The Old Slave Trader Who Saw a Young Man's Destiny

In 1785, a twenty-five-year-old member of Parliament named William Wilberforce sat in the parlor of John Newton, the aging rector of St. Mary Woolnoth in London. Wilberforce had recently come to faith and was wrestling with whether to leave politics for the ministry. He assumed public life and devotion to God could not coexist.

Newton studied the young man across from him — restless, brilliant, burdened with conviction. Newton himself had once captained slave ships across the Atlantic. He knew what it meant to be found by a God who sees what no one else does. And in this fidgeting politician, Newton saw something Wilberforce could not yet see in himself.

"God has raised you up for the good of His church and the good of this nation," Newton told him. Stay in Parliament. Fight.

Wilberforce was stunned. He had come expecting to be told to retreat from the world. Instead, this old pastor spoke over him a calling he had not imagined — one that would lead to the abolition of the British slave trade twenty-two years later.

When Jesus told Nathanael, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree," He revealed something breathtaking: the Almighty sees us before we come looking for Him. He knows our questions, our doubts, our hidden wrestling. And like Newton speaking destiny over a confused young politician, Jesus does not wait for us to figure ourselves out. He finds us, names what He has already placed within us, and invites us to follow.