YOU ASKED ME TO DO THAT?

“You want me to do that?”  “But that won’t change the world.”  “I thought you called me to something great!”  

You won’t hear many people actually verbalize these statements but, BE HONEST, they have run through your mind.  We come out a great prayer meeting, conference or revival with a fresh call of God on our life. The adrenaline is high, we have a vision of greatness; the world isn’t going to know what hit it, then we open the door to reality.  When Naaman, a commander in the Syrian army, opened his “door to reality,” he had a similar reaction and spoke aloud what we have all thought.

2 Kings relates the story of Naaman, a  great and honorable man through whom God had given Syria victory.  Naaman had a wonderful life except for one thing, he had leprosy.  Through an Israelite servant, Naaman heard about the Prophet in Samaria that could heal him of leprosy.  The story continues with the King of Syria sending Naaman with a personal letter to the King of Israel asking him for healing.  Finally, word gets to the Prophet Elisha and Naaman, his horse and chariot arrive at Elisha’s door.

This is where the story becomes quite interesting.  Naaman, who is used to being in control of the situation, arrives with high expectations.  In his mind, Elisha will humbly welcome him and in awe of such greatness, pray, wave his hands and heal him of such a dreadful disease.  Naaman, will then bestow the gold, silver and fine clothing on the Prophet and swiftly return to commanding the Syrian army.  

Elisha not only ignores such greatness but sends his servant to the door with instructions.   Naaman is to go and wash 7 times in the Jordan River.  Naaman is understandably furious at such disrespect and leaves in a rage.  There is only one problem, Naaman is STILL covered with leprosy.  Finally, a servant reasons with him, Naaman obeys and is instantly healed.

 2 Kings 5:13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do SOMETHING GREAT, would you not have done it? 

OUCH!!! Do I see myself in this verse!  So many times I have found myself answering the call of God and walking through the open door with visions of grandeur, dreaming of all the wonderful things God is about to accomplish through me.  

I will probably be asked to speak to hundreds of women, I will plan, host and serve the most awesome food at Ladies Meetings that will make the General Superintendent’s wife drool and of course I will accomplish it all  in a designer dress, shoes and handbag. Now I understand that I will have to turn down invitations and of course I will only pick the ones that God impresses on my heart because after all, it is really about souls. 

 I walk through the door, to find, not the hundreds I thought were waiting but a distraught little woman that has just lost her husband.  She isn’t waiting for my words of wisdom.  Oh No!!! God says, “You want to serve, serve her. Cook a meal, serve it to her friends and clean up her kitchen when they are gone.”  

BUT GOD, I WANTED TO DO SOMETHING GREAT!!!!!!!  Maybe next time. 

DOOR #2; “God you want ME to clean that little kid’s snotty nose? It’s clear down to his lip and I forgot the hand sanitizer.”   Well of course, who else in the church always carries fresh tissue in her pocket?  He could use a hug too.  “I know he came on the bus and his clothes aren’t too clean but Susan, if you could only see his future and what I will accomplish through him.  Your tissue, your smile and hug will keep him coming back to church where he will get to know Me.”    

Well at least there is DOOR #3!!! 

“But God, he’s so old and his first words to me were, “I want to die.”  Besides it has to be a 100 degrees in here and he sleeps most of the time.”  Well so much for designer shoes, handbag and changing the world.  “But Susan, you will change HIS world in the short time he has left.  He needs you to pass on a message to his daughter that his pride won’t let him say to her directly.  Not only will she have some much needed down time but her father’s last words about his precious little girl will bring comfort and peace in her grief.”

Namaan finally humbled himself and received the very thing he was seeking. How many times have we closed our hearts to the leading of the Spirit because we were looking to do something great.  If we could only understand how important the cry of ONE hurting soul is to God and how important it is that He has chosen you to be His hands and feet to this dear person.

Mark 10:43, Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. . 

