Walk In The Word--Our Journey: Ordinary You, Extraordinary God
August 20, 2018
Ordinary You, Extraordinary God
Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah (1 Samuel 16:13, ESV).
Our culture disrespects the ordinary. If it’s not special, superior, showy, or shocking, then it doesn’t matter.
Is that what God really wants for our lives? Does God want us to exert ourselves for a flash of fame? Is there anything wrong with being an ordinary person living a faithful life?
King David was painfully ordinary. How many miracles did he do? Zero. The showdown against Goliath happened when he was delivering his brothers’ lunch. If there was anything noteworthy in his life, it wasn’t David; it was God.
For much of David’s life, he did the grind. Even after he was anointed by the prophet Samuel to be the next king, he wasn’t immediate royalty. No, he waited for ten more years—a decade of suffering and preparation to be the man after God’s own heart. Ten years of obscurity and monotony, camping solo on the hillside, watching the sheep. Yet during that season of preparation, David got really good with a slingshot, and he wrote songs for God. Little did he know he’d face a giant and write much of the book of Psalms. He just plodded faithfully along where God had placed him.
So much of the pain and heartache of life come from trying to prove we’re something more. We’re not. We’re just ordinary. There’s such release and relaxation in this. We don’t have to feel badly because we don’t look special or have a unique talent, an exciting job, or a dramatic story. God is very happy for us to be ordinary, to faithfully live our regular, obscure lives.
Here’s what ordinary life looks like: the monotonous grind of diapers, cooking, cleaning, laundry, bills, and a job you may or may not like. Whether or not your sacrifices are acknowledged or appreciated by others, God sees your faithfulness. God knows, and He’s keeping track. You need to persevere and be faithful. Wherever God has placed you, live that ordinary life faithfully for God.
Conquer Your Insecurity Today
Because if we go back to David’s story, we see what’s extraordinary about him: God in him. The moment that Samuel anointed David with oil, “the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.” If there’s anything exceptional about David’s life, it’s God at work in him.
We see this consistently through the Bible. Why did Pharaoh appoint Joseph, a foreign criminal, as his number two official over all of Egypt? “And Pharaoh said to his servants, ‘Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God’” (Genesis 41:38)?
How did lowly Gideon lead a mighty military rout, though massively outnumbered? “But the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon” (Judges 6:34).
Any success in Samson’s entire life story is defined by this phrase: “And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him” (Judges 14:19).
What transformed the disciples from cowardly into courageous? Jesus told them to go to the upper room and wait for the Holy Spirit—do not pass GO, do not collect $200, don’t do anything till you get the Spirit. They didn’t get to do a neighborhood survey or even work on their brochures. They got in a room and waited for “power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
How liberating for us to realize that we’re ordinary and that the extraordinary thing is always, always, always God.
JOURNAL:
What do you resent about the obscurity and monotony of ordinary life?
To what extent do you accept the fact that you’re ordinary and that the only thing extraordinary about you is God in you?
PRAY
Lord God, open my eyes to see that the people You use aren’t exceptional. They’re ordinary. And the only way I can really be used by You is to accept how ordinary I am and to elevate how extraordinary You are. Thank You for David’s example, how he faithfully served You out in the fields for years, living a life of monotony and obscurity. Forgive me for resenting the confines of my ordinary life. Help me to faithfully serve You, wherever You place me. Please fill me with Your Spirit. You are extraordinary, my King. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.