A Thought; Am I Out of Breath or Out of Depth?

The 2^nd half of verse 3 in Isaiah 61 says this;

“That they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, for the display of his splendour.”     (New International Version)

Other versions like the King James and English Standard Version put that verse this way;   

“That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

Who is it that the “They” in this verse this refers to?

Well it is anybody that has ever been Broken Hearted, Afflicted, Captive to something and reason to Mourn. That would just be about everybody but I know that I would fit into that category.

But because of Jesus my wounds have been bound and that I have been set free, liberated and vindicated. And even more so, I have been planted by God and called righteous by Him.

Ephesians 2:10 says that God has prepared “good works” in advance for me to walk in. By my walking in these “good Works” that God has prepared for me, His splendour is displayed and He is glorified. But do I know what these good works are? Have I sought God on them? In spending some time thinking on these verses and asking myself those questions I came to a conclusion that both excited me and terrified me. If God has prepared good works for me in advance (i.e. when He knit me together in my mother’s womb) and that His splendour is displayed when I walk in these good works then can they be dependent on my own skill and talents or education. I believe God has gifted each one of us and we are encouraged to stir up those gifting’s but so often I view my gifting’s in conjunction with my natural abilities. If this is the case then I have to ask myself this; “Can Gods splendour really be displayed through my life when I am operating from within my own ability, talents and education?”

The answer I came to was no. In order for God’s splendour to be displayed through me then I surely need to be out of my comfort zone and “in over my head”. This thought process did not bring condemnation and judgement but actually an encouragement from God to specifically place myself outside of my comfort zone. I want to live in or walk in all that God has for me here on earth and not to miss out on anything that He has prepared and waiting for me to step into. There is also a promise from God that He has already prepared good works for me and therefore He will be with me in walking in them. He will operate through me in fulfilling this promise and that it is not my responsibility to “perform” but to “position myself” in this.

Again this is by no means an encouragement to “work harder” but to trust God to use me way beyond my own talent and skill so that my life will be a display of His splendour.