Letters From Grandpa #34

• LETTERS FROM GRANDPA
• 34

Dearest Grandchild,

Since most of you have come from little towns that most people have never heard of, today’s letter will hopefully encourage you to aspire to greatness in spite of your humble beginnings. When Steve went to work in Washington, his co-workers couldn’t believe that his house was on a dirt road.

I’m sure you have heard the Christmas Carol “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem”. Well, this well known song has it right. Bethlehem was a little town. The prophet Micah put it like this: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." (Mic 5:2). The point is that the size of the town where you are born does not determine your destiny. Jesus was born in a little town but it never affected what God was going to do through Him. God had already decided “from ancient times” what He was going to accomplish through Jesus!

Nor does it matter where you grow up. Jesus grew up in another little town named Nazareth. That little town was so obscure that it became the subject of a saying: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (Jn. 1:46). The answer is yes!

There is a lesson here! Your destiny in life is determined by God and not by worldly circumstances.

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The fact that Abraham came from Ur in Chaldea did not make him great. In fact, the big city had such a negative influence on him that God ordered him to leave the city and live in a tent. #

When Moses lived in a mansion he had no ministry. The call of God came to him when he was totally unnoticed by man tending sheep on the back side of the desert.

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Gideon was amazed that God could use him because his clan was the weakest in Manasseh, and he was the least in his family (Judges 6:15).

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The call of God came to Joseph while he was out of sight in the obscurity of a prison cell. #

The prophet Amos was a lowly shepherd and a dresser of sycamore trees and from the obscure little village of Tekoa (Amos 1:1). God used him just the same.

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Human wisdom would never have recommended that John the Baptist be raised in the desert. On the surface it seems like a dead end road that would kill his career.

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So also the selection of unlettered fishermen from Galilee seemed an unwise strategy to transform the world. Most of these men had probably not traveled over 50 miles from the place of their birth. Their success, as you know, came from the power of God, not the wisdom of men!

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The fact that Dr. George Washington Carver was born on a farm near the little community of Diamond Grove, Missouri did not keep him from becoming one of the most famous scientists in the world.

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Where you were born, and where you grew up, will not keep God from using you either!

But you see the principle. Paul put it like this: “He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” (1 Cor 1:28, 29)

King Amaziah helps us to understand this principle. He was 25 years old when he became king and naively assumed that the more troops he had, the better were his chances of victory. So he hired a hundred thousand troops from the ungodly nation of Israel to help fight for him (2 Chron. 25:6). At this time Jeroboam II was the King of Israel and “he did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat . . . ” (2 Ki. 14:23). Amaziah was wrong in his thinking, so a man of God came to set him straight. To the amazement of Amaziah, he commanded him to send those ungodly soldiers home. He reminded the king what AI am trying to remind you. The key to victory is not in human hands but in the power of God (2 Chron. 25:8). When Amaziah complained about losing the hundred talents of silver he paid Israel, the man of God gave him this classic reply: “The Lord can give you much more than that” (2 Chron. 25:9).

Now let’s get back to you! The old cliche is true - “If God calls you to do something, the power behind you is always greater than the task before you.” The Scriptures, of course, are far better than any cliche and they remind us of the same thing: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).

If you really believe this, you will be bold in your service for Christ: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7).

WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT TO DO?

Paul wrote to the Philippians that God works in us both to “will” and to “act” (Phil. 2:13). First God gives you the “will”. That is, the “desire” to do something. Ben Carson had the desire to be a neurosurgeon. It now seems obvious that this desire was given to him by God. When God gives you a desire He does not abandon you to fulfill that desire on your own. Against all odds Dr. Ben Carson became one of the most successful and famous neurosurgeons in the world. To God be the glory!

Following the leading of God in your life is the key to happiness. Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." The word “easy” in this passage means “well fitted”. When Jesus makes a yoke, it fits perfectly. Consequently, at the end of a days labor you will have rest for your soul. You will be tired but happy. Doing what Jesus wants you to do will give you a sense of fulfillment that you can experience in no other way.

Grandpa prays for every one of you every day! May God make clear to you the “yoke” He has especially designed for you.

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce