Am I qualified to be a part of God’s plan for humanity? When you ask yourself that question, it’s easy to quickly assume that the answer is a resounding “no.” Afterall, are any of us as righteous as someone like the Apostle Paul who started countless churches and wrote more than 60% of the New Testament? Dare any of us think that we’re anything like John, the beloved disciple who penned five books in the New Testament himself? John was found kneeling at Jesus’ cross, comforting Mary. Can any of us hope to stack up to that? What about David? He killed bears, lions and a giant before becoming God’s hand-picked king over His people. Do any of us meet those standards?
In God’s kingdom, the best ability is availability. The men and women that we read about in God’s Word are actually no different than we are. While we view them as heroes of the faith, a title that they’ve earned, they were still everyday people that God used to accomplish incredible feats. Why? Because they made themselves available to His service. God isn’t looking for people who possess some sort of superhuman strength, unavoidable charisma or genius-levels of intelligence. If you posses those traits, He can certainly use that. However, His purpose for humanity doesn’t depend on His people being able to perform any great feats on their own. Instead, God creates ordinary heroes in order to accomplish extraordinary things.
Moses
Exodus 4:10-11 (ESV)
But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?”
In the first three chapters we learn a lot about Moses. He was born during a period where Israel was living in captivity under a wicked Egyptian Pharaoh. At one point, Pharaoh issued a decree that any male babies born to the Israelites were to be murdered at birth. Moses’ mother, in an attempt to save his life, put him in a basket and set him in the Nile River to hide him. She had no way of knowing that he would float to Pharaoh’s daughter who decided to adopt him and raise him as her own child.
Moses’ saga doesn’t end there. In fact, he lived a life so conflicted between who he knew he was on the inside and who everyone else thought he was, that he committed murder while protecting one of his fellow Jews. That led to a 40-year period where Moses lived his life as a fugitive on the backside of a mountain outside of Egypt. It was there that God told him that He wanted to use him to deliver Israel from captivity.
Moses, believing that he was unqualified to be used by God started rattling off excuses. Not only was he a murderer who came from a home that wasn’t his own, he apparently also had some sort of a speech impediment. In the middle of Moses’ excuses, God told him that none of those excuses mattered. God told Moses that the only strength that Moses needed was God’s strength dwelling inside of him. The message got through when Moses finally stopped with his excuses and made Himself available to God’s service. The rest of the book of Exodus (and the three books that follow) tell a beautiful story of God using an ordinary, flawed man to miraculously deliver His people from bondage.
Ruth
Ruth 4:17 (ESV)
And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
Ruth’s story starts out marred by tragedy. She was married to a man named Mahlon, the son Elimelech and Naomi. Tragically, both Mahlon, and his brother, Chilion died. That left Ruth and her sister-in-law, Orpah to live out their days with Elimelech and Naomi. While that wasn’t what they originally wanted, things took a turn for the worst when Elimelech died as well. In ancient times, it was nearly impossible for a woman to make it on her own. Jobs were all held by men while the women traditionally stayed home and took care of their families. Now, these three women were left with no husband and no remaining males to help them.
Naomi gave her daughters-in-law permission to return home to their parents to better their chances of survival. While Orpah took her up on the offer, Ruth refused to leave, proclaiming that she would go wherever Naomi went. They had no way of knowing that Ruth would wind up meeting a man named Boaz, who was a distant relative of her late husband’s family. In Biblical times, when a man died, his widow would become the wife of a living male relative if he had any. God orchestrated the meeting between the two, and Boaz quickly fell in love with Ruth.
Ruth’s story doesn’t contain any moments of extreme heroism. She didn’t single-handedly save an entire group of people. Instead, Ruth’s role in the history of the world stemmed from her faithfulness to Naomi. Due to that relationship, she met Boaz, married him and they had a son. While that doesn’t seem like anything significant, the Bible says that Ruth became the grandmother of David. David was a direct descendent of Jesus Christ. That means that Ruth’s faithfulness played a direct role in the eventual birth of the Savior of the world. Was Ruth superhuman? No. But she was available, and God used that.
Peter
Acts 2:40-41 (TPT)
Peter preached to them and warned them with these words: “Be rescued from the wayward and perverse culture of this world!” Those who believed the word that day numbered three thousand. They were all baptized and added to the church.
When Jesus called Peter to be one of His disciples, Peter wasn’t out preaching the Gospel, healing people and casting out demons. He was fishing. That’s what he did for a living, and that’s where Jesus found him. Nothing remarkable by any stretch of the imagination, but Peter didn’t hesitate to give up his job and follow Jesus.
Even after he committed his life to Christ’s service, Peter was far from a perfect person. He was brash, had a tendency to come across as arrogant, and he often spoke before he thought. Peter’s quick temper and willingness to shoot off his mouth even led to him denying knowing Jesus three times on the night that Christ was arrested. Not only was Peter an ordinary person, but he was also far from perfect. However, that didn’t hinder God’s desire to use Peter to do incredible things.
In Acts chapter 2, we find the story about the Day of Pentecost which was the birth of the New Testament church. That’s the same Church that we are a part of today. How did it start? With the coming of the Holy Spirit and Peter’s boldness that God used to spread the Gospel. Peter’s mouth, which was often his downfall was the tool that God used to launch the Church and a thousand people were saved on day one. Why? Because Peter made himself available to be used by God.
God isn’t looking for you to be superhuman. He isn’t even looking for you to be perfect. Instead, He is asking you to be willing.
A Closing Prayer:
God, thank You for using ordinary people like me to accomplish extraordinary things. I know that You have a plan and a purpose for my life, and I want to find that purpose. Help me to not only find what You have me to do, but to have the boldness necessary to do what You want me to do. I’m making myself completely available to You because I know that You have a reason for my existence. In Christ’s name, Amen.