Words Of Encouragement For Your Day (Wednesday 11/28/2012)

I Am A Part Of God’s Methodology

1 Samuel 16:5-13 Amplified Bible (AMP)

⁵ And he said, Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and called them to the sacrifice. ⁶ When they had come, he looked on Eliab [the eldest son] and said, Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him. ⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, Look not on his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. ⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. But Samuel said, Neither has the Lord chosen this one. ⁹ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. Samuel said, Nor has the Lord chosen him. ¹⁰ Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen any of these. ¹¹ Then [he] said to Jesse, Are all your sons here? [Jesse] said, There is yet the youngest; he is tending the sheep. Samuel said to Jesse, Send for him; for we will not sit down to eat until he is here. ¹² Jesse sent and brought him. David had a healthy reddish complexion and beautiful eyes, and was fine-looking. The Lord said [to Samuel], Arise, anoint him; this is he. ¹³ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

            The other day my husband and I were watching Bishop Jakes minister and He stated misfits are a part of God’s methodology; this statement immediately got my attention.  Today I am a lot different from my siblings; when I was growing up, it was no different, I was a lot more than different from my siblings.  I wasn’t exactly the scholar, nor was I mild mannered and one that our family and family friends labeled as demure. I was what one would consider the black sheep, a rebel of sorts, a bit feisty, like the runt of the litter, and a bit more outspoken than most people appreciated. I was the one of my mother and father’s children that was the misfit of the bunch and the runt of the litter.  I was not comfortable even in school.  My peers did not embrace me with open arms; often sticking out like a sore thumb I found myself alone a lot with only a few close friends.  In school I was the church girl, with a bit of bad in me in church I was the one they considered the wilder child because I wore lipstick and dark nail polish and I danced to a different drummers beat.  I was in a place for most of my adolescence that I lived on the island of misfit toys.  Even my husband, who I knew in high school, said “you were so cute and small, but you had all that mouth.  I was not exactly the one who was loved and revered.  But the one thing I had to learn was God had a method to what many considered His madness manifested in me.

            You see the misfit; the least likely of suspects is woven into the fiber of God’s methodology. God takes those who the world looks over the one that came into the world in a way that people may view as suspect or stands out like a sore thumb in social circles and even in religious circles and He uses them to do great things.  Have you noticed on your journey throughout the Bible that God uses the misfit to prove His point, show His glory and manifest His truth and presence?  Jacob was a deceiver, a liar and yet God used Him to establish Israel, and make it a great nation.  The closest individuals to Jesus, His disciples those He walked the earth with and spent the most time with were the biggest bad of misfits, but yet God knew who they were and still chose them and used them in spite of who they had been, what job they did, how they lived previously or who their parents were; to God it just didn’t matter, what mattered was they were available, accessible and anointed for the task God intended to use them for.  Jesus was the biggest misfit, He was born of a virgin, (think of how he explained that to friends) born in a manger, and He was the Son of God robed in human flesh, all God all man, ( how well do you think that went over), just read the gospel and see for yourself. He did not function as Savior, He did not come as a King, and He certainly did not do what the religious leaders of the day did.  He did it God’s way which was not understood or accepted well by man.

            You see no matter who we are and how we got here, if God has a plan for us He has a plan for us and no one can change that.  No matter what people say about us or how we may feel; whether we feel we fit in with those who are considered the norm, or we don’t, God has purposed us.  If we are a misfit, someone who has been cast out or away, for whatever reason, this is a large part of the methodology of God for our lives. God seldom takes the ordinary, the common, without making it extraordinary, uncommon and changing its very intent and DNA to make it useful.  You see anyone can do use the ordinary, He uses, those who others look at and despise, those others look down upon, and think little of. Remember I told you, that people thought I was outspoken and had a lot to say, today God uses that gift to encourage, counsel and speak His word to others.  Don’t despise who you are, how you got here, or the fact that others don’t except you, you are in the right position and place to be used of God!