Be Used "As Is."
Let God Use Your Now
I’m sure that social distancing is driving most of you up a wall about right now. The novelty of being at home doing nothing is wearing off, and the realization that our society is missing out on some pretty big things right now is setting in. Seniors in high school are not going to get the graduation they dreamed about. Athletes are missing out on that last final year of glory as you finally got to the top. It trickles on down from there. I’ve even been pointed out to notice that eighth graders and fifth graders who were supposed to enjoy their final year in their respective school buildings are also sensitive to feelings of misfortune. My niece had expected a glory year where she enjoyed reveling in the accomplishment of four sports with a 4.0 grade average. That is hard to do. She had accomplished so much, yet was robbed of the enjoyment of it.
Adding to the feelings that nations around the world are experiencing is the actual health concern itself. There are real people out there being affected by the pandemic, and sadly, real people are dying from it. Some of you may feel hopeless in this situation. Some feel trapped, stuck, and wandering around a house that has enclosed you in its walls. Extroverts are really struggling right now, as their whole worldview bounces off the necessary surroundings of other people. It is a difficult time for us all.
I was reading my Bible this week in the book of Exodus. I thought it very fitting to encourage you all with what I had read. I sat in the living room one night and shared it with my wife and family. It seemed to resonate something in each of us.
In my estimation, some of the best things we can learn and glean from scripture occurs when the men and women in scripture act most human. To see man or woman in a real life form, fearful, nervous, worried, etc. and how God can overcome our faults, is awesome and inspiring to me.
In today’s scripture account, God shows up to Moses… yes, Moses, the great man of God, right? Well at first he wasn’t such a great man of God. He was a normal, regular, scared and afraid man in hiding on the backside of the wilderness. God appears to him in the form of a burning bush, one that grabs Moses’ attention and calls him up to take a closer look. Aren’t you glad God knows what sparks our interest and attention?
In Exodus chapter 3 we read the account of God’s calling on Moses’ life. How awesome of a calling! How would we love to do something like that for God! I would love to do something thrilling and marvelous, something with so much impact! One would think with a calling like that, that Moses would be overjoyed and jump to a life lived with purpose instead of herding his father in law’s sheep.
Moses thought differently.
Some people criticize Moses for coming up with so many excuses. Although God had given him a mission, he didn’t seem like he was too enthused to go back into Egypt anytime soon. He didn’t seem to think anyone would listen to him, nor did he think he was a man worthy of such a calling. Sometimes I’ve thought to myself, what if Moses would have just listened the first time? We know his excuses got so bad that they eventually angered the Lord (Ex 4:14). I often think, “Come on Moses! Get it together! Don’t you want to be a man greatly used by the Lord?” The excuses that Moses came up with were pretty lame anyway. Seriously? He was brought up in Pharaoh’s court. I’m sure he could speak better and have more influence than what he thought.
But so many times the same thing happens to us.
So many of us feel the same way when God gives us a job to do.
So many times in our lives, when God gives us a job to do, all we can look at is how unqualified we are to do it. We allow fears and worries to quench the fire that God puts inside of us to accomplish His purposes and vision. We walk through life as Christians saying “Use me, use me!” but when God gives us something to do we turn, thinking “I can’t, I can’t.” Why? Do we actually think that God in His infinite wisdom isn’t going to empower us to do exactly what He calls us to do?
In today’s post, I want to encourage you. Do you feel unqualified to do what the Lord is telling you to do? Please keep reading on.
Exodus 4:1-8
Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’”
Isn’t that where we often are? Doubting that we can do what God says. Doubting that He will empower us. Doubting we are qualified for the job.
The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” And he said, “Throw it on the ground.”
This is where things get exciting. The whisper that hit me was that it wouldn’t have mattered what Moses had in his hand. If he would have been holding a rock, God could of used a rock. If he had been holding a rope, God could of used a rope. In God’s infinite creative nature, He was able to use WHATEVER MOSES HAD AT THAT TIME. There was no going to a Christian College to gain more knowledge of the Bible. He didn’t need to learn a second language. He wasn’t told to learn great persuasive speaking techniques. Nope, there was nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING required of him. God have him a task to do AS IS. To prove this, God took the thing that Moses had in his hand AT THAT MOMENT to show him how He could empower him to do this job. He didn’t need to go shopping for a new “thing” to hold. Wow! Do I need a dose of that!
So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand
Sometimes we make things too hard. Sometimes we need to just accept the simplicity of things. God wasn’t asking Moses to go climb the highest mountain in search of an ancient hidden weapon, or trek through the mysterious desert in search of a powerful artifact that would give him power to accomplish this job effectively. No, there is no secret power source. We do not live in an action-adventure movie. All God wanted was obedience. God wasn’t interested in Moses’ qualifications. In fact, He may have been even more interested in his “un-qualification.” He simply wanted a vessel to use. And that is what the same God of the universe asks of us… obedience, yet we make things so hard.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Let me ask you something. Why is it important that God can use us AS IS?
Back to Exodus:
“that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign.
We are a people who God has given everything necessary to be equipped for His plan and purpose in this world. We have His Spirit living inside us. We have His anointing. We have been empowered by Him. He has called each one of us to do something. Whether it is the neighbor who is on their porch doing social distancing yoga, or the kid who walks up and down the street with nothing to do but kicking rocks during Covid-19 quarantine, there are people out there hurting right now who need the Church of God to be reaching out to them. WHAT A TIME LIKE NOW to be the church that we are supposed to be!
If you are someone that God has been prompting to do something for Him, why wait? Moses didn’t need anything more, why would you? Paul instructs us that we actually are more effective relying on Christ’s power than our own strength anyway. Has God called you to talk to the women in your neighborhood struggling with being a mother during quarantine time? Do an online social support for all them. Make a group where moms can come together and be there for one another. Give good ideas and offer support. Do you feel like God is calling you to reach the hurting who have contracted Covid-19? Make cards, a video, some creative way that you can reach out to those who are hurting. Spread Christ’s love to the world. Whatever He prompts your heart to do, do it with all your might.
When God calls you, He calls you. He knows you. He doesn’t need you to do anything more than what He already knows you are or possess already. Moses already held that staff in his hand. You already hold the gifts and abilities inside you, that He created in you, and if you obey and listen to Him there is no telling what He can do with you right now. You don’t need anything more than the obedience to God’s Spirit, and the power He will accompany you with.
When we obey, He is glorified. Others will see and notice. In truth it will be that “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” People will see that you have something they want.
Sense the urgency of the moment. Don’t let fear choke you or keep you from fulfilling the task that God has purposed for you to do. There has never been a time like this. We, the Church, have a tremendous opportunity right now and we need to take advantage of it. The movie industry is shut down. The athletes are shut down. Many of the social things we do are all shut down.
But the Church is not shut down. And there are many of you out there holding sticks.
Use them.
Now.
Let God use you AS IS.
By Chuck Carr