Making Something Out Of Nothing

Yesterday, I wrote this lesson to share with the girls at Lake Forest Middle and I think it was for me just as much as it was for the girls. 

I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster; plans to give you a future filled with hope. Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will hear you.When you look for me, you will find me.          (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

The Bible always talks about people such as Moses and David who were commanded by God to do something really awesome, like be leaders for entire nations and be kings, but did you know that God could use you to be leaders just like them? Sometimes it feels like we are nothing special, and that God could never use us to do great and amazing things like lead people out of slavery or become a king but looking through the Bible shows that the people that God used to become great were everyday people like you and me.  

When Samuel was asked by God to choose one of Jesse’s sons to become the next king, Samuel first wanted to appoint Eliab, the oldest of Jesse’s eight sons but God tells Samuel:

"Don't look at his appearance or how tall he is, because I have rejected him. God does not see as humans see. Humans look at outward appearances, but the LORD looks into the heart."  (1 Samuel 16:7)

The Lord wasn’t looking for a strong person or someone good-looking, but for someone who had the right heart, someone who followed God’s obedience. Samuel went through seven of the brothers before God chose the youngest, David. Not even David’s own dad, Jesse thought there was anything special about him, as he was the youngest and the Shepard, something no one else in the family wanted to do. But God used David to defeat the giant Goliath and become the greatest king of Israel.

There are many other examples of people in the Bible that many people wouldn’t think that they could be great leaders but God used them to show that He uses people who, to the world, may look like they are nothing special but God used them to be something great. Moses had a stuttering problem and was afraid to speak but God still used him to speak to the Pharaoh of Egypt and Moses leaded thousands of Israelites out of slavery. Gideon was farming when God told him to lead an army of 300 against an army that numbered in the thousands. Gideon, a farmer boy, who at first doubted God, ended up defeating the huge army and saving the Israelites. In fact, the Bible even says that when people saw Jesus, they didn’t think He was important:

“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and thought him as scum.”                                    (Isaiah 53:2-3) 

Not even Jesus looked like a king and He turned out to be the Savior for the world. In 1 Corinthians, it tells us that we can be used too, even if we don’t think we’re anything important:

Brothers and sisters, consider what you were when God called you to be Christians. Not many of you were wise from a human point of view. You were not in powerful positions or in the upper social classes. But God chose what the world considers nonsense to put wise people to shame. God chose what the world considers weak to put what is strong to shame. God chose what the world considers ordinary and what it despises-what it considers to be nothing-in order to destroy what it considers to be something.                                                 (1 Corinthians 1:27-31)

God will choose ANYBODY that is willing to follow what He tells them. In Hebrews 11, it tells of all the people in the Bible who achieved great things through God even though at the time, people around them called them outcasts.

And to be honest, being used by God can be kind of scary too. Imagine if you had to speak to an entire country about all the bad things they had done. The good thing is that God is always there with us; He doesn’t abandon us.

In the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah is a prophet chosen by God but he was scared because he wasn’t sure of what to say to the entire nation of Israel. But God tells Jeremiah:

“I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”  “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!” The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.  And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”  Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, “Look, I have put words in your mouth!”                                                        (Jeremiah 1:5-9)

It’s such a great thing to learn that God has chosen us for amazing plans! In Isaiah, God tells the prophet Isaiah, 

 I have taken you from the ends of the earth and called you from its most distant places. I said to you, 'You are my servant. I've chosen you; I haven't rejected you. Don't be afraid, because I am with you. Don't be intimidated; I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will support you with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:9-10)

It’s also interesting to know that even the prophets were scared about the same things that we are, such as being laughed at or not having anybody believe us. But God tells us to not be scared because He is right next to us to strengthen us and help us when we are scared. Through God, we have the power to change the world, we just need to believe that God can use us and not doubt in Him. Even though we are young does not mean that God can’t use us because 1 Timothy 4:12 says:

Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.

When we have faith that God can do awesome things then He will begin to use us. Sometimes, it starts off by just being nice to someone in class or obeying your parents, but those small things will add up until we realize that we have been doing great things all along! Mother Teresa, someone who did really great things through God, once said, “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.” So start today by believing that God can use you, and start asking Him what you can do.