Their Job, Not Mine

Photo courtesy of 67daniel.blogspot.com

I am a goal setter.  An overachiever, by nature.  I love to think BIG.  I have high (and often unrealistic) expectations of myself and others.   I want to accomplish...a LOT.  Oftentimes, this inner drive that works so well in the arenas of academia and the workplace, can dribble over into my spiritual life (as if we could compartmentalize those things...darn you western-culture-thinking).  Suddenly, I have BIG ambitions to do BIG things for God.  To speak.  To write.  To teach.  To accomplish much.  But the thing that the Lord continues to bring me back to is that instead of thinking BIG...I need to start thinking small.

And small is NOT insignificant.

So all these grandiose ideas that I have been dreaming about OUT THERE...really pale to the worthwhile and supremely significant things God has for me to do RIGHT HERE.  Even if they seem small and insignificant.  Even if no one knows about them or even seems to care.

I am drawn to a place in the Scriptures where another man of God dreams BIG things for God...and wants to accomplish mighty and grandiose things to bring more glory and honor to God among his people.  Let's look at 2 Samuel chapter 7, starting with verse 1...

"King David was living in his palace, and the Lord had given him peace from all his enemies around him. Then David said to Nathan the prophet, 'Look, I am living in a palace made of cedar wood, but the Ark of God is in a tent!'  Nathan said to the king, 'Go and do what you really want to do, because the Lord is with you.'” 

You see, David looks around and realizes that while he lives in a fancy palace, God's house is just a tent...and he dreams of doing something BIG for God, like a build a lavish temple.  We see in this passage that even Nathan the prophet thinks David's idea is a good one, and he encourages David to do it (before he hears otherwise from the Lord)!  But what we ought to realize as believers that not every GOOD idea is a GOD-idea.  And the Lord brings a stop to these plans of David.  I don't think David was wrongly motivated.  I don't think his desire to build a temple was a bad one (in fact, the next generation would enjoy just that!).  It was just not for David to do; instead, it was for his son, Solomon to do.  Picking back up in verse 4...

"But that night the Lord spoke his word to Nathan,  'Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Will you build a house for me to live in?  From the time I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until now I have not lived in a house. I have been moving around all this time with a tent as my home.  As I have moved with the Israelites, I have never said to the tribes, whom I commanded to take care of my people Israel, “Why haven’t you built me a house of cedar?”’ “You must tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: I took you from the pasture and from tending the sheep and made you leader of my people Israel.  I have been with you everywhere you have gone and have defeated your enemies for you. I will make you as famous as any of the great people on the earth.  Also I will choose a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so they can live in their own homes. They will not be bothered anymore. Wicked people will no longer bother them as they have in the past  when I chose judges for my people Israel. But I will give you peace from all your enemies. I also tell you that I will make your descendants kings of Israel after you.
“‘When you die and join your ancestors, I will make one of your sons the next king, and I will set up his kingdom. He will build a house for me, and I will let his kingdom rule always."

So, as I plan and ponder all the BIG things I can do for God...perhaps my God-given role in life is to teach and equip my children to go out and do these (among other) BIG things for God in His perfect timing.  And perhaps, like King David, my role is to gather the manpower, the iron, the wood, and the bronze to enable them to be successful with just that....

1 Chronicles 22:1-5
 Then David said, “Here shall be the house of the Lord God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel.” David commanded to gather together the resident aliens who were in the land of Israel, and he set stonecutters to prepare dressed stones for building the house of God. David also provided great quantities of iron for nails for the doors of the gates and for clamps, as well as bronze in quantities beyond weighing,  and cedar timbers without number, for the Sidonians and Tyrians brought great quantities of cedar to David.  For David said, “Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all lands. I will therefore make preparation for it.” So David provided materials in great quantity before his death.

{Interested in learning more about dreaming SMALL for your family?  Check out this amazing blog post by Brooke McGlothlin...http://www.themobsociety.com/2014/07/31/god-bitsofbrooke/ }