Being Used

"Everything is an affair of the spirit. If God has a way of dealing with you in your life, it is the only way. Every little thing in which you wouild have your own way has a mission for your redemption. And He will treat you as a willful little child until you take your Father's way for your own." -George MacDonald

Normally, in the winter, I keep all the barn doors shut all the time. The reason I do this is so that a dumb, pregnant goat or sheep will not wander out into the cold to have her babies in the middle of the night and leave them to freeze. Trust me when I say this has happened to us before. However, I have begun leaving one of the barn doors open during the day.

One day, my husband came into the barn and said, "Why is this door open?"
"So the dogs can go in and out and won't get cornered by a bully-ish goat", I replied.
"But what if one of the females delivers outside and has frozen babies?"
"Well, the dogs need to guard the stock."
"From what?"
"Listen," I say,"I know we don't have the biggest coyote problem, but we're supposedly raising livestock guardian dogs, and how can I legitimately claim that if they've never been tested?"

A light bulb went on in my husband's head in more ways than one. He realized first of all, what I was saying about the door being open; but more importantly, he realized what God was up to in his life.

"I'm being tested," my husband said quietly ,"So my quality may be proven."

The only way to tell the strength something possesses is to test it. I may have a sword on display on my wall and claim it is made of the finest steel, able to slice a man asunder in one swing, but if I haven't tested it, then all my claim is is empty air. What would happen if someone I had boasted to decided to remove the sword from display and attempt to cut a cantaloupe with it only to find that the cantaloupe shattered the sword? Well, I'd be a great fool.

My livestock guardian dogs will be little more than pretty lawn ornaments if they were kept from their job of guarding livestock. In our laziness, we often wish God would shut the door to our responsibilities and let us just lay back and enjoy being his fat companion. However, the world needs a lot of help, and those who have been redeemed were redeemed for a purpose--a huge purpose. When the Lord redeems us, we're not just to be pretty trinkets to put on the shelf of heaven in order to gather dust. We are to be vessels for carrying the very authority and character of God Himself.

If you are being tested, take heart-- God is pulling you from the shelf, grasping your handle, polishing you lovingly, sharpening your edge, and using you for His awesome purpose. I'd much rather be grasped in the Master's hand than to gather dust anyway--even if when he strikes a blow while using me, I get hurt.

"Then I heard the voice of Adonai saying,'Whom should I send? Who will go for us?'
I answered,'I'm here, send me!'" (Isaiah 6:8)

Apathy and cowardice
Have reigned here far too long
I wish that I could see myself
-my self as someone strong

Take my apathy and make it
Ambition for you, Lord
Divorce me from my comfort
With your mighty, piercing sword

Take away my fears, God
Help me take a step of faith
Use me to ignite your spirit
In this wretched place

For You are bigger
Than anything on earth
Lord, break the chains
That hold us to this curse