Monday, March 24, 2014

Why me, I am among the least …



“But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel?” My clan is the weakest … and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:15, NIV).
  Being the least among men and women, opens the door to God doing mighty things through you.  Was not Gideon just a farmer; David, a humble shepherd boy; Matthew, an  average tax collector;  Andrew – Peter –James and John, simple fishermen;  Joseph, a carpenter and Mary a humble young maiden?   The Almighty God and our precious Lord and Savior were not as much interested in the great faith of these people, as they were in their willingness to believe and follow.  It was not something innate in their faith that God and Jesus Christ intimately knew and chose but the depth of their soft and humble hearts to believe and follow.  God saw in the fertile spiritual substance of these humble hearts, a faith which could grow in capacity for His mighty works to be accomplished in their lives. 

      When Almighty God, Jesus the Christ and the Holy Spirit speak, guide and ask anything of anyone; there is in the initial beckoning, call and desire - a starting place. The starting place is not found in a lofty name, a prestigious position, a staggering heritage or even in a commanding sense of spiritual expression and faith.  The starting place for the mighty work of God to begin in the life of anyone; requires the overwhelming sense of a humble and honest assessment of one’s position in the needing of the amazing grace of Almighty God to save, bless and use us.   

     This prerequisite humble and honest foundational place might be best exemplified in the simple statement, “Why me, Lord, I am the least among my family and the faith?”  We must begin each encounter in our walk of faith with this statement or our Lord will have to stop us midst our innate prideful living to humble us to such a place.  This our Lord did with the Apostle Paul on the Damascus road and He will do again with any lofty evaluations of self-importance on any journey of faith. The mighty acts and works of God in our lives always require the position and acknowledgement of ourselves,  being in the least of places.

     If we want to grow in our faith and see God do mighty things in our lives we must let go of the any pretensions, arrogance and falseness and humble ourselves before God. Almighty God must be lifted up to His rightful place as Creator God and Lord of Lords.  In reality, our true place before God is a humble place and it is from that place, He begins His mighty works.  Let us be joyous in our position as to be noted among the least of men and women.  It is a great place to be and a wonderful place to see God do mighty things as we walk along with Him in faith.

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7, KJ21). 

Suggested Reading ... Judges 6 & 7 

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