God can use whoever, whenever - Daily Devotional October 31st, 2009

Daily Bible Reading - 2 Chronicles 29, Daniel 9, Acts 9

God can use whoever, whenever

The Bible is so full of great stories and surprises in both the Old and New Testament. For me some of the greatest stories are those where God decides to appear to someone and say, "hey I am going to use you now for this". From Moses to Mary and the Prophets to Paul God just has a way of using whoever, whenever which just continues to show us that it is all about Him and His plan.

In the Old Testament in Exodus chapter 3 God shows up to a man named Moses and begins to tell Moses (through a burning bush non the less) that He is going to use Moses to lead all of His people out of the bondage of Egypt. One of the things that makes this story so great is that Moses is actually wanted for murder in Egypt and is now hiding in the backside of a dessert as to not get caught. Not only that but as you read the story you see that Moses is actually a pretty insecure guy because he stutters. Between the fact that he is wanted for murder and is totally insecure would make most of us think that God made a mistake by picking him. Nope! God can take whoever, whenever and use that person for His purpose.

Look in the new testament at a girl named Mary, you know the one now famous for being the mother of Jesus. An angel appears to her in Luke 1 and says, "Yo marry you are going to have a baby and His name is going to be Jesus and He is going to save all of humanity". Mary's response was very similar to Moses as she said something to the effect of, "um I think you might have the wrong person because I have not even been with a man yet". In other words she said I am not qualified because in order to have a baby you need to be with a man. But once again God's will prevails because He can use whoever, whenever!!!

In Acts 9 we see something very similar happen to a man named Saul (soon to be Paul). If you do not understand who Paul is let me tell you. Paul is a serial killer, a mass murder and his number one target is anyone who professes to be a Christian. So ruthless is Paul that he gets letters from those who have authority just so he can travel and kill more Christians. On one such journey Paul has a whoever, whenever experience. Look at verses 3-9 of chapter 9, "Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And he said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank." This whoever, whenever experience radically changed Paul's life and rather than being the biggest persecutor of the church he becomes the biggest proponent of the church and writes 2/3 of the New Testament. WOW! form serial killer to whoever, whenever!

Pauls life was so radically changed in the matter of one chapter. I know it seems like it is unbelievable and it was for the disciples too. Acts 9:26-27, "And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus." So drastic was the change that took place and so whoever, whenever was the experience that the disciples were afraid of him. Talk about a sudden complete radical change.

What are we to do in moments like this? We are to do exactly what Moses, Mary and Paul did, give in to God's plan because it is better to go with it than fight against it any day of the week. Look at what God says to Paul in Acts 9:5 (nkjv), "It is hard for you to kick against the goads". Goads are the sharp things that push against the neck of an ox as they are plowing a field to make sure the ox goes straight. God was saying look Paul it is hard to kick against the plan and purpose of God so stop fighting it. We need to be like Mary in Luke 1:38, "let it be to me according to your word". When God does a whoever, whenever the best thing to do is say, OK.

These stories are so encouraging to me today because I can see that in spite of my mistakes and insecurities and all the things I think disqualify me from being used by God, He can still do a whoever, whenever in my life. No matter what, God can use me and you, just say OK.

Tomorrows Bible Reading - 2 Chronicles 30, Daniel 10, Acts 10

Dream Big
Ben