“Thou
hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water:
but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place”—Psalm 66:12 (KJV)
“Do you really
want to go there?”
“Are you kidding? You’re only a______” (Fill in the blank.)
“We’re looking for someone with more experience.”
“I don’t know if you can handle it.”
How many times do we hear messages like this? Maybe we have
such pessimistic thoughts about ourselves, too.
That’s okay. The strongest individuals usually rise out of
the ashes like the mythical Phoenix. Let’s look at two examples:
Gideon
We find this
amazing story in Judges, chapter 6. The angel of the Lord greets him by saying,
“The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.” In fact, Gideon was anything but a
strong soldier at that point. He hadn’t
done any fighting.
He essentially asked the angel, “Who, me?” He
describes himself as the least in his family. He also says his clan is the
weakest in the tribe of Manasseh.
Gideon continues
complaining. He wonders why God has allowed Israel to be enslaved by the
Egyptians, and more recently, the Midianites. The angel of the Lord says he is going to help Israel. In fact, He’s
sending Gideon to lead the fight against the Midianites. The heavenly being says
Gideon will be strengthened by divine help. Verse 16 states that the Lord will be with him and Gideon will destroy
all of Israel’s captors.
Gideon wasn’t supposed to be an
unappreciated, unknown young man. God absolutely had more important activities
in mind for him. He was meant to lead the attack against Israel’s latest
conquerors.
Davey
Crockett (from the History Channel documentary series: "The Men Who Built
America: Frontiersmen")
Crockett was a humble frontiersman from
Tennessee, U.S. President Andrew Jackson's home state. He had only four days of
schooling and initially left home in his early teen years. He did a variety of
jobs, including bear hunter and soldier.
Fast forward to 1826. He was elected to Congress for the first
time. Crockett spoke out against Jackson’s policies on American Indians. (Jackson was responsible for the Indian
Removal Act [Trail of Tears], among other aggressive actions.) In retaliation,
the President shredded Crockett's reputation through newspapers. (Nothing's
changed, right? Politics!) Crockett lost the 1831 election to Jackson's hand-picked
man, William Fitzgerald.
The frontiersman went back to Tennessee with his tail
between his legs. When he got home, Crockett found out his wife had left him.
He had nothing left for which to stay. The frontiersman migrated to Texas. He was a hero of the 90-minute
battle (massacre) at the Alamo in
San Antonio. This was the costly beginning of Texas’ successful fight to gain
independence from Mexico.
Most sources believe the “King of the Wild Frontier” died
defending the Alamo. Other sources say Crockett’s body was never actually recovered.
In
any case, this humble man wasn't supposed to be a soldier, bear hunter, or even
a Tennessee congressman. God had something bigger in mind for him. He was
supposed to help liberate Texas and expand the American frontier.
My
Conclusion
Where you are now is not where you have to stay. Your
future cannot be dictated by past or present negativity. You don’t have to keep
wearing the labels of “unappreciated” and “undervalued”. Choose some new
categories. After that, keep moving forward in patience. Your hard-earned
breakthrough may be just around the corner.
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Posts
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earth-shaking activities will you use
to change your world? Yes, you!
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