It’s good to want to radically serve the Lord; however the road to service does not belong to us. It can be tempting to think that to serve the Lord in an impactful way in the future, we need to be doing visible and noticed work now. But is as often the case in God’s economy, the opposite is often true. God doesn’t necessarily need us serving Him in a highly visible and “important” ministry; He can call us in obscurity to serve Him.
As these lessons from the Bible teach, God doesn’t need us to have an audience or influence to be called to a great work for His kingdom:
- Abraham: Abraham was unknown in Ur when God called him (Genesis 12:1 and Acts 7:3). Although he wasn’t necessarily looking to do great things for God, God called him and gave him an inheritance in another area and make a great nation out of him, even though he and Sarah weren’t able to have kids. God is not bound by geography or biology.
- Joseph: Joseph had always wanted to do great things, but God had to take him on quite a journey! Imagine being in jail thinking you were sidelined forever. But thanks to the remembrance (finally!) of Pharoah’s butler in Genesis chapter 41, Joseph was taken out of forgottenness and made a ruler in Egypt. God can turn defeat into victory.
- Moses: Moses had a desire to do a great work for God, and he had the position and power to do so. But God needed to do a work in Moses, and decades in Midian as a shepherd away from the spotlight of Egypt was the training that Moses needed. God called a now humble Moses in Exodus chapter 3 and gave him a second chance. If we’ve blown it in our past, God can still use us for His kingdom.
- David: God wanted a new king for the nation of Israel, but David was so low on his dad’s totem pole that he wasn’t even invited to the party in 1 Samuel 16! Jesse didn’t see him, but God did. We may think we don’t compare to the success and influence of others, but God sees us.
- Paul: Paul checked every box that a great theologian needed: training, mentoring and fervor. But when he met Jesus, all that went away. God had a plan for Paul, but first Paul had to be retrained. First, he was tutored by Jesus Himself (Galatians 1:11-12), and then he spent years in Tarsus before he was called into service (Acts 9:30 and then 11:25). Sometimes the call of God in our lives takes years to come to fruition, but if we are called, He will fulfill that calling.
- Even Jesus! Jesus could have gone to the best rabbinical schools, but He build furniture as His trade. And Jesus could have positioned Himself where the movers and shakers and people of influence lived, but He came from Nazareth, a town so inconsequential that there was surprise anything good could come out of it (John 1:46). But God doesn’t need us to be around the right people and the best places to use us.
God can call us to do a great work for Him from anywhere. In fact, the lessons we need to be learning today is what can be critical in God’s preparation for greater works in the future. If you desire to do more for God, great! Focus on being faithful today and learning the lessons He wants to teach, and leave the rest up to Him. If you are serving in children’s ministry or cleaning bathrooms in the church, keep doing so! You are being trained by God, even if it doesn’t feel like it. God has something awesome in store for you!
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21
Jeff's Random Bible Thoughts 
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