AL: Have you ever looked at some well-known person and wondered how that individual ever made it to the top of his or her profession? Well, as we think about that, Joni Eareckson Tada points out this is one of the reasons Bible study is so fascinating. God chooses whomever he pleases to accomplish his sovereign goals. Right, Joni?
JONI: That’s right, Al. I am constantly amazed at the way God chooses real misfits to accomplish his work – guys you would not normally pick for a certain task. Just consider this list, look at Noah. The guy had 120 years of preaching experience, but not a single convert. Then there was Abraham who made a fast escape to Egypt when things started to heat up... got into trouble with the authorities down there and tried to lie his way out. What a misfit!
AL: How about Solomon — he had a reputation for wisdom, but failed to practice what he preached. Then there was John the Baptist — even considering the style in his day, he was really on the fringe (eating locusts and dressing the way he did).
JONI: And when I think of other misfits, let’s see, Peter, he had a bad temper, the Apostle Paul lacked tact, Timothy was so young yet God put him up to be a prime pastoral candidate. And even Judas Iscariot, what a misfit he seemed to be because he came across so... well, so “regular,” so likely.
AL: He was kind of the leader-type really; the type that you’d think God would use... someone he would pick.
JONI: Yes, Judas seemed very practical, cooperative, good with finances, gave impressions that he cared for the poor. My goodness, look at the way he turned out though! Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t see things the way we do? Aren’t you grateful that his criteria for picking people are different than ours?
AL: Am I ever.
JONI: How amazing, how wonderful that God’s got better ideas than we do because I would have chosen Solomon, I would have never chosen Peter... I certainly would have thought John the Baptist was kind of weird out there on the edges of the desert... But I’m glad God doesn’t rely on the Madison Avenue criteria as potential for leadership.
No, He delights in choosing the weakest among us to accomplish his tasks. He delights in taking the widow’s mite and multiplying it a hundredfold. He takes joy in putting people up in front whom you’d never think could motivate or inspire. God matches the oddest, the most misfits of men and women with particular jobs in the kingdom...
AL: Maybe it all goes to prove Zechariah 4:6 where the Lord says, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit.” And as another translation says, “You’ll succeed because of my spirit, though you are weak.”
JONI: So, friend, if you are feeling like the least likely candidate for God to use in his kingdom, remember there is only one criterion that God cares about — that you simply desire Him, that you seek Him, search for, and long for Him. Because as Jeremiah 9:23 says, “...Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.” Friend, if you are feeling like a misfit today, remember that's the only criterion that works, so, seek God and He'll end up using you too.
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