Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - Ask God for a Vision
Many times we fail to soar like an eagle because we’re afraid to take any risks. Here’s another excuse we use to stay mired in mediocrity:
I don’t have the talent or abilities or experience that it takes to be a visionary.
“People who take risks and get out front and make things happen are especially gifted in some way or another. I don’t have any special gifts – I’m just an ordinary person, who can do ordinary things in an ordinary way.”
If this is your excuse, you are without excuse, because listen to what Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1 Corinthians 1:26–29).
How many examples do you want of how God uses ordinary people? Start with Peter, James and John–uneducated fishermen. Consider Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba–all great-grandmothers in the lineage of Jesus Christ–and all totally unqualified for the job. The Bible and church history are replete with examples of people who were used mightily by God in small and large ways, even though they didn’t have the right credentials, the right education, the right skills and abilities. That way, God gets the glory.
I’m too old to ask for a vision.
“If I were in my twenties, well, then, I could do something great for the Lord. But it’s too late now.”
Consider Caleb, one of the two spies who came back from looking over the Promised Land and said, "Let’s go; we can take this land that God has given us." After 40 years of wandering in the desert, he is allowed to go into the Promised Land. And after they were in the land, Caleb goes to Joshua and says:
I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. . . Now then, just as the Lord promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. (Joshua 14:7–12).
Age is never an issue with God. We are the ones who put age limits on our abilities and opportunities. If you’ve been using age or some disability as your excuse for not asking God for a vision or setting out by faith to be all God meant you to be, pray that God will give you Caleb’s attitude. Pray "God, give me this hill–give me a vision of what you want to do with me now at this age in this time."
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