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Does God Number Our Days?

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by Randy White Ministries Sunday, May 29, 2022

Does God Number Our Days?


The Answer We Want To Hear

  • We seem to want to hear that God numbers our days.

    • It provides us a degree of comfort during tragedy.

    • It provides us a degree of assurance during trying or dangerous times.


  • Sometimes the wish is the father of the theology.

    • “evangelical consensus" is that God numbers our days.

      • “When we will die is not a matter of accident or chance; the Bible makes it clear that our lives are in God's hands. He knows the time of our death, and He has even appointed it." (https://billygraham.org.uk/answer/does-god-know-when-every-person-is-going-to-die-or-is-it-all-left-up-to-chance/)


    • The reformed theology position (not consensus) is that God numbers our days.

      • “God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass." (Westminster Confession of Faith, 3.1)


  • Our task is to build our theology separate from our desires and separate from the teachings of man, built upon Scripture alone.

The Scripture Passages Supporting What We Want to Hear

  • Job 14:5 -- Man's days are determined; his time is in God's hands.

  • Isaiah 38:1-5 -- Hezekiah's days were lengthened by 15 years.

  • Acts 17:26 -- God has determined the times beforehand and the bounds of their habitation.

  • Hebrews 9:27 -- there is an appointment with death.

  • James 4:13-15 -- Rather than boasting in the future, ye ought to say, If the Lord will… (v. 15).

  • Matthew 10:29-30 -- The hairs of your head are all numbered.

A Second Look At These Passages

  • Consider Job 14:5 in light of Job 14:14 and 7:1.

    • Job 14:14 - The phrase appointed time“the days of my warfare." Verse 15 goes on to show that Job is saying, “I will be faithful through all of my troubles."

    • Job 7:1 -- The same military word is used for appointed time (see KJV marginal note).

    • The context of Job 14 is Job's conversation with God (which began in Job 13:20). Job is desiring an appointment with God to speak to Him about the injustices he is experiencing in his current tribulation (which foreshadows Israel's coming tribulation). He speaks of the trouble that mankind experiences (v. 1) until God looks upon him brings about the final judgment (v. 3) in which man is dependent upon God's goodness (v. 4), for not one (man) can bring a clean thing out of an unclean. Why? Because he does not have enough time, verse 5.


  • Concerning Isaiah 38:1-5, one must first recognize that it is always dangerous to build a doctrine out of an historical account (anecdotal doctrine). If this passage is used to prove the set number of days of a man's life, it would have to be acknowledged that such a determination could be changed.

  • Acts 17:26 is not considering the length of an individual's life, but rather all nations. God determined the times before appointed“horizon" on the nations (the word determined is οριζω [orizo], from which we get horizon). We have known since Daniel's time that there were the times of the Gentiles and that those times have a boundary.

  • Hebrews 9:27 -- Having an appointment with death does not require a pre-determined time and manner of arrival.

  • James 4:13-15 -- as in James 5:3, James is warning Israel about her last days and trying to call them to repentance before judgment. The general statement of James 4:13-15 is true without requiring a set number of days for our lives.

  • Matthew 10:29-30 -- the counting of days (or hairs) is not the determination of such.

Implications Of A Determinist Worldview

  • God gets the blame for that which is evil. School shootings, abortions, child abuse, murder, and war are the work of sin, not the work of God. If God determined the short lives of innocent children, then God also determined their killer.

  • If one really believed that God determined the day of our death, then he or she would avoid medical care, as such would show a lack of faith.

Another Answer

  • Even from the beginning of time, God has given man free will. So free, in fact, that sometimes men radically reject God and choose that which puts themselves and others in danger.

  • This enhances the sovereignty of God. A God who must determine every molecule is petty and insecure in that which He has created. A God who can truly allow His creation to make decisions (even those which reject Him) is a God who is secure in His ability to set things right again.

  • The problem of sin and evil is a problem we create, and we can fix. When we make decisions which align with God's structure for society, life-spans are lengthened and freedom during those days is enhanced.

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