Feeling Useless
Feeling Useless
In 2010 we bought a house in West Virginia. For five years we spent vacations there. In 2014 it became clear that the roof on one part of the house needed to be replaced right away. I called my brother and a friend, and we went to work stripping the old roof off, replacing the sheathing, and getting it mostly dried in. But we ran out of time. I had to get back to work in New York.
I had no time.
I was helpless to fix the problem.
I felt useless.
It was really concerning because I knew that simply putting a tarp on the roof and waiting for my next vacation wasn’t going to work. I told Father that I could not finish this job and that if it was going to get done, He would have to do it. Through an incredible series of events Father introduced us to people who know people who knew a guy who could finish the roof in time. They told us that he was never available on short notice, yet somehow, he was in town and agreed to come and finish the roof before we had to leave.
I had no time.
It would take me days to finish.
I felt useless.
But the maker of time had all the time necessary.
What would have taken me several days, this man sent by God did in less than one day.
Many of us feel helpless from time to time.
Many of us feel useless when it comes to doing what we feel God wants us to do.
We are not the first people to feel useless.
Genesis 15:17–18 “Now it came about, when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, a smoking oven and a flaming torch appeared which passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:” (NASB 2020)
God promised to give land to Abraham’s descendants.
But Abraham and Sarah had no children.
Abraham and Sarah tried to fix the situation by giving Abe a child through a slave-girl.
That didn’t work out very well.
Again, God told Abraham His plan.
Genesis 17:1–2 “Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. “I will make My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.” (NASB 2020)
Genesis 17:15–17 “Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her by the name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, give birth to a child?” (NASB 2020)
God promised a child through whom the earlier promise of blessing and land would come.
But Abraham and Sarah were well past childbearing.
Abraham laughed.
He felt useless.
Genesis 18:10–15 “He said, “I will certainly return to you at this time next year; and behold, your wife Sarah will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him.
11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, am I to have pleasure, my lord being old also?” But the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I actually give birth to a child, when I am so old?’
Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Sarah denied it, however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.” (NASB 2020)
God promised a child would be conceived in one year’s time.
But Sarah and Abe were very old. Sarah laughed and felt useless.
We all know how that turned out. Abe and Sarah had Isaac and the Hebrew nation was born.
Like me on the roof and Abe and Sarah in their old age, we may feel like we do not have what it takes. We may even feel that God is drawing us toward something, but we cannot see how we could ever do it.
Look what Jesus said.
“I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children for Abraham.” (Luke 3:8 NASB 2020)
You do not been to spend a single second worrying that you do not have what it takes to do what Father wants you to do. He knew who you were when He made you. (see Psalm 139 13-16) He knows you now in every aspect of your being. He knows your history. He knows what skills and proclivities you have, what resources are available to you, and how apt you are at using them.
Your God can raise up children for Abraham from stones. This is beyond miraculous. It does not simply declare that He could make people from stones. It declares that He could make people with the inherited DNA of Abraham from those stones.
You are not useless. You are not incapable of doing anything that Father wants you to do. All this is true because it is He who is your source and He has no limitations whatsoever.
