God uses unlikely people

My Step with God
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One theme of the Bible is that God uses unlikely people.

For instance, consider two stories in 1 Samuel:

  • Hannah. God sees, hears, and answers the prayers of a barren woman. Her son, Samuel, is called to be a prophet.

  • David is the youngest son, not even a soldier in the Israelite army, but he is the one God uses to defeat Goliath. He doesn’t need Saul’s armor for the task.

In both cases, Hannah and David show an utter dependence on God. And God empowers them for miraculous outcomes.

I was working on my bio this week for the release of 12 Steps to God and Together as books. But these texts remind me that it isn’t my bio, or anyone’s bio, that makes us prepared to serve God.

It is our daily dependence on God.

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I’ve been looking at Jesus’ bio according to Matthew this week. From the ancient Jewish perspective, it’s also fairly unimpressive/reprehensible in some respects:

Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar (Matt 1:3)

…Offspring from a Gentile woman

Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab (Matt 1:5)

… and another Gentile woman

David fathered Solomon by Uriah’s wife (Matt 1:6)

…and offspring from another Gentile woman, through the means of adultery and killing.

etc.

It’s entirely our dependence on God, and God’s sovereignty that makes anything possible! The King of the Universe didn’t need any human to be mighty and impressive for God to be with us. The glory of David’s lineage is somewhat eradicated by these other details. And yet, God’s will be done here on earth, as in heaven.

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Thanks for this, @alison! Yea, it is a pattern throughout the Bible.

Sometimes there’s a culture, sadly, even in our churches, that would look down on a woman who was victimized through rape. What a strange and glorious reality, that God honors Uriah and Bathsheba by having the line of Jesus connected to them.

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This reminds me of Paul’s discourse in 1 Cor 12 & 13. He talks about those parts of the body that are most modest are treated with the most honour; that no part of the body is any less than another; and that no spiritual gift elevates a person to a higher status than another. Those that are most humble are to be most honoured! The line of Jesus validated every single person in the lineage, and those who were seen as glorious (David, Solomon…) were brought to the same level of honour as those who might not have been looked at twice by those of their culture and era.

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