Tuesday, May 10th, 2022

In Genesis, in the lives of Abraham and Isaac, as well as Joseph, Moses recorded unnamed servants who drove God’s plan forward — bringing about the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah, opening the hearts of Joseph’s brothers to confession of their sins against him, and other important things. Looking deeply into the text reveals these unnamed servants to be pictures of the Holy Spirit — always working on behalf of the Father to bring about His plan — so that we can better understand how the Spirit works. Studying more about this is certainly a worthy endeavor! But stepping out of the metaphorical and into the physical, something else to consider is this: what a thing to aspire to be! To be the person who, by being in relationship with Jesus and attuned to the Father’s desires, is used by the Father to bring about His purposes! We will not all have the reach, or be called to great positions of leadership, like Abraham, Moses, Joseph, or Paul, but we can all be the person who points others to Christ. The person who gives their God-given blessings and personal gifts to others. The person who brings together two people who will go on to do great things in marriage for God. The person who holds up the mirror to others so that they may see the reasons why they need Jesus. The person who shares the Gospel with the person who needs to hear it.

Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit “will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak.” We see this pictured in Genesis 24, when the servant of Abraham only repeats the things that Abraham told him, trusting that God would show him which woman was to be Isaac’s bride and that his words would bring that marriage. Like the Holy Spirit, all of us are capable of speaking what we have heard, and read in the Bible, of God. Paul tells us that when we speak such truth in love for others, not only are we transformed to be more like Christ, but we play our part in building the body of Christ — which is the work of the Holy Spirit. Today, if you are looking for inspiration in the Bible, look to the nameless servants in Genesis, and aspire to be like them.

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” — John 16:13 NIV

“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” — Ephesians 4:15-16 NIV