Let Him Work
Her words hit hard and heavy,
completely saturated
with the Holy Spirit.
Choosing to work instead
on a photograph,
I was tapped on the shoulder
by an alert notification
signaling I had received
a Facebook message.
The message from a reader
was simply this:
Why did you remove your post?
I sat there speechless,
staring at the screen
and that three letter word,
why.
And, I knew in my heart,
as soon as my eyes
glided over the very first word,
this question was being asked of me
by more than this Facebook follower;
it was being asked of me
by the Holy Spirit.
Why, Stacy?
Why
when I spoke these words
to your heart
and prompted your heart
to post them,
why
did you remove it?
I didn’t have a good answer
for the one who asked,
and I certainly
didn’t have a good answer
for the Holy Spirit.
A few moments later,
my response back to both
was simply this:
A moment of “insecurity” maybe?
A moment or two later,
I felt the chastisement
of the Holy Spirit
through her written words:
“Don’t deny us
your gift of words
God gave you.”
It was a sting
unlike any
I have ever felt.
A rebuke and scolding
to be sure,
but it was also chastisement
in its most purest form.
For chastisement from the Lord
has one purpose in mind:
obedience.
Chastisement from the Lord
is discipline with a purpose –
to turn our hearts towards obedience
so God can in turn,
through our obedience –
be glorified in our life.
God has gifted me to write.
This is not something
I have decided,
this is something God decided
before I took my first breath.
And, I’m learning, too,
God has graced me to speak.
This, too, is not something
I have decided,
this, too, is something God decided
before I took my first breath.
For me to doubt His gift,
for me to choose
to ignore His prompting
to share His words,
to tell His story
through the living out of my own,
to remove a post
He has told me to post –
is disobedience.
My God given gifts
are not for me to do with
as I choose,
but as He chooses.
My only appropriate response
now and always
is “yes, Lord.”
And I am reminded once again.
Like a tool in the hand of a master,
the success of the mission
is not dependent on us,
but on the Master.
It is not up to the tool
to tell the Master
what to do.
The successful completion
of the task at hand
belongs totally and completely
to the Master.
Like the tool,
our only responsibility
is to be available,
to be willing to be used
by The Master
whenever and however
He sees fit.
We are simply a vessel in His hand.
We can’t worry about how
God will work through us,
we just need
to let God work.
We don’t need to
carry the weight of the mission
on our shoulders.
we just need to let God
carry us through it.
We don’t need to
ponder and fret
over and over
about what we think
should be done or not done,
we just need to
let God do
what needs to be done.
It’s not about me.
(It’s not about you, either.)
We are simply a tool in the Hand of God.
He, and He alone, is the Master.
