Flushed!
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. – 1 Peter 5:6-8 NKJV.
Daniel Collins may not have been literally flushed down the toilet, but he might as well have been. Daniel was working on the Raymore, Missouri sewage system as part of a crew employed by Rosetta Construction. Usually the work is safe, and he had a safety line hooked to him. The trouble for the worker began when that safety line somehow became detached, and he was suddenly plunged down a pipe only 27 inches wide. He kept going down that pipe for more than a mile. Meanwhile, his fellow workers and firefighters were frantically searching for him. Daniel was able to call out one last time loud enough for someone to find him. One of the firefighters, who is also a paramedic, heard Daniel and was able to bring him to safety. The man had bruises and may have swallowed some of the nasty water; but everyone believes it is miraculous for him to be alive, and in such good physical shape.
Daniel did at least a couple of things right during his ordeal that helped him to survive. He did not give up, and he kept on calling out believing that someone would hear him and come to his rescue. If Daniel had given up on the hope of rescue any sooner, he might never have been found. If he had believed that dying in the sewer pipe was going to happen whether he called for help or not – then, it would likely have been a self-fulfilling prophecy.
At times, you may find yourself in a situation in life that feels like you have been flushed down a toilet or worse. However, it is doubtful that a situation like that, is God’s permanent will for your life. Some of God’s greatest servants did go through some horrifically difficult periods of time in their lives. Moses for years hid out as a fugitive on the backside of the desert and thought that he was doomed to live out the rest of his life that way herding sheep. Elijah was so depressed that he was just going to lay down and die. King David was living for a while in a cave being hunted like an animal. Gideon thought that he was the lowest person in the social hierarchy of his entire nation; being of the smallest tribe, and the smallest family of the tribe, and the smallest or weakest person in his family. Moses, Elijah, David, and Gideon were all wrong in their perceptions of their real situation in life. God had more for all of them to do. In God’s timing, He lifted them up to serve in greater and more powerful ways.
God wants to use you in a greater and more powerful way. How do you arrive at that point when God calls you up from the reserves, and puts you on the front lines? Number one, is that you simply refuse to give up on God. You keep believing, keep trusting, keep doing what you know is right and good. You keep reading your Bible, keep on going to church, keep on praying, keep on serving in whatever way that you can. What you are doing is humbling yourself before God, accepting what He has for your life. Then, at a time, and possibly at a place you least expect it, when you have almost given up – God will “exalt you in due time.” I like the way the NIV puts this, that God will “lift you up in due time.” That is what God did for Joseph in the Old Testament. Joseph stayed the course, stayed faithful no matter how miserable his life situation became, and God lifted him up to be the prime minister of the nation of Egypt.
Humble yourself under God’s hand, stay faithful, and He will lift you up; exalt you, when the right time comes.
(God wants to use you in a greater and more powerful way. How do you arrive at that point where God calls you up from the reserves, and puts you on the front lines?)