Is. 9-10
Being “used” by someone has something of a negative connotation in today’s culture. But being used indicates being useful. For anybody who isn’t completely lost in self, being useful is a positive thing. And when it comes to being used by, and thus useful to, God, it can be a blessing to be part of His great plan. If we let it. God is wholly sovereign. As such, He is able to use anything and anyone that He wishes to fulfill His purposes. We do not need to believe in God, have faith in Him, or desire to serve Him in order for Him to use us. But I believe we require all of these things, along with a humble heart, in order for it to be a blessing to us.
God used the Assyrians – not a Godly nation – to execute His wrath on His faithless people. But Assyria received no blessing for the deed. “Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!” (Is 10:5). If God commanded Assyria to attack His people, why did He curse them for it?
It was a couple of things, really, but it all boils down to pride. First, God commanded Assyria to “take spoil and seize plunder” (vs 6), but their desire was to destroy. Second, in their arrogance, they failed to acknowledge that what they did was by the hand of God. “By the strength of my hand I have done it,” said their king (vs 13). And God’s response was, “Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!” (vs 15).
I don’t want to make the mistake of Assyria, falling into the trap of believing that anything God accomplishes through me is of my own doing. I may think that I sit in a fairly secure life because I have put in the effort. But the truth is that everything I have is from God. I’m not saying that putting in the effort isn’t good or necessary, because laziness is not Godly. We must realize, however, that the reward doesn’t come from the effort, it comes from God because of a life humbly surrendered to Him.
In the same way, I may think that I can reason with someone to bring them to truth and salvation. But the truth is that I can’t save anybody. Not my power; not my responsibility. I need to be obedient to live and speak God’s truth to others, but God alone can save. I could go on, but the point is that I want to make a diligent effort to recognize God’s work in and through me, that I might give Him due credit for it all.
Eph. 1
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God” (Eph 1:1a). I love that Paul always stresses that point! Paul did not choose to serve Christ as His apostle. He did not appoint himself to the position. No! Paul’s choice was to destroy the Church of Christ, not to build it up! But God had other plans. It is God who chose Paul for his apostleship. As I was just talking about from the Isaiah passage, Paul did not seek to claim the work of God’s hands as his own. Paul knew that he was not worthy of the position for which God chose him even though, by human standards, he was more worthy than probably most. And so his salutation is a humble acknowledgment of God’s authority through him.