Using the useless!
Verse for Today: Monday, October 24, 2011
Amos 7:15 – But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”
God is looking for people from humanly unthinkable backgrounds to use for the most difficult tasks in His vineyard. He is keen to use those from humble echelons in the society who have nothing to claim for themselves. When a person is nothing in himself or herself, he or she becomes usable to God. Only those who admit their emptiness before God are picked by God. When He chooses such people, He fills them with His power and uses them for His glory. Such people will then become fit instruments in His hands to be of use for divine and eternal purposes. Only such people will give all glory for all that they are made to do to the Lord and will not steal any credit from Him. Amos was an ordinary shepherd. He went around the scattered fields to pick the fruit of sycamore-fig trees. Such a person who had no earthly glory or qualification to become a servant of God was chosen for a tough task by the Lord. God took Amos, trained him under His own hands and equipped him to be a prophet of God. When God chose David, he was a shepherd boy who had no training to qualify as a king. God chose Moses who qualified as a shepherd in the desert for 40 years and put him in the ministry of releasing His people from Egypt. Gideon was not a soldier, but a fearful village youth and God used him. He chose fishermen and tax collectors for His task. For God, a person’s low background is not a deterrent in using that person for His work. God wants commitment, loyalty and full surrender from His servants. God doesn’t want His chosen vessels to be empty of their self and will have no cause to claim any personal glory. All that they do will have to be only because of God and not an iota of it could be because of their educational qualifications, skills, abilities, family background, fortune, fame and prestige. He wants all glory in His vineyard to go to Him and Him alone.
Dear friend, are you usable to God in His vineyard? God can use you only if you have emptied yourself of all that is credited to your personality and background. He wants you to be empty of all your merits and qualifications so that He can equip you with His strength to use you as it pleases Him. He wants all glory in all that is done in His vineyard to Him alone. God doesn’t share His glory with any one else. But no matter what your background is, if you are sufficiently committed to Him, He can use you. If and when you are empty, He will fill you with Himself and His Spirit. If you are weak, He will strengthen you with the power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. If you acknowledge that you are unfit for God to use you, and if you go to Him admitting your lack of qualifications, He will make you fit by molding you to fit into His hands. If you are poor, He will enrich you with all the treasures of Heaven. If you lack wisdom, He will give you His wisdom and grace. Perhaps we are not used of the Lord currently because we have not emptied ourselves of our self. He is seeking us and wants to use us for His glory. If we are adequately surrendered to serving Him, we will be used for His cause here one earth. Today it ought to be our utmost longing to be of use to Him. Today if we submit all that we have and are to the Lord, He will use us. Our background will not be a deterrent, but our surrender will be the yardstick for our usefulness. Let us seek to be available to the Lord the way we are without any reservation and renew our consecration to Him.
Isaiah 42:3 – A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.
Thought for Today
Our usefulness to God depends not on our merit, but solely on His grace.
Our usefulness to God depends not on our merit, but solely on His grace.
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