Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.
—1 Corinthians 1:26–27
Scripture:
We touched on the experiences of the prophet Elijah in an earlier devotion. But I want to revisit his life to illustrate the kind of people God uses to accomplish His work. A quick glance at Elijah’s prophetic résumé would tell us that he raised a widow’s son from the dead. He parted the Jordan River. He stopped rain from falling in Israel for three and a half years. He called down fire from Heaven.
A deeper dive would reveal that Elijah was a Tishbite from Gilead. That may mean very little to us today, but it’s important to know that Gilead lay east of the Jordan River. The people who lived there were roughhewn, tanned from the sun, and tough. As a Tishbite, Elijah would have dressed in animal skins. This was not a man to take lightly.
So, what does that have to do with us? According to the New Testament book of James, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours” (5:17 NKJV). The New Living Translation says, “Elijah was as human as we are.”
There are parts of Elijah’s story that make him seem superhuman. But he was not. He was just as fallible, just as flawed—and occasionally, just as frightened as we are. In fact, at one point he grew so despondent that he wanted to give up and die.
Have you ever struggled with similar feelings? Have you ever let fear get the best of you? Have you ever allowed your weaknesses to keep you from fully using your strengths? If so, I have some good news for you. God can and does use flawed people. He can and does use imperfect people. He can and does use fearful people. In fact, it seems as though God goes out of His way to find people like that.
Why? Because if God used only super-talented, beautiful, and bold people, we would say, “That means nothing for people like us.” But when God uses people who are very much like us, we can find hope for ourselves.
The apostle Paul wrote, “Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful” (1 Corinthians 1:26–27 NLT).
Your fears, insecurities, and weaknesses don’t disqualify you from God’s service. Instead, they make you the kind of person through whom God can accomplish amazing things.
Reflection question: How might God work through your fears to accomplish something amazing? Discuss this with believers like you on Harvest Discipleship!
