Why Would God Want to Use Me?

 

As for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, seemingly insignificant among the clans of Judah – from you a king will emerge who will rule over Israel on my behalf, one whose origins are in the distant past.  Micah 5:2

 I live in the city of Puyallup, Washington. Our claim to fame is that we host the Washington State Fair, one of the top ten largest fairs in the country boasting over a million attendees each year. Really, though, I live in a suburb, a smaller town outside of a small city, called South Hill. South Hill’s claim to fame is that is the birthplace of Megan Quann, winner of two gold and one silver medal in the Olympics. We even have a sign announcing this as you cross the border between Puyallup and South Hill.

 While Bethlehem (referenced in today’s verse) is no longer a small, farming town, it’s not a huge metropolis either. It has embraced the tourist industry, primarily driven by it’s claim to fame of being the birthplace of Jesus. Today the population of Bethlehem is about 100,000. Interestingly, if you combine the population of Puyallup and South Hill, we also sit about 100,000. I don’t think it’s because of Megan Quann though!

 In this verse, Micah is prophesying yet another instance of God using small, insignificant things to do great big things. God could easily have had Jesus be born in Jerusalem. He could have had Him be born in a palace. There could have been attendants and fanfare. But that wasn’t God’s plan, it’s not how He tends to do things. God did not want Jesus to derive His greatness from His place of birth, but His place of birth to derive its greatness from Jesus.

 God can, and often does, do the same thing through regular, ordinary people like you and I. Though we are seemingly insignificant in the world, though there may never have been a news article about us or a website launched in our name, that doesn’t put us outside of God’s ability to use us. In fact, it might put us just in the right place. God doesn’t seem to want to be famous because some famous person talked about Him. Rather, He loves to make His greatness known by using simple, common things. Things that would be incapable of greatness on their own, but when placed in God’s hands, become amazing. Then He gets the glory, as He should.

Here’s the Thing: You don’t have to make yourself great in order to get God’s attention or be worthy of being used by Him. You have to make yourself willing. You need to align yourself to Him and put His will first in your life.