“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Luke 1:31-33
Here Mary was given a tremendous promise that she will have a son who will be great, called the Son of the Most High, and will be given the throne of his father David and will reign over the house of Jacob forever. What a tremendous promise to someone the world would call a “nobody.” This should speak to many of us, because we too like Mary have the tendency to think: I am a “nobody.” The answer, I believe, is found in first Corinthians 1: “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”
When we look around at the problems that we face in the world today the challenge for the answers is out to the “wise man,” the “scholar” and the “philosopher,” but they have none.
What is the answer that God gives: “But God chose the foolish things (the nobodies) of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”
Regarding the church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3 Jesus said this: “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. “I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”’ ” Revelation 3:7-9
The enemy works tirelessly to stop and hinder us from fulfilling what the Lord has laid out for us. I believe that one of the ‘traps’ that Satan uses to good affect is the thought pattern that we are not worthy or that we lack the skills to be used by the Lord.
When God called Moses to go and do what He wanted him to do, what was Moses’ excuse? “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?'” Exodus 3:11 “But Moses said to the Lord, ‘Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.’” Exodus 4:10
He said, “But I will be with you.” Exodus 3:12
Jeremiah’s call:
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5
Jeremiah’s answer to God:
Then Jeremiah said: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” Jeremiah 1:6
God’s response to Jeremiah’s lack of faith: “Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: ‘Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.’” Jeremiah 1:9-10 (NKJV)
Timothy as the young protégé of Paul was challenged: “Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” 1 Timothy 4:12 (NKJV)
I would venture to say that in a real call of God one sees the difficulties entailed with that calling. We see this also with Moses and Jeremiah. I know in my own life when God was calling me to preach I thought God was making a mistake, because the one thing that I hated the most in school was public speaking.
But I have come to realize what Paul said: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13) When God called me to preach He gave me this word: “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
The question for me was this: Would I believe that He was with me and then act upon it? I did and found out that He is not a man that He should lie. He has been with me and I realize that He can take us ‘nobodies’ and use us to fulfill His purpose.
Only believe