“God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise…God has chosen, yea, the things that are not, to bring to nought things that are.” 1 Corinthians 1:27, 28
Dear Ones:
It has been said that God doesn’t use many men today, because they are too big. What is meant by this phrase? In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he writes: “…that no flesh shall glory His presence.” (1 Cor. 1:29) In Isaiah, another perspective is given of the same truth: “I am the Lord: that is My name: and my glory I will not give to another.” (42:8) God will not bless the man who thinks, and declares, the work of God in his life, as his own work. Also, anything man accomplishes in the name of Christ, is nothing, if it is not by the Spirit of God, and for the glory of God. Why is this so? Hudson Taylor sums it up in a phrase he would often use: “God’s work done in God’s way, will never lack God’s supply.” Christ throughout Scripture is revealed as the Beginning and the Ending, the Alpha and the Omega. He is also everything good and godly in between. It is as another writer put it: “Every virtue that we possess, and every victory won, and every thought of holiness, is His and His alone.” Since everything good and holy has its origin IN God, in Christ, and since the expression and manifestation of that goodness is only possible BY the Spirit, then it is the right thing to declare that the glory belongs only and forever, to God. With regard to salvation, the work of Christ on the cross, and His work in us by the Spirit to bring us to Himself, Paul writes: “But of Him (God) are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” (1 Cor. 1:30) In other words, the whole of the work done in creation, forming us in the womb of our mothers, bringing us into the world, and then bringing us by one means or another to a saving knowledge of Christ, is the work of God. Conviction is a gift, as is repentance and faith. The new birth is a gift, the gift of the Spirit moving, and working in the heart and life, to bring us to the point of receiving Christ into the heart, being justified in Him, and having peace with God. We have Life by the Spirit. Paul then writes because of this reality: “…according as it is written, ‘He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.'” (v.31)
What are the small things of this world, from the unbelieving world’s perspective? They are the “foolish” things, the “weak”, the “base” or lowly, humble things. They are also the “despised” things, and the things which appear as “nothing.” It is, in using such things that God, by His power, and for His glory, will confound the wise, confound the things which are mighty, and bring to nothing things that are. Now, why will He use people who know their littleness, lowliness, and their nothingness without Him? It is because they KNOW where mercy, grace, power and blessing come from. They thus give God the praise and the glory. They do NOT touch His glory, claiming it their own. God does NOT bless the person who would do this.
One day when Jesus came into the temple in Jerusalem to teach, He was confronted by the chief priests and elders of the people. He made the remark: “Verily I say unto you, ‘That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.'” (Matt. 21:31) Were publicans and harlots in Jesus’ day considered by many as needy and nothing? Yes. However, God could work in their hearts and souls to save them, when the religious leaders would reject Him. Why? There was no contesting God’s work in their hearts, nor the need to convince them of their need. They received God’s mercy and grace to meet it. God despises not the weak, small things.
Dear Father, Give us grace to receive Thy great mercy and grace today, giving Thee the glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad