Broken Vessels

I brought you out of the land of Egypt, saying, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” Amos 3:2

Only – Why did God choose you and me?  He did, you know.  He started this plan of redemption and restoration by choosing Abraham.  He continues the plan by grafting the Gentiles into the family of Abraham.  Now you and I are part of His family.  So, the words of Amos apply to us.  God brought us out of Egypt.  We look back and see His handiwork and glory.  We are part of it all.  We have always been part of it all (from God’s perspective).  But why?  Why choose me?  Or you?

The Hebrew word here is raq.  It is our badge of exclusivity.  Memorize it!  You would notice in the Hebrew Bible that this is the first word in the sentence – the place of emphasis.  “ONLY you have I known,” is the better translation.  God picked Abraham, David, John, Paul and you and me for this task.  He is going to restore His creation through us.  What an awesome responsibility and privilege we have been given.

But there are plenty of days when I just don’t feel up to this.  There are days like today when I can’t understand why God would choose me.  I am broken.  I am disobedient.  I am a failure in holiness.  Frankly, I’m a mess.  I’m what you call a hopeful hypocrite, that is, I know how I should act and I speak about how I should act, but the truth is that I don’t always act that way.  I hope that some day my words will be matched by my behavior.  I expect that God will keep prodding me toward that day.  I know that I will have plenty of pain before I get there; the pain I suffer as God removes my fear-based alternatives and replaces them with trust.  But when I look at my life, I just can’t imagine why God would use someone so flawed.  Surely there are others more qualified than I.  I can even point to a few.  So, why me?

And, guess what?  God does not provide an answer.  God doesn’t tell me why He chose me, or why He chose you.  He just did.  That is the reality of my life.  God placed an obligation on me when He grafted me into His family.  That obligation was to abide by His covenant in order that all the world might see His righteousness and return to Him.  The purpose of living the covenant life is not to make my experience better.  Oh, it does that too, but that is the by-product of the way God designed the plan.  The purpose of living the covenant life is so that others (who were not given this elected obligation) may see His glory and turn to Him.  And the only way they can see this is in the messed-up, broken vessel that I am.

The hardest part of studying God’s words is that you and I become accountable for them.  Each new word reveals a deeper degree of obligation – a tighter connection with the covenant.  Of course, that is also the great joy of God’s words.  They bring comfort right along with conviction.   Apparently, you can’t have one without the other.

So, how are you doing?  Are you experiencing your brokenness in God?  Is He pushing you along the road to righteousness?