But the Lord said to Samuel, Do
not take note of his face or how tall he is, because I will not have him: for
the Lord's view is not man's; man takes note of the outer form, but the Lord
sees the heart (1Samuel
16:7)
And every one that was in
distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented,
gathered themselves unto him (David); and he became a captain over them: and
there were with him about four hundred men (1Samuel 22: 2)
And it came about in those days
that He (Jesus) went out to the mountain for prayer; and he was all night in
prayer to God. And the day came and, turning to his disciples, he made a
selection from among them of twelve, to whom he gave the name of Apostles; (Luke 6:12, 13)
Is not the whole land before
thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand,
then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will
go to the left (Genesis
13:9)
And when Saul was come to
Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all
afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him,
and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the
Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly
at Damascus in the name of Jesus
(Acts 9: 26, 27)
Then Jonathan and David made a
covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself
of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to
his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. (1Samuel 18: 3, 4)
I am
amazed at how we are very quick to call ourselves people of faith yet exhibit
so little of it in our daily interaction and association.
What is
a vision? What is it I am supposed to see? What kind of eyes am I supposed to
have to have the kind of vision God expects me to have?
Who is a
farmer? Why does he waste so much food putting it in the ground to rot yet he
will be at the mercy of many things he is not in control of?
I want
us to take the two together because they hold the key to our understanding the
case in hand. The reason a farmer will spend so much preparing the ground and
‘burying’ food in it is because he has a vision of the capacity that
‘sacrifice’ and ‘waste’ is able to produce. Someone who has never been involved
with farming will never appreciate the wisdom that goes into farming.
I did
farming for a short time after God asked me to leave employment and can now
comfortably say that a farmer qualifies to be respected. The first season was a
disaster for me because it was the season we experienced the El Nino rains. I
planted maize early and it produced extremely well as you know maize benefits
from plenty of rain. Unfortunately the other farmers planted later and my farm
was very far from home. My neighbors started taking maize from my farm to
roast. I was not able to harvest any maize at all. In fact the only maize I got
from that farm is what I took home to roast when I discovered what was
happening.
As you
may also know, beans do not enjoy a lot of rain. So my beans got spoilt. In
fact they started sprouting in their pods. The harvest I got, if it could be
called such, could not be planted or sold. It was after careful selection that
you could get some to cook. And the financial investment had been immense!
I also
tried growing a few other things. There are foods I do not think I will ever
attempt to farm for the sacrifice and labor involved. Yet there are farmers who
have plantations of the same. Ever wondered that farmers are at it with all the
challenges involved in farming! It does not seem to matter that brokers,
middlemen and merchants profit more from their effort!
What
does that have to do with vision? I think everything. A vision coming from God
will make you see what is not visible by normal standards. It will help you see
what God is seeing. Of course we know that God sees the end from the beginning.
He sees what He is making instead of what others are seeing.
Let me
give you examples. Who would have chosen the people Christ chose for disciples?
Let us look at a few of them.
·
Peter
was unstable and impulsive. How could Jesus call him stone, the opposite of
what he was
·
James
and John were temperamental
·
Matthew
was a tax collector, the epitome of corruption those days
·
Simon
the zealot was a Jewish extremist, a team that thought killing a Roman or
conspirator was not a sin but the duty of any pious Jew
·
Judas
was a thief to the end
Even
later we see him making the same ‘mistakes’
·
Paul
was a murderer
·
Timothy
was a coward
·
Onesmus
was an escaped slave
In the Old
Testament we see Him choosing Saul, from the least family from the smallest
tribe (not long after the Benjamite war), David, a son even his father didn’t
count as one, Rahab, a prostitute, Jacob, a conman and many others.
Looking
at the people after their selection, we know that God made the right choice as
we see them delivering again and again. Yet do we realize that God has invested
the same vision in us and that we also have cases of people in the scripture
who utilized that vision?
One way
they utilized it was doing the ‘foolish’ things God told them. Imagine Abraham
relocating with all he had yet he had no idea where God was taking him! Imagine
him taking a knife to sacrifice his only son, a son he had waited fifty years
to get! Imagine him foregoing his right to Lot instead of chasing him away!
Another
one was David. From the successes he had gotten after joining the army, he knew
he had the influence to stage a coup to overthrow the king God had rejected as
that was the reason for his anointing. In fact even the crown prince had
already submitted to the kingship of David meaning he was ready to follow any
order David gave. Even the populace was with him. Yet he chose to run alone and
could not touch the rejected king for anything.
Another
strange thing with David is that he was joined by the very last characters
anyone would ever want to be associated with. Imagine a crowd of the depressed,
discontent and the guys running from their creditors! Yet that is where he
started building his army from, an army that was renowned for their exploits.
Jonathan
was the king in waiting, the crown prince. Yet when David comes around he is
able to see the anointed of God. Did he not see the threat to his kingdom? I
think he saw his being king under God’s guidance. He saw that he was not even
supposed to be a king, that his kingdom was a purely earthly one. Israel has
one king and Jonathan has seen him. It was not his father who was reigning as
he had demonstrated his rejection. He saw God’s hand upon David and realized
that he was duty bound to serve this king. That was the reason he handed him
the instruments of his authority. And no wonder his father Saul was mad enough
to want to kill him.
Do we
see that when we are looking for people to involve in ministry? Do we see like
that when we are looking for people to employ? Do we see like that when we are
considering a marriage partner? Do we have eyes like that when we are thinking
of investment opportunities? Do we see like that when we are praying for
ministries to join and support?
Why am I
asking this? Ever seen a struggling ministry and minister accessing adequate
support? Ever seen a person newly called being accepted to join ‘established’
ministries? Ever heard a ‘fresh’ evangelist being asked to preach in a huge
crusade? Ever seen a newly graduated pastor being invited to pastor a large
church? Have you ever found a pastor of a big church being available for
‘small’ errands and assignments?
Why do I
ask this? I am involved in training and mentoring of ministers.
Why is
it that a church looking for a pastor will ask for a person with experience in
a similar church? Why is it that a ministry looking for a minister will insist
on getting one experienced enough? Why is it that ministers with ‘successful’
ministries can’t get time to do all the assignments and invitations yet there
are many others who are as called and equipped whose in trays are empty?
Why is
it that ‘successful’ ministries have surplus in their finances when struggling
ministries are unable to convince anybody that they are walking in obedience to
the call, however genuine that call is? How is it that ministries with surplus
will support other successful ministries instead of the struggling ministries?
What I
am driving at is that we are not listening to God. When God has called someone,
He qualifies him. It is not the ‘success’ that qualifies him. It is not worldly
acclaim that is used to judge his faithfulness. It is not the visibility that
gives him substance. Whether he drives or walks barefoot is not something to
judge his value in God’s eyes. And that is the vision I am challenging us to
seek from God.
Paul’s
history was scary so that the apostles rejected him. It took someone with vision
(Barnabas) to acknowledge that he was called. Yet he was nowhere near when Saul
had a confrontation with God. Though Paul later rejected him when he also
identified another ‘failure’ (John Mark) to grow, we can see what he saw when
we read the Gospel according to Mark.
It takes
God to see like that. Elijah had a similar experience. He goes to a famine
stricken widow for provision. But we know he had first dealt with God.
Where
are the Sauls and the John Marks of today? Who are ready to be used like Barnabas
to look for and raise them? Where are the timid Timothys of today and where are
the Pauls ready to disciple them. Where are the corrupt characters (Matthew)
with godly seed that we need to grow into ministry? Where are the Al Qaedas and
Al Shabaabs (zealots) who are ready to die for a cause that we show them the
only cause worth dying for? Where are the Zaccheus (wealthy and misguided) of
today that we can teach them to transfer their wealth into God’s kingdom
purposes? Where are the Rahabs and Tamars (prostitutes) of today that we can
connect to God’s agenda?
The
Bible says that where there is no vision, people perish. And I think this is
what is happening to the church today. Since we will not seek to know where God
is moving and who He is using, we are ending up supporting people masquerading
as ministers yet have an agenda as far removed from God as East is from the
West. If worldly success is what we use to support the called, then it is no
surprise that we are supporting witches who are selling miracles and prayers
all in the name of Jesus, a Jesus totally removed from the one who died for the
sins of the world.
What has
God told you? Are you doing it or you are flowing with the tide? Has He spoken
to you at all? Do you think He can speak to you? Do you expect Him to speak to
you? Or is it that you are scared of Him speaking to you? Would you want Him to
speak to you?
You see
the difference between the redeemed and the damned is precisely that. What did
they do with what God wanted them to do?
Matthew
7 deals with that from several angles. But the main thing is that we have no
excuse at all for not doing what God expects us to do. It does not matter
whether we know or not because that is our choice. We can choose to listen to
God and allow Him to give us His vision or we can decide that what we see here
is all there is. But we will not be in control of the consequences. I have
never heard of a person who chose to drown himself not try to save himself when
the water became too much! So you will ignore God and His voice at your peril!
My cry
is that the people of faith will start walking in faith like the church in
Acts, and not because we change the structures. We simply upgrade our
relationship with God and seek to know what exactly He expects of us. Hebrews
11 talks of the heroes of faith seeing in such manner. Then they would prefer
torture to release. This is because what they were seeing was a more real
reality that what the others were seeing. And that is the vision I am talking
about.
What is
God showing you about your life? What is He showing you concerning your
vocation? What about ministry? What about ministry support? Is He showing you
anything about discipleship and mentoring?
If so,
STOP everything you are doing and start pursuing that vision. If you are not
exactly sure of that, ask Him for clarification and He will give you. He so
values our obedience that He will stop at nothing to make your obedience
rewarding. If He has not spoken, STOP what you are doing and go into prayer
until you are clear you know what He expects of you. Nothing else is worth the
effort as you will have eternity to face the consequences of that choice.
God
bless you
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