Not Making Waves

Psalm 17: ⁶ I call on you, my God, for you will answer me;
    turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.
⁷ Show me the wonders of your great love,
    you who save by your right hand
    those who take refuge in you from their foes.
⁸ Keep me as the apple of your eye;
    hide me in the shadow of your wings
⁹ from the wicked who are out to destroy me,
    from my mortal enemies who surround me.

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Critical of the person on stage I left thinking “What a waste of my time! I could do that better!” In later months I had my chance. I got in front of a crowd and gave it my all. When the evaluations came in I found out my rating was “okay” at best. Some liked my presentation style while others groused about my lack of real world examples.

I decided to shrink out of the public eye and not make waves anymore instead of improving and trying again. My peers made similar mistakes, but they kept trying and improving. Meanwhile, no one was approaching me for assignments. I was on the “bench” because I wanted to hide.

• Sometimes harsh critics make me want to hide.
• Sometimes bullies make me want to stay inside.
• Sometimes my mistakes make me want to crawl in a corner and shrink away from the crowd.

Taking the “not making waves” approach did not work for me. I mean, it’s easy to sit on the sideline criticizing others and thinking “If I just put my head down and do my job then maybe I won’t be noticed and I could get my check each week”. I was wrong. Even with that approach things did not go as planned. What should I do?

• GOD says to me “Live for ME” which means sometimes I will be misunderstood.
• GOD says to me “Present MY message in love” which means I have to get out of my comfort zone to proclaim HIS name.
• GOD says to me “Follow ME” which means I may be slandered, accused and sometimes thrown out because that’s the path JESUS took.

JESUS thought “being GOD” was nothing to achieve. HE became a human and tried hard to deliver a message. HE was ridiculed, slandered and even murdered for proclaiming HE was GOD! Now HE wants me to do the same? Yes! But if GOD could not convince humans, who am I? I am the person HE made, sent to the other people HE made to bring them back to HIM. As long as I keep my intentions focused on GOD, HE will help me bear fruit!

• Are you trying to hide?
• Do you criticize others from the sidelines while not being in front?
• Can you stop hiding in life, get out of your shell and go where GOD sends you?