Instruments

Friends, it is official: I have the fever.
No, don't worry. I do not need any chicken noodle soup, Sudafed, or Saltine crackers.
I will not be going to the doctor.
I won't even be sleeping more to get over it.
I have missions fever.
Seriously, this is prime season for missions fever. Early in the year, spring break and summer plans being made, and this girl has a passion to GO! Ever since I was small, my heart has cried out to go into the world and make known the name of our Savior. However, being the control freak that I am, I turned that from a simple calling to something else I could plan and take charge of.

Will I ever learn? (hopefully.)

Hallelujah, our Lord adapts His thoughts so we may have understanding and then speaks them to our lives. As I was getting ready for class this morning, all I could do was think about my future life as a career missionary. This has actually consumed all my thoughts lately- where God will send me, the people I will impact, the ways I can make God known...
And somehow through the chaos of my soul:
"Mayzie, my daughter, you make Me known like a clarinet makes music."
Excuse me, Father? Clarinets do make music... right? Those sounds coming out are music, yes?
"Is that the clarinet making music, or the one playing it?"
Oh. Oh. I see.
"And a clarinet would never take credit for what the musician has done."
Now I not only see; I hurt.

How DARE I try to take God's plan and make it about me? Before the beginning of time, God's plan has been, that somehow in the grand scheme of things, He would deign for me to leave my home and serve Him in the "ends of the earth" part of the mission field. (Acts 1:8) And somehow, in the short time I have been on earth, I tried to show contempt to the Lord by being self-centered and making HIS plan MY plan. 

In Malachi 1, the Israelites have been rescued by God (again) and the Israelites have forsaken Him (again). See, these Israelites decided they would do things their way and let God just go by the wayside. (just an aside, God never 'just goes by the wayside.' But that's another blog) They would sacrifice blind or crippled animals to the Lord and keep the best for themselves. The Israelites took a system of law and sacrifice that had been instituted to benefit them and glorify God and convoluted it to glorify themselves. In the same way, when we take the snippets of God's plan He has chosen to bless us with knowledge of and distort it to glorify ourselves, we give God our second best. We serve unholy leftovers to the HOLY GOD.

How dare we?

So I say all that to say this: we are merely the instruments God has chosen to use in this perfectly crafted orchestra of time. We can do nothing aside from what He wants us to do, and we should never take credit for His work. Not even Jesus did this as He miraculously saved us from sin and death.

"'O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter?' saith the LORD. 'Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.'" Jeremiah 18:6
Yes, Father. Mold and make us to be Your instruments.

Blessings,
Mayzie