After spending a number of years among a small group of preachers and churches, I was then introduced to a large number of pastors from across the country. After preaching to this particular fellowship of men, one of their wives asked me, “Where did you come from? When I explained, she said, “You seemed to have come out of nowhere.”
The truth is, no one comes from nowhere, everyone comes from somewhere. And while how you arrived there may be a providential mystery, you still need to be content wherever that “somewhere” is. For it is from “there” God will call you to that one all-important task for which He created you. John the Baptist’s wilderness experience is a good illustration.
The famous basketball coach, John Wooden used to say to his players, “No time spent in preparation is wasted.” Being is much more important than doing! For the former determines the quality of the latter. The Man Christ Jesus, spent the first thirty-years of His life in obscurity, in preparation for His final three.
Such eternal plans have no time limit. In some cases it is longer compared to others. But in many if not most lives, it’s just the opposite; “A flash in the pan,” as they say. You go off the scene as quickly as you came on. The Bible is full of such examples. But all these “passing shadows” had one magnificent characteristic, they did God’s bidding.
A little unnamed Jewish maiden, taken captive by the Syrians, never to see loved ones or land again, became a servant girl to a military man, a mighty man of valour, Naaman by name. But he was a leper. She was instrumental in his cleansing and new life. We never hear of her again. But she is recorded in God’s eternal record Book. She only did one great spiritual thing in her life, as far as we know, but it was for the Glory of God!
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