Stephen spoke tonight on the vision and challenge of God. The Bible is divided into two testaments, but it speaks really of three times: the beginning (before Christ), the times of Jesus and the end times after His death and resurrection. We are living in those end times, when the Holy Spirit has been poured out on us as Joel 2:28-32 predicts and Acts 2:1-41 describes. We don’t know when Jesus will return, but we know that He will return and that we are all part of God’s plan.
Eph 1:11 says ‘in him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.’
This verse reminds us that we are not bystanders or spectators; we have been chosen and have a purpose and destiny in God. Each one of us matters and is of importance; we all have a task to do, a vision to fulfil. We may well feel inadequate, insignificant and confused, but God is in the communication business. He is the most interactive communicator of all, way better than social media or the Internet could ever be! He is able to pour out His Spirit on us, speaking to us through prophecy, visions and dreams.
The challenge for us is to listen and obey when God speaks. It’s easy to misinterpret what He says or to simply forget it or not even understand it. Hab 2:2-3 reminds us that the revelation or vision awaited an appointed time and Habakkuk was commanded to write this revelation down on a tablet (the writing form used then.) We too need to write down what God says to us; keeping a journal is a good idea so that we do not forget what God has said and can refer back to it as we mull over it and ponder its meaning. We may not use tablets to write on anymore, but the idea of taking tablets as medication reminds us that they work because we ingest them, digest them and our bodies work with their active ingredients. In the same way, we must ingest, digest and absorb God’s words to us so that they become real to us.
Samuel, Job, Isaiah and Daniel all had purpose which came from God. We too have purpose, and the boy who gave his packed lunch to Jesus saw that Jesus fed multitudes with just a few items. Jesus had a plan; He had the answer to the crowd’s needs. He is able to use whatever we give Him for His purpose and for His glory.