Human Instrumentality

Certainly, God can work however He chooses to work. The Bible is full of examples of God using all kinds of means to express His glory and accomplish His purposes. He has used angels, earthquakes, donkeys, storms and various other means at His disposal. However, as I read the Bible, it appears to me that He most often uses people. That seems to be His favorite way to work.

In the last lesson, we observed Moses at the burning bush before God. Moses’ initial response to God’s call in his life was to offer several excuses why this was not a good idea! Moses seemed certain that God could not use him. At least, Moses thought someone else could do the job better.

Think about it – that is almost always true. Someone else probably could do it better. At least that is true in our lives. I’m sure God could find someone better than me to accomplish His will. But – that is not the point. The point is – God calls and we respond. He wants to use all of us in His great plan of redemption. He has a place for all of us to serve His interests. He enjoys using His people to accomplish His will.

When we read the miraculous stories of the Bible, we are tempted to think God is not working in our world like He did back then. We wonder if God is still as involved as He used to be. Actually, there were people in the biblical times who wondered the same thing! For example, we read last week of Gideon’s encounter with the angel of the LORD in Judges 6. The angel said to Gideon, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12). Gideon responded by saying in effect, “I don’t think so. God does not work today like He did in the past. He worked during the Exodus – but not now” (this is my paraphrase of Judges 6:13).

Of course, God did use Gideon and He made His presence known in a powerful expression of deliverance of Israel from the Midianites. Gideon learned that God was still at work. I would contend that God is still at work today. He is not inspiring men to write Scripture as He did during the biblical era. That is true. However, He is still at work. He is still shaping circumstances and using people to carry out His purposes.

He still calls people. He allows us the opportunity to respond.