall; the whispering songs on the wind; the violent disharmony of the storm. The surging tides of the ocean capture the cadence of our souls and we calculate the patient advance of the stars through their measured symphony. We listen to the forests chant their ancient, solemn hymn while the valley’s mists murmur a lullaby and the seasons march across the years marking time, measuring our lives as we wind our way from day-care to life-care, or somewhere in between.
But is it all planned? Is our path laid out for us toward an inevitable destiny that is written in the stars? Yes and no.
Destiny
There are two categories of destiny: personal destiny and the destiny of mankind. On a personal level, we may wonder what we’re supposed to do during our short lives, but on a grander scale we may wonder about the future of mankind as a whole. One of the ways we have sought to achieve this knowledge is by observing the patterns of nature.
Romulus and Remus, the twin brothers who laid the foundation of Rome, tried to determine who would be king of their new city by studying the flight patterns of birds. They thought this would reveal the will of the gods, but when it only led to confusion Romulus solved the problem by killing his brother.
I know people who have sought for advice from mediums (those who claim to speak with the dead), or having their palms read, or from studying the way coffee grounds splay out on a saucer. I know of people who have sought wisdom from their daily horoscope on which decision to make, and those who have participated in seances or used Ouija boards. I understand the effort to know what’s going on. Should I do this or do that? How do I find out what my destiny is, if there even is one?
And these efforts are nothing new. For centuries humans have not only sought to discover one’s own personal destiny, kings and nations have sought the council of astrologers to guide their nations. They hired dream interpreters, mediums, and prophets, all to determine if their decisions would align positively with the patterns of nature and the will of the gods. Was it their destiny to go to war? Did the universe give them permission? These quests are meant to find patterns and to discover whether one’s actions will bring harmony and balance, or chaos and annihilation.
But as much as we would like to pre-know what decision to make and how our decisions will play out in the future–whether individually or nationally–patterns do nothing more than give us a few guidelines at best, and will perhaps cause us to make bad decisions at worst. Wisdom will not be found in the stars, or the patterns and rhythms of nature, and the fate of our lives and our nations should not rest on such speculations.
The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.
Seeking Wisdom
We should not seek astrology, or other forms of divination, to find our path. We should only seek the Creator of nature.
One of the greatest biblical examples of how this works is found in the story of Joseph, the son of Jacob. When he was about fifteen years old his brothers chose to sell him to Ishmaelite slave traders instead of murdering him. He then was sold to a slave owning Egyptian named Potiphar, who’s wife lied that he tried to rape her. Potiphar threw him into jail where he eventually interpreted the dreams of a butler and baker who were servants of pharaoh.
Now, some may say, “See! Joseph used divination. He interpreted their dreams.” But Joseph himself says, ““Do not interpretations belong to God?” (Genesis 40:8).
Dreams and Visions
Dreams and visions are all throughout the Bible, and God was behind them all. He spoke to the butler and baker, as we saw, who were not Jewish, and then God gave Pharaoh some dreams. A Pharaoh was not just at the top of Egyptian society, he was the center. All life revolved around him and the success and failures of Egypt were due to him or her. Indeed, Pharaoh was god on earth and his word was to be obeyed without question. He was the ultimate authority and he had the power of life and death. But then he has two dreams which he does not understand, and only the true God, through Joseph, tells him the answer.
Pharaoh’s first dream was of seven fat, healthy cows which were then eaten by seven thin, starving cows. His second dream was of seven healthy heads of grain which were then consumed by seven sickly crops of grain (Genesis 41:1-7).
None of the pharaoh’s priests and diviners could interpret the dream, but then the butler remembered Joseph who was then brought before pharaoh. After hearing the dreams he said,
“God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years; it is one and the same dream. The seven lean, ugly cows that came up afterward are seven years, and so are the seven worthless heads of grain scorched by the east wind: They are seven years of famine” (Genesis 41:25-27).
Could the interpreters of natural phenomenon who spent their lives studying the patterns of nature ever have come to such a conclusion? No, because what God was going to do broke the pattern of nature. In his mercy he revealed to pharaoh his plans, and through Joseph, God saved Egypt and the nearby nations. Joseph wisely stockpiled grain during the years of plenty, knowing that they needed enough to survive through the coming seven years of famine. As a result, not only did Egypt have enough to survive, but they got rich off the surrounding nations having to buy grain from Egypt. God revealed to the pagan pharaoh–a false god–the destiny of his nation, but studying the patterns of nature didn’t reveal it, God did.
Indeed, there is simply no way anyone could ever sort out either personal or national destinies by mere human wisdom. We are too limited. We honor Joseph, but not because he had any ability of his own, but because he models for us the true path of wisdom: the fear of the Lord. He needed God to reveal the plan and then he acted wisely, which was according to God’s plan.
That is exactly how we should approach the way we govern our lives, too. Listen to what God reveals and then act accordingly. As Jesus taught,
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
The Wisdom of the Magi
This is one of the extraordinary truths that we can learn from the birth of Christ: God had it all planned out. How did the magi (who were educated in the arts of astrology) know that the Jewish Messiah had been born? Did they use astrology? Did they rely on their wisdom to determine the meaning of the stars? They saw “his star” but did they use astrological charts and the wisdom of man to know what it meant?
I don’t believe so.
I believe they, like Joseph and Daniel, relied on the wisdom of God to be their source of knowledge. Their guild was born during the time of Daniel, and because of the prophecies of Daniel and their mathematical skills, this guild knew how much time was supposed to pass until the Messiah would be born.
One of the many things that the story of the magi teaches us, is that if we start with God’s revelation of himself in His spoken word as proclaimed through his prophets and priests, and take his word seriously, we will arrive at the Truth.
The God of Nature
Nature can validate truth, or even reflect truth, but it does not originate truth. CS Lewis says,
Nature does not teach. A true philosophy may sometimes validate an experience of nature; an experience of nature cannot validate a philosophy. . . . She [nature] will help to show what it means. . . . [But] we must make a detour—leave the hills and woods and go back to our studies, to church, to our Bibles, to our knees. Otherwise the love of nature is beginning to turn into a nature religion. And then, even if it does not lead us to the Dark Gods, it will lead us to a great deal of nonsense (C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves, 1st ed. (1960; repr., San Francisco: Harperone, 1960), 26–27).
That is why we need to start with God’s Word and prayer. Truth originates with God, not with nature. He may reveal himself in dreams and in the patterns of nature for those who are attentive, but if we try to understand what it all means based upon our own wisdom or talents, if we start with a value system created by ourselves, we will not understand what God is really saying, or what nature is saying about God:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 19:1-4
The destiny of mankind and of our own lives is in the hands of God, but the heavens proclaim the glory of God, the source and originator of all that we are. Who can be higher than God? Certainly not his creation. So when we experience the beauty of the sunrise and admire the delicate patterns of color on the pedal of flower, or feel the awe of insight into a mystery, we should never turn our hearts to nature, but to the God of nature. Nature can become a false god, but in its proper place, it is a faithful witness.
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