Journey with Della

As one who has never quite attached too much significance to birthdays, imagine my surprise when I woke up today with a deep sense that my date of birth might actually matter to God. 🫨

You see, no where in the Bible do I see a lot of emphasis laid on the day someone was born. There are two birthday celebrations mentioned in scripture and on both of them events were set in motion that resulted in the death of someone later. Think Pharoah and Herod. Scripture even categorically puts it in perspective for us when it says one’s day of death is better than the day of birth (Ecc. 7:1). No wonder Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. To further drive the point home, Jesus asked us to remember his death and not his birth before returning to the Father. You get the vibe?

So you see why the impression I woke up with in my spirit gave me cause for pause, right? Naturally, I dug a little deeper and boom! There it was. Zechariah’s conversation with the angel concerning the birth of his son – John the Baptist.

…many will rejoice at his birth …, the angel said and then went on to explain exactly why.

Fast forward to the very next chapter and you see the angels rejoicing at the birth of Jesus, the Messiah. Again because of the purpose for which He had come and not simply because He was born.

Notice that these two make no mention of the specific date of birth and no where do we see any of those birthdays being celebrated later in life.

My reservoir of memory verses quickly brought Jeremiah 1:5 to the top where God says He chose Jeremiah before he was formed in his mother’s womb and, notice it here again, appointed you as a prophet to the nations… One of my favorite Psalms quickly added.

You knitted me together in my mother’s womb… My form was not hidden from You when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Ps. 139:13; 15-16.

So what is the big deal?

1. God is intentional in all He does. No single birth is the work of random chance (and I know this raises questions for you. I have questions too).
2. Because He knows the end of a matter from the beginning, He carefully chose the time, and I dare say the date on which we should each make our entrance into this earth.
3. Our birth is significant to the degree that we align ourselves to His purposes for us and surrender ourselves for His use in their fulfillment.
4. Scripture elevates the date of our death above the date of our birth not because one is necessarily less important than the other (in order to die you had to be born 😉) but so that we do not lose sight of the reality that we are here for a reason which is destined to be fulfilled within a short time (we are really not here for that long).

So, yes! June 24 is important because it marks the beginning of this wonderful privilege offered me by the God of all heaven to participate in His wonderful works on the earth. I could have been born on any other day of any other month of any other year, but God is not random.

Happy birthday to me🎂🥂🍾

But seriously, are you happy that I was born? (Yes, I mean you reading this!) And what have you found in scripture about birthdays? Leave me your honest opinion in a comment below. Thanks in advance