Could I have been anyone other than me?

Could I have been
A parking lot attendant
Could I have been
A millionaire in Bel Air
Could I have been Lost somewhere in Paris
Could I have been
Your little brother
Could I have been
Anyone other than me
Could I have been
Anyone other than me
Could I have been
Anyone other than me
Could I have been
Anyone

From Dancing Nancies, by Dave Matthews
Band

I have always liked the song I've quoted above because, for one, I am a big DMB fan and two, it asks a question that I considered myself when I was a kid: Why am I me? Or, why am I not somebody else? Why wasn't I born to different parents, at a different time in history, in a different part of the world? I could have just as easily, as far as it depends on me, been born somewhere in the middle east, sometime in the 4th century, and it would seem just as "arbitrary" as my actual existence. If you've never considered this question, please do.

Once you've considered that, try this question: Why do I exist at all?

That one is much tougher, because we "think therefore we are." It's nearly impossible to think about yourself not existing, because if you are thinking then you must exist, which means that you can't imagine not existing. But, give it a try. Maybe watching It's a Wonderful Life would help. Maybe not.

The only reason I exist is because God decided that I would. My entire existence is completely and entirely derived from God. Had he decided otherwise, I would have never been created, and even the concept of "Mike Wittmann" would be impossible. That would have been a big deal to me (except that I would have never existed, so "me" would be an absurdity), but a very small deal to God. Why? Because God doesn't need me. He is not somehow better or more God-ish because he has created me. He wasn't deficient in some way before I was born, and then completed in a Jerry Maguire sort of way once I came to be on his earth.

So, back to Dave Matthews' question: Could I have been anyone other than me? Perhaps a better question would be, Why am I me?

Here's what Paul told a bunch of Athenian philosophers on this matter, which is recorded in Acts 17:

24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' (emphasis mine)

So, the reason I was born when I was, where I was, and to the parents that I was is that God himself decided it would be that way.

Not only was the origin of my existence determined by God, but even the days of my life were written in God's "book" before I was even born (Psalm 139:16)! Does that make me a puppet or a robot? No! It makes me the creation of a loving, sovereign God who is not capable of sin and does not choose arbitrarily but rather according to his good and holy will. My response to his sovereignty in my life should be, as Paul wrote in Acts, to seek and find God, so that I may have a relationship with him.

The only reason I exist is because God decided that I would. Thus, my purpose must also be derived from him and I have no room to tell him how I think things should be. The reason I exist is to glorify my creator and to enjoy him forever. That is the reason that I am who I am, when I am, where I am. Dave, if you're reading, there's your answer.