Little Lesson 11: God Can Use a Shrimp

SCRIPTURE:  But God told Samuel, “Looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed with his looks and stature. I’ve already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

THOUGHT: As I began to be mended, I also began to be thoroughly embarrassed. I had made so many missteps and misjudgments. I had put my children and extended family through so much. For a human deathly afraid of being seen as a fool, those were some tough years. But facing your own depravity as a Christian is different than facing it out in the world. There were living saints around me, friends and family praying for me, wise voices counseling me, and a very big God, breathing life into me again.

I was at the beginning of trusting God, at the beginning of understanding what freedom is, but understandably far from trusting myself with it.

God is in the business – when he finally gets our attention and trust – of restoring dignity. He won’t celebrate our depravity, but he will rebuild our dignity. And he’s not invested in what we look like on the outside, it’s the heart he’s watching.

With a lot of love and compassion and training from fellow-sojourners in the faith, my heart began to change and find hope again. I was more than the sum of my past mistakes, as the song goes. I had a future and a hope, as Jeremiah said to the bruised and battered people of God (Jer. 29:11), no matter my past and no matter my outward appearance. And so do you, because it’s not about what we can do, it’s about what God can do through us, his great workmanship:

When David faced the giant
Who was twice his size and more
We honor his great courage
and give him praise galore
But that was not the message
In this tale of shrimp and foe
Stick with me you’ll find out
A thing you need to know….oh

God can use a shrimp or a donkey or a whale
God can use a wimp or a man that’s stuck in jail
God can use a loser, or a murderer as well —
He’s been known to use a woman, when a man’s to no avail!
Oh God can use a dead man who’s got a nasty smell
He can use the rocks to praise Him if His stubborn people fail
Oh God can use a baby – and you can never tell
He might even use a person here who thinks they’re not so swell

That’s because He plays no favorites
When He’s got a job to do
He looks for men and women
A lot like me and you
So perhaps you feel too broken,
Too small, too weak, too few
But trust God in your weakness
And you’ll find that this is true…oh

God can use a shrimp or a donkey or a whale
God can use a wimp or a man that’s stuck in jail
God can use a loser, or a murderer as well —
He’s been known to use a woman, when a man’s to no avail!
Oh God can use a dead man who’s got a nasty smell
He can use the rocks to praise Him if His stubborn people fail
Oh God can use a baby – and you can never tell
He might even use a person here who thinks they’re not so swell

Amy Clemens “GOD CAN USE A SHRIMP” 9/23/04

PRAYER: Dear Father, thank you for looking past the things others judge us on to see our hearts. And thank you for dignifying us by weaving our lives, brokenness and all, into the bigger story you are telling.