Working for God
by Peter Brokaar
Recently I went into the woods at Blairmore to collect some logs. I was collecting some beech logs about 6 inch in diameter and 4 feet long. As you can imagine they weighed a fair amount.
I decided to take Emma (age 4) with me and have a good time with her. We thoroughly enjoyed it and, as you can imagine, we encountered many distractions. We climbed on trees, threw sticks in the pond, looked at geese, listened to owls and I gave her a ride on the cart which we used for transporting the wood. The whole job probably took 4 times the amount of time it would have taken without her. But in no way was it a waste of time: it was great fun! Emma helped me enjoy a job that otherwise would have been boring.
Then at the end of our ‘work’ she said something which made me smile. She’d insisted on carrying the logs with me into the shed. Of course doing this together was a lot harder for me than it would have been carrying them myself. Just when we were bringing in the last log, and I started to get a bit weary, she exclaimed, in full child-like innocence: “You couldn’t have done this without me!”
God, for His own reasons, also chooses to work with us. It’s not that He really needs our help, but He chooses to use us. Too many times we portray a false picture of God which has Him wringing His hands, hoping we get everything perfectly right, or pulling His hair out when we get it wrong. The truth is God’s more than capable of running the universe without our help. It’s just that somehow, in His goodness and kindness to us, He enlists our help and works in such a way that we can do things with Him.
The wonderful fact is not only is God all-powerful but He’s not a ‘loner’, doing everything by Himself. He works with us and gives us everything we need to get the job done. Then when we’ve ‘carried our end of the log’ so to speak, He says to us with Fatherly love: ‘Well done’. Isn’t that great? So let’s enjoy working for Him every day, and may He help us to remember that God’s already got the job completely in hand.
Prayer: Father in heaven, I know You’re almighty and You have full control of the world. I also know You’re able to use me for Your glory every single day. I pray that we may work together in a way that’s pleasing to You and a true joy to me, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Peter Brokaar is Director of Ellel Ministries Scotland and has been there together with his wife Liz since 2005. They have 3 kids, all born in Scotland! In his free time he likes reading, cooking, running and surfing. Being at Ellel Scotland has given him the privilege of getting to know God deeper and sharing that joy with many others.
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