"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" - Jeremiah 1:5 (NIV).
Everyday there is someone going to undertake a job interview. Usually any person can find themselves in a situation where they are competing against prime candidates. Compare that to a small school without any record of achievement being lined up against a giant of academics. There are places in the world where if you came from Ivy League university college someone from a less known country university hardly stands a chance.
After God had rejected Saul there happened to be a sort of job interview for the next King (1 Samuel 16). So, as it were, Prophet Samuel approached Jesse, a father of some potential candidates. Jesse's first inclination was to point to his elder sons. And why! They had apparently far vaster experience to meet the bill.
"Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” "There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” (I Samuel 16:10-11). Once David belatedly showed up, in his herdsboy ragged attire, "Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one" (vv 12).
Here is the deal. You could find yourself faced with a formidable interview of sorts. Ahead of you are giants of renown. Maybe it is a business tender and you are competing against global brands with deep pockets. But then, if God has chosen you, fret not. For just as David did not need much of an interview because he was picked by God, so will it be for you too, as you place all your trust in Him!
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, faced with an uphill task, ahead of me, I look up to you, placing all my faith in you, to make a way where there is no way, this I pray in Jesus's name!
Related upcoming events
-
19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
