Ok – I’m going to need some amen’s here.
God is all seeing. God is all present. God is all knowing. God is everywhere.
God has always been. He is now. And He always will be.
There is nothing that can be hidden from the Lord.
God orders my steps. God orders your steps.
In Him we move, we live and we have our being….
Being = existence, purpose, experience of life.
When God chose David, he chose him as a boy but he saw him as a King. When God gave Hannah Samuel, He gave him as a son, but called him as a Prophet. When God called Joshua and Caleb, he started them as scouts, but He made them to be warriors. When God called Joseph, He was rejected but God made Him powerful.
What makes these men amazing? Their start in their life? Their end in life? No – that God called them to for His purpose and His purposes alone.
But, if David had listened to Saul and his army or even Goliath, I would venture he wouldn’t have become King. If Hannah had accepted her plight in life as being barren, then she would never have prayed a prayer for fertility. If Joshua and Caleb had seen the giants in their scouting expedition more than they saw God, Israel would never have crossed over. And if Joseph had accepted rejection by his brothers and being jailed unjustly, he never would have been made senior advisor to Pharaoh.
In all of these examples, God took the faith of each man to overcome the enemy. God saw each man, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient – he knew everything about these men. He saw them and he called them. Whe he spoke to each man, they were in their most challenging place emotionally – Gideon was hiding in a wine press, hiding from the enemy; Moses had run away from all that he was because he murdered a man, David was was a man who was an adulterer, Peter was a man who put his foot in his mouth countless times! And yet, God chose them to turn their worlds upside down.
This year, I don’t care if you have had or are going to have trials or tribulations, if you are knocked down, pressed down, thrown into the fire like Shadrack, Meshack and Abed-nego, or thrown into a well like Joseph was thrown into one like his brothers. In the most unlikeliest of locations, God calls us into greatness. God delivers us, takes us out of the wells, takes us from the battles we face in our lives, and he makes them the very stepping ground for victorious living. David became king, Joseph became the administrator of all of Pharaoh’s kingdom, Shadrack, Meshack and Abed-Nego lived in favour in their land, Peter preached the word, full of the Spirit, and thousands came to salvation in that one moment, Joshua and Caleb led the people into a land of promise, of giant slaying and great signs.
And yet, each of these men had qualities and character that led them into a lifestyle of victory – attitudes that God saw within them even when they were in their darkest hours. I would like to suggest to you that these were qualities that God honours in each of us:
- Embrace the promise
- Be quick to repent
- Discipline yourself
- Live in a holy dissatisfaction of anything less that the best you
- Have faith in the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God
You were formed in your mother’s womb with God’s eternity planted in your heart. He has plans and purposes for you – plans to raise you up, give you a hope and a future. His destiny is not to destroy you or bring you down. So, if you are down, are feeling slighted or knocked around, just know that God’s still delivering you into your purposes. And perhaps your purpose right now is to hold fast to him, just like Daniel did in the lion’s den, as David did in the cave, as Joseph did in prison. In their very darkest hours, God delivered them. God’s best for you is nothing short of deliverance into purpose.
Uncommon Ways 