God's Special Vessel
by David Green
“O Lord, you have searched me and know me.” Psalm 139:1
Hello all. I thought I might share some recent revelations that God has been sharing in my life here at Buffalo Ridge. As I pass my first year anniversary in working here with His Way Ministries, and Lauri’s and my 5 month anniversary, God continues to open new doors of insight into my life. Some of this is the joy of being married, but a great portion comes from seeking God and serving Him.
My role here at Buffalo Ridge is rather different from the other staff. I serve only part-time while I teach secondary science and work toward getting my Kansas teaching certification. Therefore, I am not as involved in the everyday activities in the ministry here. Most of my service comes from landscape maintenance and helping Chaplain and Sam in caring for the facilities. Without the experience of full-time ministry, I sometimes feel somewhat out of my league as we minister to our guests. I find myself becoming anxious and slightly envious of the vast ministry experience of Chaplain and Sam as they relate with our guests. I have found Satan whispering in my ear that I am not worthy or needed here at Buffalo Ridge. I praise God for my wonderful wife who keeps reminding me of God’s purpose in each of our lives. I often find myself reflecting on the following verse and have wondered how I am personally wonderful in God’s eyes.
“I praise because
I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful.”
Psalm 139:14
I have worked with youth as a sponsor for over 19 years, and
have often taught this lesson to ensure that youth understood that contrary
to what the world teaches, we are each fearfully and wonderfully made. Yet
how often have I, myself, questioned this verse over the years.
I have found that many of us question this verse. The world says that to be
wonderful you must be the best!
Is this contrary to God’s teaching? In essence no, since God has made
us wonderfully! Yet the world says that to be the best we must compare ourselves
to worldly models. This is where we fall into Satan’s greatest trap.
Do we need to look like a model, act like a movie star, or work like a top
executive to be wonderful? Oh, how I would like to get the message across to
the peoples ofthe world – that to be wonderfully made means none of
these things.
What does it mean to be fearfully and wonderfully made? God recently gave me insight into what this means. It means to be made as God’s vessels – “in His image.” We are to be vessels of truth, love, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, and self-control, filled with the Holy Spirit. When we finally accept that we are God’s and allow Him to fill us with these characteristics, then, and only then, do we find our perfection. Does this mean that we have to be missionaries, priests, or working in some capacity in the employ of a church ministry? Obviously not! Each and every one of us needs to “take up our cross daily” and allow the Spirit to fill us, making us wonderful! Each day God uses us to influence others and molds our lives into greater perfection of what He desires. The following Scripture is one I find so appropriate in this setting.
‘Search me, O
God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.’
Psalm 139:23, 24
Unfortunately, at least from our perspective, God’s molding
of us is not always a pleasant experience.
The Scriptures plainly tell us that we will experience tribulation and suffering
in our lives just as our Savior experienced. Paul tells us that we should rejoice
in our tribulations since we know that God is in control. Following Paul’s
advice is not easy. Yet as we persevere through life, allowing the Spirit to
fill us each day, we find joy in that we are wonderfully made! As I have shared
in previous articles this has not always been easy for me. As I look back over
my life, I see that from the world’s perspective, I am likely considered
a failure. I know that some of my previous colleagues at Cal Poly University
definitely feel this way because I turned my back on teaching in the college
ranks. Yet I see that my experience working with plants as a landscape foreman,
my experience as a college professor, and now experience as a secondary teacher,
have all better equipped me to serve our Lord by working with youth in
our nation. How I marvel at God’s work in my life! AmI capable of eloquently
discussing methods of pastoring? By no means. Yet as I allow the Spirit to
fill me, I become God’s vessel wherever I am
in everyday life. So, although I will never have the experience that Chaplain
and Sam have, I know that I am an important part of God’s ministry here
at Buffalo Ridge and wherever He chooses to lead me!
Following is a devotion from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers,
which I found to be enlightening.
The “Go” of
Unconditional Identification
‘Be perfect, therefore,as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ Matthew
5:48
“Our Lord’s exhortation in these verses is to be generous in our behavior to all men. In the spiritual life beware of walking according to natural affinities. Everyone has natural affinities; some people we like and others we do not like. We must never let those likes and dislikes rule in our Christian life. ‘If we walk in the light as God is in the light,’ God will give us communion with people whom we have no natural affinity.
“The example our Lord gives us is not that of a good man, or even a good Christian, but God Himself. ‘Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect,’ show to the other man what God has shown to you; and God will give us ample opportunities in actual life to prove whether we are perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. To be a disciple means that we deliberately identify ourselves with God’s interests in other people. ‘That ye love one another; as I have loved you…’
“The expression of Christian character is not good doing, but God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you will exhibit Divine characteristics in your life, not good human characteristics. God’s life in us expresses itself as God’s life, not as a human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian is that the supernatural is made natural in him by the grace of God, and the experience of this works out in the practical details of life, not in times of communion with God. [emphasis mine] When we come in contact with things that create a buzz, we find to our amazement that we have power to keep wonderfully poised in the center of it all.”
I pray that you find the peace and excitement I find in being a fearfully and wonderfully made vessel!
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