Did you know that God often works in the ordinary?

First Samuel 16:7

Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

From Ordinary to Extraordinary

God is most glorified when he does extraordinary things through very ordinary people. In that way, people must give God the credit, and when they do, He is glorified by it and not the person who does the amazing things for Him. The amazing things that God does through people are done by our amazing God. God prefers to use the least of all people to do the most unlikely of things. God is no respecter of persons (Rom. 2:11), and He often uses the minority, the smallest or the weakest, to do His work here on earth. In reading the Bible, you’ll frequently discover that God uses the smaller groups or those who are small in their own eyes because He resists the proud of heart (James 4:6). It seems that the majority is wrong most of the time in the pages of the Bible, so just because the majority might think something is good doesn’t guarantee that it is. God can you use, too, even though you and I are both only jars of clay (2 Cor. 4:7).

The Least Likely

When God was having Jesse pass all of his sons before Samuel to find the next King of Israel, Jesse thought that surely the first and then the next several sons would be the right one. They all seemed to have the look of a king but they forgot one thing; God looks at the heart and not at the outward appearance (1 Sam 16:7) because God values what’s inside and not what people see on the outside. God often works in people that we might never imagine He would. Otherwise, why would He use Gideon who essentially called himself the runt of his family and he was in the least of all of the tribes of Israel (Judges 6:12-24)? To put it this way, God loves the underdog so that He receives the glory, therefore we should never underestimate people who we think God would never use because those may be the very ones that He will use the most!

You and Me

Don’t overlook yourself either because God will likely use you if you are small in your own eyes. It’s so amazing that God’s history of working through mankind is His tendency to use those whom most would never even think about being used by God. What about you? Do you consider yourself an unlikely vessel that God could use in a powerful way? If you think it’s impossible that God would use you, then you’re already qualified in God’s eyes and in God’s eyes is all that matters! Don’t sell yourself short, because God won’t. Someone who really thinks a lot of themself is the one whom God cannot likely use. They first must humble themselves. The person who is unseen by human eyes but is doing the very works of God on earth is someone we’ll probably never hear about or read about, but those who do things to not be seen by man are those who may be doing the greatest work on earth for God today.

A Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for using those who seem small in their own eyes because this gives all of us hope, as you have called, for the most part, the weak and what the world calls the foolish things of the world (1 Cor. 1:27) so that You can show Yourself strong and be more glorified. So thank You, God, for doing such a work in those whom most may have little regard for, and in Jesus’ name I pray.

Amen