Experiencing God is a Wonderful Bible Study
Copyright 2001 by Julie McDonald
What does it mean to be a servant of God? Henry Blackaby discussed this topic at length in this wonderful study. Have you ever thought about what it means to be a servant of God? Perhaps you thought that a servant was someone who asked his master what would you have me do? Then the servant went off by himself and did what he was told. Sound about right?
Maybe you thought to be a servant of God meant you needed to think up something spectacular to do in God’s behalf. Something you did all by yourself for God. Does this sound about right?
Well actually these concepts are not Biblical. The Bible shares an explanation in the example of the potter and the clay in Jeremiah 18:1-6.
“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. “Then the word of the Lord came to me: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?’ declares the Lord. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.’ ”
What this means is, God, through His divine wisdom, wants to mold you into the person He wants you to be. Then you must be willing to stay in His hand so He can use you to accomplish His will. In other words, you continue to rely on Him for your wisdom and guidance staying in prayer and focusing on Him so that the project you work on will be accomplished by Him working through you and not by you alone. Usually this would be a project that would be impossible for you to do all by yourself. Then He and only He will get the credit for having accomplished the project through you. The project in turn will be used to glorify God in some way.
Henry uses an example of a cup. Thinking of God as the potter making a cup and you are the cup. Once the potter has molded the cup into the shape he wants it to be then the cup must remain in the hand of the potter in order for the potter to use the cup. Actually this means submitting your will to that of the Lord. Letting go of your personal desires and allowing God to teach you His ways. So you don’t have to come up with something to do for the Lord, He already has a plan.
This concept was revolutionary for me. It gave me the freedom to not worry about what I was going to do to serve the Lord. It allowed me to let go and let God do the work to make me the person He wanted. All I needed to do was to develop my relationship with God and he would direct my life. Then I could look around me and see where God was at work and join him in that work. Sounds so simple doesn’t it? Why didn’t I see it before?
My life has changed dramatically this year and is still changing. I have retired from my in-home day care business after fourteen years and am now in a part time sales business, looking for other part time work. I want to work with people who are decent, kind and loving.
It will be interesting to see what the Lord has in store. For now my daily routine has allowed me the freedom to work with the Samaritan’s Purse group, packing, sorting and preparing to ship Christmas shoe boxes filled with gifts for the under privileged children in other countries who would not have a Christmas if we didn’t send them something. What a rewarding time that was! (I will write about that experience at a later date.) It has been exciting to wake up each day and see what the Lord has planned next.
Look for the next chapter in the Experiencing God Series. I will share more experiences with you as the weeks go by. If you haven’t read the first article titled “Experiencing God Series Is A Wonderful Bible Study” go back and read it.
May God grant you a wonderful day.
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