For consider your calling, brethren, that
there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many
noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise,
and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are
strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the
things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man
may boast before God. 1 Corinthians
1:26-29 NASB
The
powerful preacher Charles H. Spurgeon said, “It is not our littleness that
hinders Christ; but our bigness. It is
not our weakness that hinders Christ; it is our strength. It is not our darkness that hinders Christ;
it is our supposed light that holds back His hand."
Some
years back, theologian Francis Schaeffer wrote a book entitle No Little
People. You can quickly derive from
the theme of the book was how it is not our capabilities or resources that
determine our effectiveness in Kingdom work.
Scripture
teaches us that God uses the simple people of this world to do amazing
things. When you think about all the
great things that God has done throughout man’s history, you’ve got to be
impressed with how He used the least expected resources. Take the nation of Israel. Compared to other nations, it never was
really much at all, yet God used Israel to bring the Messiah into the world.
Getting
more specific, who would have picked an isolated shepherd, keeping a flock out
in the middle of nowhere, to be the guy to lead God’s people out of Egypt? Yet, that’s exactly what Moses was at the
time he was called. King David was just
a young man, probably rather small, yet he took on the giant Goliath when
Israel’s army shook in fear of him. And,
who really, expected a handful of Galileans–former tax collectors,
ex-revolutionaries, and fishermen–to change the world? No, you just have to
stand back and be amazed at how God has chosen to do things. He picks the weaknesses in humans and turns
those weaknesses into great accomplishments, all to display His own power and
might.
The
trouble is that we sometimes get the idea that God can’t get along very well
without us. We develop the attitude that it is through our strength, our
ingenuity, our talents and effort that great things are done. Charles Spurgeon understood something about
God’s greatness. It works best when we don’t hamper it by getting our puny
little selves in God’s way. In fact, we
end up accomplishing more and better things when we allow God to work in and
through us.
The
question for us, though, is how to get out of God’s way. It’s not always clear. God certainly can and
will use us for His purposes. When we
realize that it’s not our strength that matters, but God’s, then we’re ready to
become as useful as possible in God’s hands. It doesn’t mean we should sit down
and refuse to act. It means that we act with the knowledge that God will use
us.
That,
by the way, is really the only way you’ll ever take on things that look bigger
than you, and sooner or later, you’ll run into a few of those. When you do, let
God make you strong.
Scripture to Claim:I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 NASB
