Human beings do not have control over their own lives. However, most of us live under the illusion that we do. No one can determine by themselves when they will be born, and neither can anyone determine when they will die. Well critics will immediately point out that in cases of suicide and euthanasia that individuals do determine when they die. The flaw in such scenario is that the individual with hindsight will certainly not choose to put themselves in such hopeless or fatal disease/illness, condition that results in either the loss of the will to continue to live or the physical shutdown of the human body.
Right from Adam, the first man, in whose case, God paraded all living things before him to give them names, to the earliest scientist who identified, classified and organized living and non-living things existing in nature, and down to the modern day scientist, man has always and still preoccupied with bringing order and control to the natural environment in which he finds itself. It is a delusion to think we can control ourselves or our destiny, not to think that we can control others, be they family, friends or strangers, not to talk of controlling or manipulating God. Yes, the preceding sentence is true, we do try to manipulate God, otherwise, why do we make promises or take oaths or vows towards God that if He does something for us, we will do something in return for Him. The case of Jephthah the Gileadite and his daughter, his only child, in the book of Judges chapter 11, is an example of making vows to God. There is nothing we can give the owner of all things, even if we withhold praises and acknowledgement that He is God, Jesus Christ pointed out that stones will shout out His praises, Luke 19:37-40; When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” 40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
God is the One who is in control of our destiny, He is the One who determines when we are born and when we exit this physical realm. He knows the end from the beginning, just as the Holy Spirit stated in Psalm 139:15-16; My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.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.
