People that God Chooses

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

When I read the Scriptures, I’m awestruck at the people God chose to do His work. Typically He chose those that most of us would have overlooked. When I managed grocery stores years ago, I was responsible for new employee hiring. I was always on the lookout for people with impressive resumes—people I thought met MY work ethic standards. In times past, I thought God would do the same; that He would choose the most qualified, the most brilliant, the bravest, but that was not the case.

There are many examples of that: Moses, who admitted being slow of speech; Gideon, who hid from the Midianites behind a winepress just to sift a little grain; all the disciples of Christ, who couldn’t grasp the Lord’s teachings, and who fled in fear when He needed them the most; and many, many more.

Another example is found in Acts, when the church at Antioch discovered a major problem. Money was given to the church to meet the need of others, but some widows, in special need, were being overlooked. How do you mend a problem like that? Who do you choose to solve the problem? The Holy Spirit had the answer. He had the leaders of the church to choose seven men.

If I were going to select the men, I would probably have looked for men with MBAs from Harvard. Financiers from Merrill Lynch. CEOs or COOs from major corporations. That seems logical to me, how about you?

But the leaders at Antioch had a different approach. In Acts 6:3 we find that, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, they chose “men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.” With that, problem solved!

God does not require the best-of-the-best to solve any problem or to change the world. He is quite capable of doing that by Himself. But in His wisdom, mercy, and love, He allows us to work with Him—to impact our little sphere of influence for His glory. And with that, just as in times past, He doesn’t have to have the smartest, best looking, or most talented of people. Glory, that means He can use me!

One of my Bible College professors was fond of saying, “God seldom chooses the ‘able,’ but He always chooses the ‘available’—men and women dependent on, and available to the Holy Spirit for His enabling.”