God doesn’t just use your gifts to fulfill your destiny. He can also use your limitations.

“The king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval . . . So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen” (Esther 2:17 NIV).

God will not only use your gifts to fulfill your destiny, but he’ll also use your limitations.

Let’s look at Esther again. She had several big limitations that made her perfect for the role God wanted her to fulfill. She was an orphan adopted by Mordecai; she was a minority, a Jew living in a Persian country; and she was a single woman. A single woman in a male-dominated society had zero rights.

And God used all of these things, along with the gifts of her beauty, brains, and personality, to fulfill her destiny. Think about it: If Esther had been a married man, she wouldn’t have become queen. And if she hadn’t been a minority, she wouldn’t have cared about the Jews and what was going to happen to them.

Sometimes what looks like a disaster in your life is part of a much bigger plan. But you will never fulfill your destiny if you are having a pity party.

Esther could have just said, “If only I hadn’t been chosen . . . If only I wasn’t Jewish . . . If only I was more like someone else.” A lot of people do that. They live their lives in resentment, always looking at people and saying, “Well it must be nice to be them.”

If you have that attitude, you will never fulfill your destiny. You have to realize that the unpleasant obstacles in your life are often God-ordained opportunities to make a difference.

It’s hard to see that when you’re in pain. Look at Job. He was the wealthiest man in the world, and then God allowed everything to be taken from him— his family, wealth, and health.

Then, when Job started questioning God, God was silent.

Job said, “I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I look to the south, but he is concealed. But he knows where I am going . . . Once he has made his decision, who can change his mind? Whatever he wants to do, he does. So he will do to me whatever he has planned. He controls my destiny” (Job 23:9-10, 13-14 NLT).

You might be in a situation right now where everything is going wrong and you can’t figure it out. But God knows. Nothing in your life is accidental. The pleasures and pains, the opportunities and obstacles—God can use it all. 

Talk It Over

What are the seemingly difficult circumstances of your life that you have seen God use for good?

What is your biggest struggle right now? How do you think God wants you to turn it around and use it for his purposes?

How do you think God wants you to respond when it seems he is silent? How can you hear from him?

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This devotional © 2020 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.