Can God Use Me ???!
In church recently we've been studying Moses and I find his story very encouraging, because like him I get scared and I don't think I have what it takes to acheive all the things I want to, or be the person I want to be. But God called Moses, a man with a stutter and not much confidence in his own abilities, and used him to deliver an entire nation from an evil tyran. Mind-boggling stuff.
Don’t be Afraid!
« 7 Then the Lord said,
I have seen how cruelly my people are being treated in Egypt; I have heard them cry out to be rescued from their slave drivers. I know all about their sufferings,8 and so I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of Egypt to a spacious land, one which is rich and fertile and in which the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites now live.9 I have indeed heard the cry of my people, and I see how the Egyptians are oppressing them.10 Now I am sending you to the king of Egypt so that you can lead my people out of his country.” Exodus 3:7-10
Moses' calling was BIG. Undeniably colossial. And his reaction seems pretty normal to us. He immediately decided that it was too big a task to do own his own: “But Moses said to God, I am nobody. How can I go to the king and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Exodus 3:11
God's response, however, was not to change his mind, because He knew that Moses was special and had been equipped for this mission. God replied, "I will be with you.” Exodus 3:12. God didn't try to convince Moses that He could do it all by Himself. He didn't tell him to stop being a big jesse and to get on with it. Instead, he pointed Moses to the source of strength which is available to us all every moment of every day. When GOD is with us, nothing is too big, because God is bigger! He alone is the strength we need to acheive everything which is required of us. And sometimes that can seem like a heck of a lot.
When God asks us to do something, or we feel called to do something, it is very normal that we feel inadequate because God wants us to trust in His strength and not our own! “God purposely chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise, and he chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the powerful.” 1 Corinthians 1:27. Do you feel too weak, too small? Good, because then God can come through in all His strength and power!
I Feel Ashamed
When Moses said, “I am nobody,” he was probably feeling the kind of shame that many people suffer from today. Shame is defined as: “a. A painful emotion caused by a strong sense of guilt, embarrassment, unworthiness, or disgrace. 4. To force by making ashamed.” http://www.thefreedictionary.com/shame.
Obviously there is a legitimate kind of shame which is intended to bring people to repentance, to keep them from harming themselves and others through sin: “But evil men and women, without conscience and without shame, persist in evil.” Zephaniah 3:5.
However, there are not actually very many instances of the word ‘shame’ in the New Testament. In most cases it is God’s kindness which leads us to repentance, not the process of shaming. (“God is kind, but he's not soft. In kindness he takes us firmly by the hand and leads us into a radical life-change.” Romans 2:4, “I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.” Hosea 11:4)
I really like the book 'Breaking the Bondage of Legalism' by Neil Anderson, Rich Miller and Paul Travis. In it there is a section which deals with the subject of shame, entitled 'It's a Shame'. In this chapter they write: “[False guilt and false shame are] illegitimate offspring of verbal, emotional, physical, sexual and spiritual abuse. When they are in control of someone’s life, they are cruel taskmasters. Shame runs deep because it makes its home near the very core of our being. Nobody likes to feel guilt, but shame is worse. Guilt says that I did something wrong. Shame broadcasts the message that I am what’s wrong. There is a huge difference. [Shame is] a feeling generated from a mind-set that says, I don’t measure up to what I should be, what others are, or what others expect of me. ”
Paul didn’t use shame to threaten and force the people he was instructing in the epistles to change: “I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children.” 1 Corinthians 4:14, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1, “…He Himself is righteous and that He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has [true] faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:26.
We don’t need to feel ashamed before God because when we’re in Him God sees the righteousness of Jesus, not our own (because we don’t have any!!) In conclusion, although we may be convicted of behaviour, it is the devil who wants us to feel ashamed about who we are. Who we are are sons and daughters of the King, justified, forgiven and accepted!!!
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:1-2.
Even Jesus was faced with shame: “When Jesus faced death by crucifixion, we are told that he “endured the cross and scorned the shame” (Hebrews 12:2), Jesus endured the pain. That is, Jesus did not avoid the suffering, but instead, he went through the suffering. But he rejected the shame. All the shame that others were attempting to heap on him had no power over him. Jesus did not accept the shame others were trying to put on him. He was being treated as a person with little or no value. But the message of shame, “you have little or no value,” was a lie and Jesus refused to accept it.
We tend to do the opposite of what Jesus did when faced with suffering. Jesus accepted suffering and rejected shame. We tend to reject the suffering—we deny it, run from it, tune it out—but we tend to embrace the shame as if it were the truth. Shame, however, is a lie. None of us is ever “less than.” None of us are unlovable, beyond repair, or worthless. We are loved and cherished by a redeeming, healing, saving God.” http://www.nacronline.com/wordpress/986/let-go-of-shame
What is my Calling?
This is a question which all of us have to look into at some point along our Christian walk. It’s really only ourselves who can know the answer! But we do read in the Bible that: “…God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.” Romans 11:29. So whatever gifts/calling God has for you He won’t change His mind or remove them from your life. You’re created and born for a special purpose. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew[a] you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5.
No matter what special gifts and callings we have from God, we’re ALL called to love God and love each other. These are the greatest callings. Don’t think that just because you don’t feel you have a particularly great gift/ability that God can use, your calling isn’t very special. There is no better/ more important calling. We all need each other as body parts need each other to function as a whole. No-one else can do what you can. We’re all made unique and special and just as Moses, an unlikely candidate, was chosen to deliver a whole nation out of slavery, God’s plans for us and greater than we can ever imagine: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”[a]— the things God has prepared for those who love him—“ 1 Corinthians 2:9.
“11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11.
If God can use Moses, He can even use you and me! I don't think there's any better way to spend your life than giving it to God for Him to use in the way He's already chosen.
