<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019d like you to close your eyes and picture this image: Picture a valley that runs through a small set of big hills or tiny mountains. The valley is lush and plentiful; the mountains frame the valley. From atop the mountains you can see miles and miles of winding valley. Through it you can see a group of shepherds moving their flock through the valley. There are shepherds among the flock actively herding moving the sheep through the valley based on the directions from the shepherd who is walking across the top of the hills; surveying the whole flock and providing guidance as to the way the shepherds in the valley should go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve heard it said in the past that God uses people\u2026 just like the shepherds; some to be in the valley actively herding and caring for the flocks and others walk across the mountain tops; keeping watch and point others in the direction they should go. The shepherds in the valley; those focused on flock look to the mountain tops for direction. The difference between the two shepherds might be that the one on the mountain tops; he probably has some formal degree from the Shepherding Sheep University\u2026 sometimes he distances himself from the sheep themselves\u2026 each shepherd has his role after all. His role is to be higher than the others, to be seen, and to give direction. I\u2019ve always been told I\u2019m the guy in the valley. I work well with the sheep and the sheep work well with me. I work hard and am not afraid to get my hands dirty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, there are some serious problems with this model\u2026
\u2022 If they the shepherd slips off the mountain top\u2026 the flock of sheep are lost in wilderness
\u2022 The shepherds walking the mountain tops are looked at with awe, they receive undo praise; they are in fact \u201chigh and lifted up\u201d.
\u2022 The pressure on those on the mountain tops is surely too much for them to bare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve been the guy in the valley, I\u2019ve looked to the men at the tops of the mountains\u2026 many times giving them the praises that belong to God alone. I\u2019ve seen many crack under the pressure and several have fallen. I\u2019ve even climbed up the mountain to steady the others and lead the way myself\u2026 only to fall. But you know what? Unlike Humpty Dumpty, my King not only put me back together again, but My King says now that you\u2019re broken I can finally use you. God\u2019s word is full of examples where my King chooses the broken, the misfit, the lowly, and the sludge at the bottom of the barrel, the whore, murderer, and persecutors of God Himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Feeling unworthy? Feeling unusable? Feeling like you have no clue as to why God would even consider putting you on His team? Let\u2019s look at David for a moment remembering God\u2019s testimony of him in Acts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: \u2018I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do\u2019. (Acts 13:22 NIV)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today\u2019s scripture:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, \u201cShe is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.\u201d Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, \u201cI am pregnant.\u201d (2 Samuel 11:2-5)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obviously, God did not instruct David to commit adultery. And I am not suggesting that you follow David\u2019s specific actions here, nor I\u2019m not discounting the consequences of sin; but I do want to draw out the realization David too was unworthy; he was an adulterer (2 Samuel 11:2-5) and a murderer (2 Samuel 11:14-17). Yet, as foreseen in the Covenant God made with David in 2 Samuel 7; it is through David\u2019s line that our ultimate King Jesus comes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So as we seek after God\u2019s own heart, may we always remember that we have a merciful God. May we always remember that when we confess our sin that He is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9). May we always remember that He is Faithful and keeps His promise to complete in us what He has started (Philippians 1:6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once you’ve confessed, don’t let the sins of your past hold you down. God not only forgave you, but He no longer remembers your sin! (Isaiah 43:25)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019d like you to close your eyes and picture this image: Picture a valley that runs through a small set of big hills or tiny mountains. The valley is lush and plentiful; the mountains frame the valley. From atop the mountains you can see miles and miles of winding valley. Through it you can see a group of shepherds moving their flock through the valley. There are shepherds among the flock actively herding moving the sheep through the valley based on the directions from the shepherd who is walking across the top of the hills; surveying the whole flock and...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seeking-after-gods-own-heart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichapel.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichapel.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichapel.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichapel.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichapel.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ichapel.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62,"href":"https:\/\/ichapel.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions\/62"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ichapel.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichapel.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ichapel.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}