Allow God to Use You

As I read today in Acts 2, I realized something I had never noticed before. Often this passage is quoted to speak only about the fact that God spoke through the disciples in all of the languages represented in their midst, which is a grand and glorious work of God to do such a thing at all. I was struck with the newness of the thing and what it would have been like to stand there and hear the wonderful works of God in my own language from someone I knew did not speak a bit of it. Most of the people there had probably never seen anything like it before, for it had not happened in their lives before.

The only time I recall God changing the language of those who spoke before this was at the Tower of Babel. Think of the magnitude of each occasion. In the Old Testament the people were building a tower to reach all the way up to God, and by this proving they could do anything. God saw this and confused them so that they would not go about thinking and acting as if they could accomplish anything on their own. (Side note: we do not come to God completely on our own srength. He will come to meet with us if we call on His name.) Babel literally means confusion, and that's what happened to their plans.

This occasion, the one in Acts, is one of even more magnitude. God wanted to make it known to the world that He was God, and He used the disciples, ordinary people who had been chosen for an extraordinary purpose, to speak in languages they could all understand. Now most of the poeple there were probably fluent in Greek as it was the language of commerce, but God made it even more personal. And He used men who were not schooled in those languages so it could not be mistaken for man's wisdom and effort. God be praised.

As I have said in a previous post, God seeks to protect the holiness of His name. If we are to decide that we will do something on our own, I believe God will allow this to come to ruin. On the other hand, if we allow God to use us to glorify and further His name and kingdom, He will prosper our work and goals. Today let God use you in ways you never expected.