THOUGHTS FOR CONSIDERATION:
Greetings again my Brethren. Well, America celebrates another birthday on 4 July, 248 years old. I am proud to say I am an American and proud to have served 24 years in the US Navy in defence of this great land. Okay, let us continue to look at some of the diverse instruments God uses to speak to His people. You know many people say God is always speaking to His people and if we have spiritual ears then we will be able to hear Him speak, well, I am not so sure about that. I will be honest I do not believe God is a chatterbox. I do not believe God talks to His people as much as they want Him to. At the end of the Old Testament God did not speak for 400 years to the nation of Israel. The 400 years of silence happened between the Old Testament and New Testament, during which, so far as we know, God did not speak—no Scripture was written. The 400 years of silence began with the warning that closed the Old Testament, “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6) and started with the coming of John the Baptist, the Messiah’s forerunner in the Book of John. Today I think people get confused when it is the Holy Spirit often speaks to us and not God, Himself. Okay so, this month we will look at how God can use the handicap to speak to too us. In Exodus 4 God is trying to convince a handicaped man to go and represent Him to the nations of the world, but the man refused God Almighty, so again God had to change some things around to make His plan and purposes go forth. Now, this man we all know was the mighty deliverer Moses. In Exodus Mose writes, “And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. 11And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? 12Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.” (Exodus 4:10-12) This is Moses after his 40 years of watching Jethro’s sheep. His first 40 years he was raised and trained in the halls of the Pharaoh “mighty in word and deed.” Luke tells us, “And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds. 23And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the
children of Israel.” (Acts 7:22-23) It took God 40 years (following behind sheep) to get Egypt out of Moses so that He could be used for the last 40 years of his life, to be the mighty deliverer. In Exodus 4:10 we find Moses cannot even speak correctly. “And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” My friend God knows what He is doing. Often, God has to break us so He can use us. The broken alone are useful to the LORD and this is what He did with Moses. Now this is not the case with everyone. Often times people are born with deformities and problems, have car accidents, you name it, in their lives that they must, with God’s help, overcome to be useful to God. Did God cause the individual to be born that way or did God cause the accident so that the person can be a testimony unto the glory of God? I will be honest I do not know. But I do know we are now over into the sovereignty of God, an area best for moral men and women not to venture into. I like to live by what Moses writes in Deuteronomy. “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29) And I do know in their overcoming God does a work in them that could not have been done if they were whole. When I think of God using a handicapped person the story and character from the Bible that come to my mind is the story of David and Saul’s grandson son, Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth. “And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s sake? 2And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. 3And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. (2 Samuel 9:1-3) I recommend you read the entire story, because it speaks of God’s graciousness to us as we all are Mephibosheth, handicapped with sin. How God brought us to His banqueting table and fed us, restoring us back to life What a wonderful story of redemption and restoration for David as well as for Mephibosheth. Yes, God can use anyone who wants to be used. You know we think God is looking for talents, physical ability, intelligence, all of those things we think are important to be used of God, but not so my friend. God can best use the broken and even the handicapped. Remember, the broken alone are useful to God.
More next month as we continue to look at the many diverse instruments God can use to communicate with us. Are you there my friend? In tough situations and circumstances? Have you heard His voice? Listen closely and you will. Written by David Stahl
