Be who God called YOU to Be!

Job 37:5–6 NASB95

“God thunders with His voice wondrously, Doing great things which we cannot comprehend. “For to the snow He says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ And to the downpour and the rain, ‘Be strong.’

For a season in my life, I tried desperately to be a professional, buttoned-up, organized-type person. I wore slacks, suit and a tie for heaven’s sake. I white-knuckled a schedule and a set of responsibilities that felt like wearing someone else’s too-tight shoes. I’m amazed, when I look back now, how long it taken me to realize I was playing a part, acting like someone different from the way God made me to be. I’m messy and loud, a huger and a crier. I like stories and meals and have absolutely no sense of routine. It was a gift to finally admit that I wasn’t made to be who ive been despite how much I wanted to be.

What would it look like for you to admit today what you are and are not made for? I love today’s key verse, and I love the freedom and grace that flood through me when I read it. So God says to the snow, "Fall on the earth." That’s it. Just do one thing. Just fall. And then He says to the rain shower, "Be a mighty downpour." Essentially, He’s saying: Just do the thing I’ve actually created you to do. You’re rain … so rain. You’re snow … so snow. I love the simplicity of that, the tremendous weight it takes off my shoulders. God’s asking me to be the thing He’s already created me to be. And He’s asking you to be the thing He’s already created you to be. He doesn’t tell the snow to thaw and become rain, or the rain to freeze itself into snow. He says, essentially: Do your thing. Do the thing you love to do, what you’ve been created to do. So many of us twist ourselves up in knots trying desperately to be something or someone else. Trying to fulfill some endless list of qualities and capabilities that we think will make us feel loved or safe or happy.

That’s an exhausting way to live, and I know because I’ve done it. What is God asking you do to? What is the thing God created you to be? What do you do with the ease and lightness of falling snow?

Many of us, if we’re honest, have wandered far from those things. We’ve gotten wrapped up in what someone else wanted us to be, what we thought would keep us happy and safe and gain us approval.

becoming Andrew

I’m finding there’s tremendous value in traveling back to our essential selves, the loves and skills and passions God planted inside us long ago. When I look at my life, I see the threads of passion and identity I’ve carried through my whole life: Books and reading, people and connection, food and the table. Hunting and Fishing These are things I’ve always loved, and they continue to bring me great joy and fulfillment. Think about your adolescent self, your child self, the "you" you’ve always been. God imprinted a sacred, beautiful collection of passions and capacities right onto your heart: What do you love? What does your passion bubble over for? Much of adulthood is peeling off the layers of expectation and pressure, and protecting those precious things that lie beneath. We live in a culture that tries to define what it means to be a woman, what it means to be a success, what it means to live a valuable life. But those definitions require us to live on a treadmill, both literally and figuratively, always hustling to fit in, to be thin enough and young enough and sparkly enough, for our homes to be large and spotless, our children well-mannered and clean-faced, our dreams orderly and profitable. But that’s not life. That’s not where the fullness of joy and meaning are found.

Im reminded of Job

Job 38

Job 38 NASB95

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, “Who is this that darkens counsel By words without knowledge? “Now gird up your loins like a man, And I will ask you, and you instruct Me! “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding, Who set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the line on it? “On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy? “Or who enclosed the sea with doors When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb; When I made a cloud its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band, And I placed boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors, And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther; And here shall your proud waves stop’? “Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, And caused the dawn to know its place, That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it? “It is changed like clay under the seal; And they stand forth like a garment. “From the wicked their light is withheld, And the uplifted arm is broken. “Have you entered into the springs of the sea Or walked in the recesses of the deep? “Have the gates of death been revealed to you, Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? “Have you understood the expanse of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. “Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place, That you may take it to its territory And that you may discern the paths to its home? “You know, for you were born then, And the number of your days is great! “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, Which I have reserved for the time of distress, For the day of war and battle? “Where is the way that the light is divided, Or the east wind scattered on the earth? “Who has cleft a channel for the flood, Or a way for the thunderbolt, To bring rain on a land without people, On a desert without a man in it, To satisfy the waste and desolate land And to make the seeds of grass to sprout? “Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? “From whose womb has come the ice? And the frost of heaven, who has given it birth? “Water becomes hard like stone, And the surface of the deep is imprisoned. “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, Or loose the cords of Orion? “Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, And guide the Bear with her satellites? “Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, Or fix their rule over the earth? “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, So that an abundance of water will cover you? “Can you send forth lightnings that they may go And say to you, ‘Here we are’? “Who has put wisdom in the innermost being Or given understanding to the mind? “Who can count the clouds by wisdom, Or tip the water jars of the heavens, When the dust hardens into a mass And the clods stick together? “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, When they crouch in their dens And lie in wait in their lair? “Who prepares for the raven its nourishment When its young cry to God And wander about without food?

I do not understand all that God des how can I say to the potter why have you formed me this way?

No I must be the vessel God chose me to be the vessel God created me to be that I may be the man He desires me to be then and I believe only then Will He bless my ministry

TRUTH FOR TODAY:

1 Corinthians 12:4, "There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all." (NLT)

What do you need to leave behind, in order to recover that essential self that God created? What do you need to walk away from, in order to reclaim those unique parts God designed for His purposes?

Last Wednesday I talked to the kids about how we all have a place in Gods kingdom

The snow is only meant, created, commanded to fall. The rain only meant, created, commanded to pour down. You were only meant, created, commanded to be who you are — weird and wonderful, imperfect and messy and lovely.

Dear God: Today, give me Give us the courage to live the life You’ve called me to with the same contentedness and confidence as the falling snow or the pouring rain. Please help me to walk away from roles and expectations that other people have for me, and to live in peace with the exact way You created me — on purpose and for a purpose. That I may bring Glory to your name That by my faithfulness and obedience to be who you created me to be That You will bless us that you will bless me

Help me to be the man you want me to be help me to be that Husband you need me to be help me to be the father you want me to be help me to be the pastor you created me to be Help all of us this morning be the people you chose us to be and be faithful to the calling you have given us.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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