Ten Tent Pegs: 4 Character

If you’re anything like me, there have probably been times when you’ve listened to someone telling you about a calling, or a vision to do something wonderful and, far from finding it inspiring, you’ve felt intimidated.

Or perhaps you’ve read about how such and such an organisation or charity began. The way in which first one person felt led to do a particular work, then another and another, followed by all sorts of seemingly impossible God-incidences, occurrences which have miraculously come together – and you’ve thought to yourself: Well that’s all very well, but I’m a pretty unimportant, insignificant sort of person. What does this have to say to me?

Being a grandma has led me to think about that. My youngest daughter had twins. When they were four and, because I cared for them twice a week while their Mummy taught at a primary school, I was a fairly big part of their lives. But there were times, when you might have thought Grandma was pretty unimportant in their reckoning.

Anyone who tells you that boys and girls are alike is talking rubbish! It may have been a Sumerian in Mesopotamia who designed the first known wheel in 3,500 BC, but without a doubt it was a Mr Sumerian, not a Mrs. The fascination with circular moving apparatus has been hard-wired into the male psyche ever since.

So Sammy, if not an inventor of the wheel, was certainly obsessed with them. Consequently, I was more than likely to find him on his tummy, bottom in the air, head sideways on the floor, watching the effect of pushing a small wheeled toy across the carpet. He was completely oblivious to anything or anyone else around him – me and his Mummy included.

Girls, of course, oil the wheels of social intercourse. Everyone knows that’s how Eve got into trouble in the first place, chatting with the Enemy in the Garden of Eden. Being the wily old serpent that he is, he was well aware that an encounter with Adam would have been totally unproductive. All he’d have got out of him would have been a grunt!

Naturally, being a girl, my granddaughter Pippa wanted to relate; to communicate. Usually that happened when I was well into my Sudoku and she wanted to help. “Eight here,” she would say, authoritatively (as only a four-year old can) and she would jab her finger all over the page. Invading your space, elbows in your ribs, head walloping on your bosom, and nearly knocking your teeth out, she was completely unaware of your discomfort. Even though she was the cause of it!

To anyone who didn’t know any better, it must have looked as if Grandma’s presence and comfort were of no great concern to the twins. But when Mummy came to collect the two of them, after work, Sammy would cry because he didn’t want to leave! And Pippa would be all over you saying “Love you Grandma.”

You see, appearances may be deceptive. So if you feel inadequate or inconsequential, just think again! As did Jabez, a Biblical character.

Jabez – meaning 'he causes pain' - was so named, by his mother, because of his difficult birth. He thus had a troubled beginning of life. His potted history looks pretty unimportant among all the genealogies in Chronicles.

• His origins were like a tiny insignificant seed.

• We know nothing of his life. It was hidden, as if in the soil.

• His prayer, asking for God's blessing upon him, His guidance, and His protection from evil appears to have been little more than a humble bloom

Is this how you feel? INSIGNIFICANT? HIDDEN? HUMBLE? Well, it’s just not true!

• Jabez's origins may have appeared to be INSIGNIFICANT but in God’s sight, he became PROMINENT – and so can you! See what the psalmist says:

• “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. . . My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:13, 15, and 16

• Jabez's biography was HIDDEN among the genealogies. But he, himself, was NAMED – and so are you! Through the prophet, Isaiah, God says:

• “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” Isaiah 49:16

It was a HUMBLE prayer that Jabez prayed, asking God to enlarge his vision, to give him His guidance, and to protect him from evil. But it has INSPIRED people for generations! And so can you. The Gospels tell us: You (that’s you and me) are the light of the world. . . Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14 and 16

So don't allow yourself to be disempowered by wrongful thinking. You – me – we are all important in this world if we put our trust in God, and follow in His footsteps.

PREVIOUSLY:

TEN TENT PEGS 1: Courage

TEN TENT PEGS 2: A Cortege

TEN TENT PEGS 3: Conversion