Ordinary People, Extraordinary God

By Greg Laurie, Op-ed contributor Thursday, June 09, 2005

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and give praise. (Psalm 57:7 )

He came from the most humble of beginnings and rose to be the greatest king in the history of the nation Israel. In battle he was fearless. In wisdom and ruling, he was without peer. He was someone God uniquely described as being a man after His own heart. Of course, I'm speaking of David.

God's selection of David as Israel's king can help us identify some principles about the man or woman God wants to use.

God Uses Ordinary People. The Lord uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things; then people give credit to the Lord rather than to human beings. Just as surely as God plucked David, an ordinary shepherd boy, from obscurity, He is looking for someone He can show His strength through today.

God Uses Spiritually Focused People. David was totally focused on who God is (see Psalm 57:7). God may not give you everything you hoped for in life. Then again, He may give you more. You just leave that up to God and put Him first. That is what David did.

God Uses People Who Are Content in Him. As a young boy, David's primary responsibility was to watch and insure the safety of sheep. David figured that if watching sheep was what God wanted him to do then he would do the best job he could. Did he dream of one day doing great things for God? We can't know for sure, but we do know that David was content in whatever God called him to do.

Like David, we are all ordinary people. No matter. As long as you are willing to be faithful in what God has set before you and willing to be content in whatever God asks from you, God will use you.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000