In the book “Devotedly,” – a book published this year containing letters written back and forth between Jim and Elisabeth Elliot, (if those names are new to you, you have some reading to do!) – I came across one of Jim’s letters that got me thinking.
You can gather Jim’s main thrust from reading what he wrote to Elisabeth on page 41, but I wanted to share something that encouraged me from a particular line he wrote. “Those sheep were destined for the altar, their pasture feeding had been for one purpose – to… fatten them for bloody sacrifice.”
My life at the moment can feel like a long succession of waiting and preparation. There’s a lot of feeding going on – the reading of books, studying, memorizing, improving my health, forming good habits, gaining skills, growing in walking with the Lord…
So I was encouraged when I read the point of feeding. Sheep that are meant for sacrifice are still fed. But the reason they’re fed is for sacrifice. Right now I’m being fed. But what is the purpose for my being fed? Is it to gain personal success? Is it for my personal benefit? Or could I make the point of my “feeding” sacrifice? If so, then even my studying and growing can be sacrifice to the Lord, as a preparation for future sacrifice: the offering of these resources to Him – for wherever and whenever and however He calls me to serve Him.
Maybe you are someone who is in a season of “feeding”? Then learn and grow and gain wisdom and skills so that as you present yourself to God as a living sacrifice, you may offer to Him the fruits of the preparation He has allowed you to have. At our funerals, would we be satisfied if what was spoken about our lives was that we were very successful, but the unspoken narrative (for people don’t like to speak ill of the dead) was that we were successful at all the wrong things? The things that won’t last past either our lifetime, or maybe at the very, very most, the limits of time? Let’s not sacrifice our skills and knowledge and life on the altar of personal ambition. Instead, let us present to God all that we have to offer, as a sacrifice for Him to use as He pleases for His glory and for His purposes.
“Calling is the truth that God calls us to Himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived out as a response to His summons and service.”
-Os Guinness
I often like to pray this prayer now before starting my studies for the day, since recently coming across it in “Devotedly,”:
“Lord, let not this day be one of
earthly striving,
For knowledge puffeth up. O let it be
A quiet time of study in the Spirit,
My realm of intellect controlled by Thee.
As Thou didst use the hands of the lad Jesus
Plying His carpenter’s trade as given of Thee,
So use my mind. Through all this human learning
Hold Thou my thoughts in focus. Let them be
In earnest concentration, permeated
By the deep consciousness that I am Thine.
Direct my thinking. Give to me, O Father,
As Thou didst give to Jesus, such a mind.”
-Elisabeth Elliot
On page 24 of “Devotedly,” Valerie pointed out that when Elisabeth chose to enroll for further training (before becoming a missionary), that what it meant for Elisabeth’s life was “useful study while waiting for clearer direction on the specific part of the world in which God was calling her to serve Him.”
I underlined that line because it encouraged me through this season of “waiting.” It encouraged me that my current studies can indeed be “useful study” while waiting for further direction from the Lord. I can be faithful. I can focus on the things that are within arm’s reach while waiting on the Lord for what He wants for me in the future. Faithful with now, while praying and waiting for further marching orders.
-Annie
Enterline Girls 