“But why not just… just make it happen? You know”- Jacob snaps his fingers angrily- “poof!”

“Because God does not work like poof!” Michelangelo says, snapping his fingers back at Jacob… “God works through people. Like you.”

The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz

So I have this great job. I work with elementary school kids all day long. I work in a library. I work with people who have found their calling in helping young people know their stuff, and that they are loved.

And then I come home and I am spent. Just done. Click on the Netflix, click off the brain. Put up the footrest, recline, konk out. That is my life after school.

On good days I go for a walk. I start supper. I read. I still don’t write though because every creative molecule in the body has been sucked out by the Logistics Monster that runs the majority of my awake time. He is a cruel fiend, that Logistics Monster.

Even as I write this I think, “No one cares. Move on.”

Yet if I heard someone speak those words to another person, I would slap their mouth (ok, maybe just think about slapping their mouth). Then I would look at the victim and say, “Don’t you dare believe that. People care. God cares. You have something to say. Don’t for a second be afraid to speak.”

But when it is me? What do I have to offer that someone more talented than I cannot say perfectly fine. I mean really, do we need another voice? Another platform? God answers yes. For as many lives as God has created, as many voices as He has granted, all those voices combined is a chorus that delights Him even in its meekness.

I can see Your heart eight billion different ways. Every precious one a child you died to save. If you gave Your life to love them, so will I.

So Will I by Hillsong UNITED

And so it is with all of us. Within you dwells the Holy Spirit, full of grace and truth. We bear fruit of this very Spirit.

Trees that are rooted, bearing fruit, live not for themselves alone. They don’t have to worry about the type or quality of fruit they produce. They just take what God has given and He makes it grow. We do not have to understand God in order to follow Him. Understanding was never a prerequisite. In fact, most often God asks His people to obey within the glaring absence of understanding.

All He requires is humility because it is only when we are humble that our faith can walk its first steps.

Pride says it knows better, even if “knowing better” is disguised as humility. Let’s not be fooled. Refusing to follow God in faith because we believe we are humbly admitting that we are too small or insignificant to give God all the glory He deserves (and besides, what if we mess up?), is actually a prideful confession that we believe God to be too small to make something magnificent of our wee offering. We claim His knowledge is incomplete because we wrongfully assume that our perfect and powerful God expects perfect execution of some impossible task from us.

Here’s a quick reminder for us all. We are going to mess up- and God already knows that. That doesn’t make us exempt from His calling or His love.

If the enemy can’t catch us in our arrogance one way, he will certainly attempt to twist it into false humility. Anything to shut us up.

So if you have the sneaking suspicion that the devil is trying to shut you up (he is) or that he is trying to get you to bury your talents (he is), let’s focus on the things that are true for a moment.

1. Your calling, like your redemption, were never predicated on your performance. It is all God. Completely Him.
2. Whatever He is calling you to do- He is already there. And if He hasn’t shown you what to do yet, pray and open your eyes.
3. God is always always always doing the work. Your flesh is weak, but the power is His. He even says specifically that His power is made perfect in weakness.
4. All the major Bible heroes (except God Himself) messed stuff up. That is in there on purpose!
5. Waiting is part of the process, too. Let God take the lead and just follow one step at a time.
6. The devil will try to stop your witness, to shut you up and bury your light. But you are armed with God’s Holy Word and with His very Spirit. God has you and He has this!
7. God loves you and ENJOYS you. Sure life is hard, I know it. But it is ok to have fun with this, too! Let’s get excited!

So what has God given you? Praying for you, Dear Friend.

*Photo credit: Martina K.