Transcript included below…
Did you know that our availability can sometimes be even more important than our ability? Here’s a story from very early on in my guitar journey that illustrates this.
I had been playing the guitar for several weeks. Not months…not years…but weeks. My family and I went to our church family camp, and I thought I’d bring my guitar along with me, so I could practice some of those first few chords I was learning.
Well, as I sat outside and tried to play my guitar, a few people from the church spotted me as they walked by. Camp and guitar tend to go pretty well together. Well, word got out, and at one of the evening campfire gatherings, someone said, “David, you have a guitar – could you lead us in some worship songs?”
What? How in the world could that be possible? I barely knew a handful of chords, and although I had sung for several years, I had zero worship leading experience from the guitar.
But someone had tracked down a few song sheets from a camp worship songbook, and they were inviting me to use my musical gifts, then and there.
I had a choice. I could have said, “I’m not ready,” but instead I chose to say, “I’m available.” I stumbled through those songs with the chords I knew, and as the people sang, the guitar became secondary, and a humble but sincere corporate worship offering took place.
What a cool memory. As you can see, the Lord wasn’t as concerned about my ABILITY as He was my availability.
And I’m not alone in this. People throughout the Bible were used by God simply because they were available, often in spite of their lack of ability. And God was actually glorified through that.
David was a young, small boy, but the Lord used him to defeat the greatest warrior of the Philistines, and to become a great king, a man after God’s own heart.
Saul of Tarsus was causing all kinds of destruction as he terrorized the Lord’s people, and yet God transformed him into Paul the Apostle, a powerful instrument for His kingdom as he used Paul to impact countless lives through his ministry and letters.
Let’s look at Moses for a moment. When the Lord first met with Moses, He asked, “What is that in your hand?” Moses replied that he was holding a staff, which the Lord then proceeded to use as an instrument to show His power to Moses. And Moses went on to use that staff as he led the Israelites out of Egypt…including the moment where the Lord commanded Moses to lift up the staff to divide the waters of the Red Sea so that God’s people could pass through it on dry ground.
Moses was available. But not always.
Not long after the Lord has shown Moses that He could transform his staff, the Lord commanded Moses to go and speak to His people, promising that He would help Moses, and teach him what to say.
But how did Moses respond? Considering himself to be a less-than-capable speaker, he said, “Please send someone else.”
Remember that? The Lord’s anger burned against Moses for resisting that calling, and when it came to speaking to His people, the Lord alternatively used Moses’ brother, Aaron, since Moses refused to be available.
This is a bit of a cautionary tale.
What if, when those fellow worshipers at Family Camp had asked me to lead worship with my humble, rudimentary skills, and I had said, “No – I’m really not ready”? Perhaps a time of worship would not have happened.
It’s possible that someone else would have stepped forward, maybe to just lead acappella without an instrument. But I had felt the gentle stirring of the Lord in me to be available, in spite of what I believed to be a lack of ability.
Think about this. I went on to serve for over a decade of professional worship ministry on staff at two churches, leading from the guitar, and sharing my musical gifts all over North America for even longer. If I had turned down that invitation at that early stage, it’s possible I might have gotten used to turning down invitations. And people who wanted to be led in worship might not have had the leader they needed in those moments.
But the good news is that although I wasn’t “ready” by my standards, I was available. Was it easy? No. Was it worthy? Yes. This is the type of serious fun opportunity that appears from time to time on our guitar journeys. We just have to be sensitive enough to be aware of it when it appears.
So, what is that in your hand? A guitar? Will you be available to use it for the Lord’s glory, perhaps even when you don’t feel ready?
P.S. Want to develop your skills so that you can be readier when opportunities come? Check out www.GuitarSuccess4U.com.
Not Ready, but Available