“And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” (1st Kings 19:10)
“Stop your complaining, get up and get back to work.”
The answer that Elijah received from the Lord was not quite that, but it could have been, and for some of us it should be. If you are going to ask the Almighty to use you for His glory, and He decides to do so, there is no turning back, you do not get to change your mind.
When a man of God is called by God for His glory, He has a specific purpose in mind, and that purpose, if not fulfilled by you, you will be held accountable for, and He will find someone else for the task.
When you ask to be used, when you are finally fed up with all the unrighteousness, the wickedness, when you want to be profitable and the Lord grants that request, the task will not end until your final breath here.
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13)
The slave asks for more burdens, he asks for wisdom, and the grief and sorrow that comes with it, he asks for Spiritual discernment so that he can more easily see unrighteousness. He asks the Most High to help him die to self. That man asks to be invited into the fellowship of the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” (Gal. 6:17)
Think twice my friends, for if you ask this you are asking the Lord to take you off the smooth path and place you on the sharp rocks, you are asking Him for the pain of the flesh as well as suffering of the mind. You will find yourself at times as Elijah did, begging for death. And He will grant that request, but not until the work is finished.
I wonder, when Peter was standing at the hill where our Lord was crucified, could he look Him in the eye as He hung there? How many times did John pray to be released from this life on that island? The Lord knew, He knew the words that would be placed in Peter’s mouth at Pentecost, He knew He would visit John on that island and reveal His revelation to him.
If you decide to ask to be used for His glory, do not expect every moment to be filled with joy, anticipate pain, sorrow and especially loneliness, for most who serve Him have no desire to go down that path. They are not forced to, in fact, I do not believe that it is even offered to some of us, for it will take you out of this world in ways that many would not desire.
I will not place myself in the same league as those men, but I have asked to be used, and I have felt that loneliness, that pain and sorrow, I know what it means to be hated by those in the world and even ostracized from those who claim to serve Him.
I asked for this, and there is nothing that can stay me from it.
Will I die writing one of these letters? Perhaps, if that is His will. Perhaps He has other plans for me, that also will be His decision. That is what is meant by that statement my friends, it means you no longer care what arrives in your life, as long as the name of the Most High God is exalted above the heavens that is all that matters.
But I will admit this truth to you, I have in a sense an ulterior motive, some might call it a selfish one, so be it. I want to hear Him say to me, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”
I want to know I was profitable, I want to know I was useful.
