Galatians 4:1-3

1 NOW WHAT I mean is that as long as the inheritor (heir) is a child and under age, he does not differ from a slave, although he is the master of all the estate;

2 But he is under guardians and administrators or trustees until the date fixed by his father.

There is so much peace in the Truth in the fact that our Father fixes the dates and times and seasons. Our Father knows better than anyone what is needed and the best time for it to come into being. Our Father fixed the time for Jesus to come to this earth. God fixed the time for Jesus to be born, He fixed how Jesus was to be born, and He fixed when and how Jesus was to die. Our Father was in total control of Jesus’ life and His destiny. I don’t know many people that will argue with this and actually most of us have a great deal of faith with this Truth. So here is my question: why do we freak out when the exact same thing is said about our own life’s? Why do we have so many issues with our own life’s being predestined by the grace and power of our Father, Who is God, when we do not have any issues whatsoever with Jesus’ life and death being predestined by Him?

This Jesus, when delivered up according to the definite and fixed purpose and settled plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and put out of the way [killing Him] by the hands of lawless and wicked men. Acts 2:23

To carry out all that Your hand and Your will and purpose had predestined (predetermined) should occur. Acts 4:28

3 So we [Jewish Christians] also, when we were minors, were kept like slaves under [the rules of the Hebrew ritual and subject to] the elementary teachings of a system of external observations and regulations.

External observations and regulations make us slaves to the flesh and put us in bondage to it. Think of the things that we hear so often in today’s religion: wear this, don’t wear that, go to a building on a certain day, eat this during this time, pray in this position, don’t go there, give this amount of money, and all of the other religious regulations and observations that enslave us to the works of the flesh. We take a scripture and make it a rule based on our own efforts and then we call it faith. Remember what the Holy Spirit showed us in Galatians Chapter 3: that if we rely on these human efforts then we are doomed to destruction. These types of rules that attempt to bring us into right standing with our Father are elementary, they have been done away with. 

The glorious Truth for us is that if something is required of us to do, it is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit, our Strength, to cause us to do it. Works of the flesh will not save us and the lack of a work will not remove us from our salvation. They are just works. If a work is desired by our Father for us to do, then Jesus will Shepherd us in the work and His power will cause us to accomplish it. Sometimes we may be fully aware of what is happening and sometimes we may not, but the responsibility all lies with Jesus. Jesus is responsible because He is our Head, He is our Vine, and He is our Lord.