Devotionals

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God’s Baby Book

“All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
Psalm 139:16b (NIV)

When I first read that all of my days were written in God’s book before one of them came to be, I would get this picture in my mind of some giant, tattered, ancient book that listed names (written in calligraphy of course) with birth dates and dates of death. An example of this would be for my late dad – James Henry Tarrant: March 5, 1933 – April 29, 2003. While this kind of book would have many facts, it would not have a lot of intimate details. I don’t know about you, but history with all of its dates and names was never really my favorite subject. However when I had a teacher or professor who helped me see and understand the personalities and issues behind the names, facts and dates, then history came to life. I really believe that God has a lot more in his book than when we enter and depart from this world.

This became more clear to me after I became a father. Before our first child was born, my wife and I were given a baby shower. We received many wonderful gifts including some things I had never seen or heard of (like a baby wipes warmer). One of the gifts which came to mean a lot to us was what is normally referred to as a “baby book.” This book had places to record your thoughts and store pictures of key events in the life of your child. There were pages for things like the day she was born, her first day at home, the first word she said, the day she sat up, the day she started to crawl, the day she took her first step, etc. As a father, I get tears in my eyes when I think about how much I love my two daughters and how blessed I have been to watch them grow into fine, Christian young women.

Now that I am a parent, and I think about all of my days written in God’s book, I think His book may be more like our “baby book.” Instead of a book of cold facts, God's book is more a book of warm celebration. I believe God records when we are born, when significant events occur in our lives, and when we make major decisions. It gives me chills to think that the God of the universe would joyfully record the events of my life. If God pulled out my “baby book”, I believe He would say things like: “I want to show you the life of my child, Jimmy. Look, here is the time when he trusted My Son, Jesus as his Savor. Here’s another time when he understood I wanted him to spend his life in ministry. Oh yes, here is a time he and his wife went through a miscarriage and learned I will always be with them no matter what.” When I think of how proud I am of my children and how I like to share their lives with other people, I reflect on how proud God must be of His children. Granted, He will not be proud of everything we do, but He will always be proud of us. One day God will make His final entry in all our “baby books.” If we have trusted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that entry may read something like this, “This is the day when My child came home to be with Me.”

Copyright 2008 Rev. Jimmy Tarrant

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