Simple Men | SOVEREIGN GOD

August 21, 2016

It is one of the wonders of the world. One of the most unexplainable things in human history. In fact, if you divorce God from the story, it is impossible to explain.

God takes simple men and women and uses them to change history.

Look at a young girl named Esther and her uncle/guardian, Mordecai. Esther was a slave who became the queen of the largest government in the known world.

And we read of Mordecai, who through a sovereign plan of God was raised up to be "second only to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews and in favor with his many kinsmen, one who sought the good of his people and the one who spoke for the welfare of his whole nation" (Esther 10:3).

FOOLISH THINGS

The Apostle Paul, who was himself such an anomaly, would later remind us under the inspiration of the Spirit why God operates this way.

"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)

God is unlimited in His ability to change the world through simple men and women. He raises up a Noah to save the world, an orphaned, imprisoned Joseph to do the same; a young shepherd named David to build the greatest empire in history, and then takes a few fishermen and a tax collector and starts the greatest kingdom movement in heaven and earth.

And notice in each case of Divine exalting to usefulness, the purpose is the same: the salvation of people that God loves.

PROFOUND QUESTIONS

Such glorious irony raises a few questions that must be continually answered.

• What is it in my small life that I think God cannot handle?

• Do I realize that my simple life, and the life of the humblest person I know, can be mightily used by God?

• Do I live with the mature understanding that, if God is exalting me and giving me opportunity, it has a singular purpose: to redeem others? To save people?

• And, finally and most importantly: if God is using me in some measure, am I boasting ONLY in Him?

 

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