Discouraged

“We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall.” Proverbs 16: 33.  How often have we longed to change this world, but could not?                     

Many years ago, a boy named David quit watching his father’s sheep and was anointed the next king of Israel.  The Spirit of the Lord came upon David and he did incredible things.  He defeated Goliath and led Israel to victory over her enemies, but when David became popular with the people, the current King of Israel became jealous, and David was forced to flee.     

            Escaping into the wilderness, David hid in caves and lived off the land.  Wait a minute!  Wasn’t David the future king?  Yes, but his time had not yet come.  What dark days those must have been, living on the run while waiting for his kingship to begin.     

            You and I may not be anointed the kings or queens of anything, but we too want to make a difference.  In Matthew 5: 13-16, Jesus calls us to be salt and light to the world, but among earth’s millions of people, who will notice us?           

            There is a story about a fleck of gold God placed at the bottom of a stream.  For many years this tiny nugget dreamed it would someday change the world, but how could it while hidden among the rocks in the riverbed?  One day as snow melted in the mountains, the stream flowed faster shifting pebbles in its path.  Suddenly, there was a shout from above, “Gold!  I found gold!”

            When God’s time came, that fleck of gold was scooped out of the water to start the gold rush of 1849.  One tiny nugget caused the world to catch gold fever and led to California becoming a state in the Union. 

In our own strength, we cannot change this world.  That truth may be discouraging, but God called us to be salt and light, and so we must remain.  Discouragement did not turn that golden nugget to stone, or cause David to abandon his dreams of kingship.  God knows exactly where we are, and when the time is right, He will lift us from obscurity and the world will be changed.  “It is not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty, Zechariah 4: 6.  If we are to change this world, we must be patient, trust the Lord and wait!