Many years are wasted in our lives trying to be someone we are not. The perfect daughter, the wife who meets all expectations brilliantly, or the supermom who does it all- working outside the home, cooking, mom duties and still has time to love hubby. We all have expectations of who think we should be, but of more importance is who God wants us to be, and remember, He gave us our gifts and talents.
When I first got married I went through depression because my expectations were that I would be the perfect ‘at home’ wife, cooking awesome meals for her husband, keeping the house clean, tending to his needs, and being the perfect mom to the children we wanted right away. Too bad I didn’t have any of the skills necessary for the job- literally. Worse yet, typical wifely duties aren’t even hidden talents! In fact, 23 years married and I still managed to destroy a ‘box’ cake today!!!
I can spend endless hours lamenting my lack of wifely skill sets, but what would that accomplish? I don’t even have a desire to do those things (yes, I do them anyway), in fact I’d rather be up to my armpits in engine grease than cook anything, and I prefer power tools to jewelry and fixing things more than shopping for clothes. Actually, I’d rather clean sewers than go clothes shopping. So as I was reading the story of David and Goliath (1 Sam. 17) there was one thing that stood out to me today. Preamble- David’s talents were developed on the sheep pastures. In the endless hours he spent there, he got to know the Lord personally. He discovered what his talents were and used them at his ‘menial’ job. There David learned the most important lesson of all- to trust God on a deep level even against bears and lions who came to steal his sheep.
So it was no surprise to me that David stood up and declared that he could go up against Goliath for he had the living God on his side who would surely defend His own people. When Saul’s armor proved too much to handle, David refused it and picked up the tools of his particular trade, a staff and a sling. He could have just used a sword, but he didn’t have the skill set for that. He didn’t lament his lack of skills, gifts or talents, but used what he learned with the talents God gave him and went out to do battle against a well armed giant. David’s assurance of victory came from the greatest weapon which he ‘carried’ onto the battlefield- the all powerful, ever living God of all creation.
David brought what he had (in gifts, talents, skills) to the battle and left the results to the God he trusted. He was prepared for God to use what skills he had for His purposes. It would be easy for me to consider myself a failure in the area of ‘wifely’ duties, or to feel condemned for not being ‘womanly’ enough, but God made me who I am with the gifts and talents that He gave me, and I’m okay with that after all these years.
We all need to stop comparing ourselves to others, because God didn’t make us them- He made us, us. And He wants us to be the best ‘us’ we can be using the gifts and talents He gave us for His glory. David never said, “oh, but I’m just a lowly shepherd.” He walked out on the battlefield with the tools of his trade, a willingness to use them with God’s help, and proclaimed:
… Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel
Then David hastily ran to meet the Philistine!
Use all your gifts, talents and skill sets in this life and leave the results up to God. Trust Him, for He is worthy of our trust.