2 Timothy is the last we hear of Paul. He is in chains, in Rome, knowing that he is near the end of the race, and he will soon be gone. He has lost most of his former friends, and, to his knowledge, the fruit of much of his work is uncertain. So many had turned away.
Could he have foreseen what God would do with his letters? Could he have foreseen that centuries later a man would invent a printing press for the express purpose of printing his letters and the rest of the Bible, and that it would become the most widely read and most influential document the world has ever known?
Could he have known all this as he waited his execution; cold, lonely, forsaken?
What we can glean from this is to obey God and leave the results up to God, as Paul did. The result will be glory.
Ian Vincent 
August 24, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Yes, and I doubt he had some grandiose feeling of “destiny” which in today’s charismania actually means something closer to fame and fortune. I think he simply endeavored to be obedient everyday, trusting that Christ in him was his hope of glory.
August 25, 2010 at 12:34 am
Yes. Heavenly destiny, not worldly destiny, eh.
Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them who so walk, since you have us for an example. (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) For our citizenship is in heaven; from which also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our humble body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.
(Php 3:17-21)