God of the Dust

I don't know what's hanging from that tree on the left,
but I like it every time I walk past it. (Taken not far from my house)

(When I watched this video, I thought, "This has

gotta be from the 90s". I was wrong--2003!

Can you believe that was 12 years ago?? Anyway...)

Three times last week, God asked me to do one simple thing. No, the sky didn't open up and God's voice didn't boom down at me in any audible way. It was totally silent. It felt like an idea coming into my mind, to go and have a conversation with a co-worker, and I realized it was the Spirit's nudge saying, "Go and talk to that person." You know what I'm talking about, right? And when you believe it's God who speaks, it seems like following through with it should be a no-brainer. I mean, come on, is there anything easier than just talking? So I'd love to say I gave the correct response all three times. That was not the case.

On Monday, God asked me to go and talk to a specific person in the office, and to pray with them, and I didn't. I stayed put. I continued with my work. I moved on with my day. It's not like it was scary or anything. All of my co-workers are Christians! I knew I could do it, and it would be great! Apparently, I was just not interested in interrupting my day for 5 minutes to go and do it.

But on Tuesday I felt called to go and pray with the same person, and I knew I could not put it off again. I went to the person's office and said, "I feel like I'm supposed to pray with you," because I didn't know what else to say. They invited me in, we meditated on a chapter in Isaiah, and we prayed. Afterwards we both felt happy and spiritually recharged.

On another day later in the week, I was feeling tired. I was really looking forward to getting home, making some cous-cous, and talking to a friend on Skype before bed. And then I felt that darned nudge again. And this time, I felt compelled to talk to a person who, let's just say, I wouldn't normally seek out on my own. I was feeling stubborn, and I was really tempted to ignore it. But I couldn't shake off the feeling, so I went to look for them, and we shared an interesting conversation and prayed.

That was it. Nothing earth-shattering, just what God asked.

The next day, I was reflecting on these events and was reminded of the parable of the talents that Jesus tells in Matthew 25. Here is the beginning of it:

“Again, the kingdom of God will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five talents, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more talents. So also, the one with two talents gained two more. But the man who had received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money." (Matthew 25:14-19)

It occurred to me that we can replace any reference to money in this parable with the idea of responsibility.

Let's say God called one man to move far away and plant a church in a foreign country.
God called a second person to start a Bible study with the other women in her dorm.
To the third, he said, "Do you see that man over there? Go and talk to him."

The first man obeyed, and trusted in God to be his support and guide as he carried out this exciting call from God. Although daunted by the task ahead, he moved with his wife and children to Romania, and  after a number of years, they had successfully planted a church that brought many to faith.

"Well done, good and faithful servant!"

The woman also obeyed. She started a Bible study in her dorm, which had a spotty turnout at first, but gradually grew to a tight-knit group of 7 women by the end of the semester. At the end of the year several women expressed their gratitude to the group's leader for following through on her idea to start a Bible study, and were thankful to have found a close and supportive group of friends.

"Well done, good and faithful servant!"

The third person barely even recognized God's voice. He watched the stranger for a moment, surprised at the bizarre whim that had come over him, and quickly dismissed the idea from his wandering mind. That would be awkward, he thought to himself. I don't even know that guy... So he continued with his day as if nothing had happened and quickly forgot about the man.

. . . .

More often than not, when we are in the third person's situation and we ignore God's voice, we are not even aware of our quiet disobedience. It doesn't put a single wrinkle in our day. We might not even realize it was God's voice that called us. Or, like the servant with one talent, we think these small responsibilities that God gives us are so ridiculously insignificant that He probably won't notice one way or the other whether it gets done anyway. After all, what is one conversation in the grand scheme of things? It was really more of a suggestion, so we are free to ignore it.

Truthfully, God will probably not come crashing through the third man's front door to teach him a thing or two. I'm not saying he can't, but that's usually not his style. He is not a God of retaliation, but a God who responds, and if the man were to hear him, God would not mince words:

"You were just lazy! When I asked you to go, you stayed put. When I asked you to speak, you were silent."

Ouch.

Let's not be confused. God takes our obedience very seriously. And at the same time, God doesn't need us to fulfill any of his plans. If we don't obey, God doesn't scratch his head and say, "Oh, fiddlesticks, what am I going to do now?"

"Can a man be of benefit to God?
Can even a wise man benefit him?
...What would he gain if your ways were blameless?"
(Job 22:2-3)

So what's the big deal? The big deal is that God wants our help. He desires our obedience so that we can enjoy a life working alongside the best boss in the universe. And somehow, in the course of our tiny human lives, we've gotten the idea in our tiny human heads that under any circumstance it's okay to say, "Thanks for asking, God, but I have other tiny human things to do right now." We think that God only cares about the big, "exciting" callings that he gives to people who aren't us, so instead we resolve to stay comfortable and save our energy until he asks us to do something that really matters. What we usually don't realize is that if we can't manage to complete the smallest tasks God gives us, the wise Master will never see fit to "put us in charge of many things" (Matthew 25:21, 23). And because of this, we miss out on the adventure he has in store for people who are prepared to take him seriously.

How many times has God desired to work through his servant Kate, only to get stuck with Monday Kate? Monday Kate is passive and unwilling to be interrupted. Monday Kate has "other things to do", and there is no place for that in God's kingdom.

Tuesday Kate needed to be reminded twice, but finally did what God was asking of her. Tuesday Kate is far from perfect, but she is blessed to be able to participate in God's kingdom, and is learning how to serve better every day. I would rather be Tuesday Kate any day.

If He were God over all the forces of nature, over the stars and galaxies, and over life and death itself...

...and not also the God of the dust, of small whispers, of mundane activities, and of "inconsequential" conversations,

then he would not be God.

To think that one side matters more than the other, that God is only at work in the big stuff, and that he only cares about the people with "more important" callings, is to bury a enormous chunk of who He is, much like the servant buried his talent in the ground. That's a surefire way to miss out on plenty of adventures that are in store for those who are not too proud to listen to the God of the dust just as attentively as the God of the universe. The question is never whether God is speaking, but whether his kids are ready to listen and follow through with even the smallest calling.

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
(1 Kings 19:11-13)

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It would be interesting to hear stories from others, about a time when you felt called to do something small. Did you get to see any unexpected results come out of that? Share your story in the comments, or anywhere, really.

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(Click here for an interesting commentary on Matthew 25 from BlueLetterBible.org. The parable of the talents is at letter "B". I've really gained a lot from reading the their passage studies, and I would highly recommend them!)