The Hands that God uses..

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!