In the Kingdom of God, true greatness comes through faithfulness and obedience. It isn’t about the GREAT THINGS WE ACCOMPLISH it is all about the GREAT GOD WE SERVE. 

IMPATIENCE WILL ALWAYS BIRTH AN ISMAEL

REPOST FROM FEB 2010

Gr’ma, Gr’ma, Gr’ma, GR’MA!!!! Caleb’s impatience was coming through.  I had promised him that we would go downstairs and play after I put Baby Nathan down for his morning nap.  Caleb has the patience of a 3 year old and although he may understand the word “later,” later occurs to him much sooner than it does to Grandma.  He did not want to wait until I had given Nathan his bath and bottle and snuggled him into bed for a couple hour nap.  Caleb’s experience tells him that Grandma has never broken a promise and in just a little while he will enjoy all the fun and personal attention that Grandma wants to bestow upon him, but there is one minor detail missing, Grandma is still upstairs. His little mind reasons, Grandma has promised to play with me downstairs maybe I can help make her promise a reality.  Caleb has a plan.  He will open the basement door, turn on the light, go down the stairs and then he will receive the promise.

PROBLEM!!! Caleb has birthed an Ishmael!!  By taking matters into his own hands, he has what he perceives to be the most important ingredient;”being in the basement.”  Caleb is downstairs in the play room but the JOY of the promise was spending time, playing with Grandma and she is still upstairs.  The predictable response of a 3-year old is a loud cry for Grandma to join him, which I did after Nathan was soundly asleep.  Have you ever become focused on the “missing ingredient” of a promise and birthed an Ishmael?  You are not unique; faithful Abraham tried to assist God before “natural circumstances” would prevent even God from performing what He had promised.

In Genesis 12:2-3, at the age of 75 years, God promised Abraham that he would make of him a great nation and that in him all the nations of the earth would be blessed. In verse 7, God promises to give all the land to Abraham’s descendants. In Genesis 13:16, the promise expands from a great nation to so many descendants that they could only be numbered if one could number the dust of the earth.  A few years pass and Abraham becomes a little anxious.  In Genesis 15, he reminds God that he still has no offspring.  God replies by showing him the stars and assuring Abraham that his offspring will be in number as the stars. The years continued to roll by until finally Abraham and Sarah, at the age of 85 and 75, decided to help God out with the missing ingredient and Ishmael was birthed.

I have heard it preached that Abraham sinned, but sin is rebellion against the Word of God and it was not out of rebellion that Abraham acted.  We read where God bestowed a blessing on Ishmael and God will NEVER bless sin.  I believe that Abraham was so full of faith in the promise of God that he convinced himself that God had just opened the door of opportunity to the fulfillment of that promise. The missing ingredient was not a son, as Abraham supposed, but a much more important detail.  Abraham had forgotten who “I” was!!! Ten years prior to the birth of Ishmael, God had promised, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you; I will make your name great.”  The only input God required from Abraham to fulfill His promise was Abraham’s faithfulness.

Many times, I have impatiently or impulsively attempted to fill in a few details that seemed to be missing in the plan God was working in my life. I convinced myself that the action I was about to take was a door of opportunity that only God could have opened.  Every time I have forgotten that while it may be MY life, it is GOD’s plan, an Ishmael has been birthed.  My life has been blessed and often God continues with the plan to bring the promise to fruition, but not without negative consequences to my actions.  Like Caleb waiting in the basement, I have felt the frustration of having all my plans in place only to realize God didn’t have His plan in place yet.  As Abraham and his descendants have lived with the consequence of Ishmael’s birth, I have lived with regret over the results of my impatient actions.  Oh, I was still saved, I was still blessed, the promise would still come to pass but I had to carry all the baggage of my Ishmael along the journey toward the promise.  When God makes you a promise, learn to wait patiently for Isaac, you will not only have the blessing of God birthed in you but you won’t have an Ishmael to deal with before you achieve victory.