Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Get Off My Throne

Reading Isaiah 6 today I was super humbled realizing that God cleansed Isaiah to be a servant, not a king, or anything mighty. He cleansed him to do the dirty job of speaking truth to Israel that they didn't want to hear, to be ridiculed, isolated, and scorned. God has cleansed us, chosen us, and made us new not to be mighty leaders but humble servants. We have been atoned for to do the dirty work. And in that humility, lead, not to ourselves but to Christ.

I'm reading through 1 Samuel right now and was struck by this passage, "but when [Israel] said, 'give us a king to lead us' this displeased Samuel so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him...it is not you they have rejected, but the have rejected me as their King" -1Samuel 8:6-7
On houseboats I feel like we don't often pray for God to appoint us a king, but we pray, or hope in our hearts that kids will love us, that we will be the ones to speak the perfect words, bring a kid to Christ, that we would lead in such a mighty way, basically, that God would appoint us king. And in hoping for our own glorious leadership, we reject Him as king, as the ultimate leader of the houseboat, of these kids, of our lives, of our hearts. In this I hear a strong but gentle command, Em, get off my throne.

When I take up a whole houseboat on my shoulders I feel emptied, worn out, unappreciated, and drained. When I rely on and crave the abundance of Jesus, I am worn and filled, overflowing with Jesus' sincere love for others. God has not given us the strength to stand above those we serve, but the strength and grace to kneel on our knees by their side.

2 comments:

  1. That last paragraph really spoke to me :)

    Thanks for sharing!

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  2. Oh man, so good! GOD is in control! They are HIS houseboats! HE is the Ultimate Program Coordinator!
    Thanks for writing this, Emily, and for challenging us to get off the throne!

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