The room was silent as people gathered to worship and praise
God on this sunny Addis Ababa Sunday morning.
Unlike the church gathering that was happening outside in the main
building where speakers were being set up with intercoms into the wide open
spaces outside the auditorium, this gathering required no such projection of
sound. The people who were gathering in
this room were people who had no capacity to hear, mostly no function to speak
yet had hearts to communicate and participate in the very same message that was
being purveyed in the room next door.
As they gathered, silence filled the room. Arms swayed and
fingers so limber, oscillated back and forth as communication transpired between
souls. A stillness came as everyone knew
the time to begin the service was approaching and my heart sighed “Oh Lord, how
we need this quietness in our lives.” How much better off are these that can’t
hear an external noise so that they can hear an internal voice, know your
presence and find contentment in silence.
The silence spoke loudly to my noisy soul.
There was such a beautiful exchange of language as body
movements and eye contact necessitated an exchange of deepness. I was
floored. Messed up as the flood gates of my tear ducts opened. Thankful for what I did have and jealous of
what they did. Another revelation came to me as we sat as a family and a team
and observed this service for almost two hours.
Just as hands can be used when mouths and ears aren’t functioning as they should, so God will use whatever instruments are available to get His message
across. In fact, His Grace causes
unsuspecting instruments to be fit for use in extraordinary ways. When original default settings for functions
dysfunction, God will change the default setting.
We see in the Bible and in history, God using people who
society would reject as useful. We see
different parts of the body being used for functions they weren’t created
for. We see a prostituted woman on the
walls of Jericho make a way for the Israelites to overtake the land; we see an
orphan girl and her Uncle Mordecai save their people from a position of power;
then there were those fishermen who Jesus called out of their lifestyle to be
his followers and establishers of the first church. God’s
grace causes unsuspecting instruments to be fit for use in extraordinary ways.
Jesus fully offended people by associating with, eating with, hanging out with people society and the religious crowd, rejected. He still continues to confuse and offend with the people He chooses to speak through, love through, build His Kingdom through. His treasure stores
in jars of clay.
Clay Thick heavy soil that is soft when wet but molded and shaped, placed through the fire to reinforce
it’s shape yet still so vulnerable to breakage when pressure comes. That’s us.
Does it make us useless? Heck no! It just means that we are those unsuspecting instruments fit for use in extraordinary ways.
Like sign language is so different to spoken word, so our
expressions, our language per se, can also be different to what people may
expect. But God sees our uniqueness and
He embraces it. He sees the beauty in the language we speak and love that we
portray on His behalf. Be satisfied with
who you are and the message you portray with the voice God has given you.
You
ARE His message- not just His messenger. Your life speaks volumes. My life does
too. Live it WELL!
