May 15th blog post

Supplying the Needs   1 Samuel 17


I am an introvert (more severe than people will every really know), a recovering perfectionist, highly self critical of most things I do, I over analyze almost everything I do or say, I don't have a college degree, I love to do lots of things but I am not necessarily proficient at any one thing (Pintrest reminds me of this daily), I have many areas of weakness, and I have a body that is getting older each day and reminding me of this fact with things like new reading glasses needed.  I don't say this out of pity for myself but to lay out before everyone the many shortcomings that can and sometimes do confront me when I am given opportunities to serve the Lord.

David was a mere boy.  He was not a solider but a shepherd.  His outward appearance was nothing compared to his eldest brother Eliab (1 Samuel 16:6-7).  Yet despite everything going against him David's heart for the Lord, which was big, drew him to see an opportunity to serve the Lord in which he willingly volunteered for.  I believe David knew that he alone was not qualified to take on the giant Goliath but he knew his God was.  He knew that God can and does use willing hearts and turns them into skillful hands with his power.  Even when brought before the King and those with the skill and ability David did not posses he was spoken to with discouragement because of his lack of age, stature, and skill as a soldier: "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." 1 Samuel 17:29.  This is where I might have hung my head in agreeing defeat but not David.  He knew his shortcomings but he also knew his passion to serve and spoke about how God had delivered him, empowered him to do things in the past which he should not have been able to do.  I don't believe he saw a giant with skill that out matched his own.  I believe David saw an opportunity to be a willing vessel for the Lord and to bring him glory.  David knew that he would bring what little he had to the fight and that God would make up the rest of what was needed.  The result?  God was glorified through a victory which was against all human odds.  The victory and glory didn't come about the way we would have humanly envisioned it but God usually has a way of bringing Glory to himself in ways and through people whom we never would have imagined.  His power is truly made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9) and David is perfect example of this for me.

I find that God calls me to things that are so far out of my human skill set and beyond my comfort and abilities.  But what I have learned and experienced in saying yes to the opportunities that are beyond my abilities is the faithfulness of my God.  He never calls me and then leaves me to figure it out alone.  He equips me through his spirit to do that which I am not able to do in my own human weakness.  The result?  I always pray, is for God to be glorified.  I am an introvert who does not like to be the focus of attention, I have no educational degree to hang on my wall, I have been a stay at home mother for the past 23+ years of my life.  Yet, despite these "lacks" in my character and resume God has called me to stand before women (and on occasion the church) and to speak the word of God.  He has called me to write a story despite the fact that my grammar is awful and English class was my worst grade throughout school.  Why does he do this?  Why does he seem to like to call us to those things that we aren't always skilled to do?  I can only guess that it is because it leaves no room to question that when a giant is slayed by a boy and when the word of God is spoken by a stay at home mother that God is the one who is working and moving and doing and therefore it is God and God alone who deserve the Glory, Honor, and Praise.

Why do I share this?  Because I need to be reminded not let myself loose focus on the Lord's abilities to use me.  To not focus on my inabilities, shortcomings and fears.  I need to always trust that the Lord is enough.  I need to always trust that if I am willing and have a humble heart then the Lord can use me in ways I never thought I could be used.  I need to remember that if God can take me and all those weaknesses and shortcomings and use me then how much more can he do through others?  I don't want to be like Saul and look only at the outward and see inability and therefore discourage, I want the Lord to give me eyes to see the heart, the willingness of others, and then to encourage others to get into the fight, the ministry, the opportunities and let God be enough, let God make up the different, let God empower, let God be glorified. 

Have a willing heart to do whatever the Lord is calling you to do and be sure that God is faithful and he will be enough for the victory, the ministry, the opportunity.  We truly can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). Be encouraged.