Ordinary Heroes – Lives to Learn From

Just a little reminder of what I mentioned earlier about our study this summer…

This summer on Wednesday Nights we are gathering together to look at Ordinary Heroes.  People like Daniel, Samson, and Deborah.  For many of us when we look at these people in the bible we think of them as heroes and we should.  These are all people who walked with God, served God, and were used by God. But I also think that a lot of times, we kind of separate ourselves from these people.  At times we think, “I couldn’t be like them.” Sometimes that’s what we do with heroes isn’t it. We want to be like them but somewhere along the way reality sets in.

As a kid you probably had a hero – like a professional athlete or a musician or an astronaut or maybe you just wanted to be a princess when you grew up. When I was younger, I wanted to be Magic Johnson. I loved the LA Lakers. I would imagine myself on the court…10 seconds left in the game…I bring the ball into the front court…dribble through the lane…make the no-look pass…and we win the championship.  But over time reality settled in and I realized I’m not going to be Magic Johnson. I’m not as tall as he is, I’m not as fast as he is and, most importantly, I’m not as good as he is at basketball.

I think we do that with the people we read about in the bible as well. Sometimes the more we read about them, the more reality sets in that I’m not going to be like them. I don’t know if I could stand up for my faith like Daniel did. I don’t have wisdom like Deborah had. I can’t lead like Nehemiah.  But one of the things I love about the bible and the people of the bible is they made mistakes and we’re told about those mistakes. The bible doesn’t leave them out.

One the of the things I think we have to keep in mind as we look at these people is God doesn’t want us to be exactly like them. God is not asking us to be exactly like Daniel or Miriam or Deborah or Hannah or Nehemiah or Barnabas. For one thing, we’re not in the same circumstances as they were in. We live in different circumstances and God wants to enlarge our faith and grow us for our circumstances. He wants us to become more like Him so we can live in our circumstances and so He can live through us in our circumstances.  But that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from their circumstances and their lives and how they walked with God.  So, most importantly as we read about these people and look at their lives, we should be asking this question:

What do I learn about God from this person’s life?

Because all of these people are just ordinary people, but they have an extraordinary God. Just like it says in James about Elijah, “He was a man with a nature like ours.” That means Elijah was just like us. But when Elijah prayed, God did an extraordinary thing! He stopped it from raining for 3 ½ years on the earth. Elijah was an ordinary hero with an extraordinary God!

I believe if you will ask the question “What do I learn about God from this person’s life?” God will show you himself. He will reveal more of Himself to you through these people’s lives and I think He will reveal more of Himself to you in your own life.