"My Call To Greatness"

I have a confession to make. I want to do something BIG. I want to make a BIG difference in this world for the kingdom of God. Don't get me wrong, I love my life and I know raising 4 boys is a huge, God given calling, but I have always wanted to do something grandiose for God. I am always waiting and looking for "that" big moment. Recently God has been working in my heart about this very thing and he has used a small shepherd boy to teach me some great lessons. David was the youngest of many brothers and he was a shepherd. He was a shepherd who God called to be a King. David knew at that point that he was called to greatness. God had set him apart and called him out to do something big. At this point in the story if I had been David, I would have requested my crown, a purple robe, some servants and the best food so I could be ready to rule and "make a difference." But guess where God sent David...not to a throne or to a day spa, He sent him back to the fields to tend the sheep. A King tending sheep? God sent him back to the fields, because He was not finished molding and shaping this young life. Yes he was called to a place of greatness, but he was not ready. God was preparing him as he served in the fields among the sheep. He had to govern, lead, protect and serve the sheep before he would ever be ready to serve the people. As Lysa Terkuerst puts it, "He was being trained in the fields of everyday life." We all have a training field and it is called "everyday life." Some of the greatest lessons God will ever teach us are learned in the most mundane chores of our everyday life. David killed a bear, he cleaned up after sheep and herded them all the while protecting them and making sure they were well fed in green pastures, drinking from quiet waters and free from pests. Sounds like my job some days. David did not seek greatness. David was not looking for a job opening for king. He was not advertising his talents or his accomplishments. He was just being obedient. I read a quote the other day by Jonathan Acuff that was a defining moment in my life. "David did not show up to fight Goliath. He brought lunch. Stop looking for dramatic and be great at the little things." Wow, how amazing is that? David was being obedient and doing what could have been considered one of the lowliest jobs, the job of a servant, he was delivering lunch. He was a delivery boy. How many delivery boys do you know that are sought out for the position of king? God recognized in David the heart of an obedient servant and he is referred to "as a man after God's own heart." God is looking for obedience. He is looking for servants. As we say in our house all the time "Jesus came to serve, not to be served." A man or woman after God's own heart serves. For some of us that means serving lunch like David did, and breakfast and supper and laundry and diapers and bathrooms and carpools and I could go on and on. Are those acts of service any less important to God than the acts of a King? Absolutely not, if that is what God has called you to do. The call to greatness is being obedient to the will of God for your life. I may not defeat a giant and save lives, but I may be raising children who will do that. I would love to have met David's mother. Raising all those boys, I'm sure she and I would have been friends. She did not defeat a giant, but she raised a son who did. She disciplined, trained and instructed a young man who became a "man after God's own heart." We can't go looking for greatness. Greatness finds us. Why? Because our finite minds cannot comprehend the greatness of God. What He considers great and what we consider great are two totally different things. For this reason, we obey today never knowing when greatness will be accomplished, but remembering that it is not about us. I believe that is why God waited to call David to face the giant when he showed up with the lunch. If he had been told ahead of time he might have run, he might have lived in fear and worry or he might have taken a class from me and become conceited and tried to work in his own strength thus grasping for the glory for himself instead of giving the glory to God. We always say, "David defeated Goliath." No he didn't! God defeated that giant. God is the only one able to accomplish such greatness. David was the obedient vessel. David held the sling shot and God provided the strength. God had prepared David way before that day. God is preparing me and you everyday, in the "fields of our everyday life." What are we being prepared for you ask? Whatever the will of God is for you and for me. We just have to be obedient. You never know when God might call you to fight a giant for His glory. A call to greatness can come by just delivering lunch.