Feeling Like One of God’s Improbable People Facing an Impossible Task?

Sometimes, when I sense the Lord knocking on the door of my heart to accept a particular challenge, I wonder if He’s got the right address, especially if it involves technology.

I’ve discovered it’s pointless to remind God that I’m heading for the home stretch, having recently rounded third (my sixty-fifth birthday.) If you’ve ever found yourself there, you know how His Oh really? sounds, too. At least, He’s still smiling, right?

I knew I’d be facing a pretty steep learning-curve for at least the first few months of the new year. My experience with the Lord over the past decades has shown me that He will often use His Word to encourage me to hang in there and press on. In fact, I open my Bible—or punch in the right setting in my tiny, little Go Bible—expecting to find a special message from the father read back to me every day.

One morning last week, I began to read a passage in Exodus and my heart leapt within my troubled breast (or at least, that’s how it would read if I wrote King James style, right?) The burden of all I had been trying to cram in my brain had already begun to overwhelm me; there’s just so much I still have to learn.

As I read, I started to see Moses in a whole new light. He was a man close to my age, but God asked him to leave the sheep he’d tended for the past forty years, and lead a couple million people on a wilderness journey.

Okay, having come through some pretty mammoth obstacles along the path to release, Moses got the gang headed out. The Egyptians had been so glad to see the Israelites leave that they filled their pockets and sacks with all sorts of treasures. Things seemed to be going okay for the shepherd. Perhaps, once he got the hang of it, Moses thought that herding people wasn’t all that different from the sheep.

Not far into the journey, God let the aging shepherd know the purpose He had for some of the Egyptian donations. Suddenly, the quiet shepherd experienced another career-shift.

Exodus 25:8 -9: “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.”

In fact, God had very specific instructions for just how He wanted the shepherd-turned-construction-manager to make the first-ever mobile worship center. Had I been there, I’d have listened for a “…and, this elegantly designed facility will be built by whom? I’m an unskilled shepherd and for more than four hundred years now, the men in this group have spent all of their waking hours forming bricks from straw and mud.”

Maybe Moses thought such a thing, but all we read is that Moses set to gathering what the Lord had told him to collect for the job. Moses’d just wait to see who the Lord appointed to actually use the materials.

God had that all under control. He’d already prepared men who’d never been trained for the skilled work, as well as men who would teach the various crafts needed to complete the Tabernacle.

Exodus 35:30-35: “Then Moses said to the Israelites, ‘See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel…, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts– to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship. And he has given both him and Oholiab…, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and… .’”

The craftsmen had already been appointed by God from amongst the slaves, with trainers provided to see to every detail of the plan. The Holy Spirit had been dispatched to see that they had just what they needed to train the troops to produce the magnificent structure, as well as everything needed for the ceremonies and services God ordered.

Take-away for me: Stop worrying about how I’m going to get the job done! God has provided people who can help me learn what I need to know. My part is to work hard, and trust God to help me do what He has asked.

In 1997, I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Michael and Sally Klein O’Connor of Improbable People Ministries. If you ever get a chance to attend one of Sally’s concerts, “Run; don’t walk!” God is using her mightily—and she’s got an incredible sense of humor.

One of my favorites in her repertoire is all about skipping the excuses when God asks us to do what seems like an impossible task. We need to trust Him to help us succeed, as we obey.

Click on the link below to listen to a powerful message in one super-fun song of Sally’s.

http://www.improbablepeople.org/media/improbablepeople.mp3

Their web site is:

http://www.improbablepeople.org

Are you one of God’s improbable people facing an impossible task? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.