Wednesday, August 30, 2006
We had been working on our production for our college's Junior-Senior Banquet for months. It was an original musical drama, written and directed by my roommate and me, based on the book of Esther. The orchestra had rehearsed night after night, the chorus had rehearsed, the actors, the light crew, the sound crew; we had prepared as much as we could. The night before, we had the dress rehearsal. But all those months of preparation and practice came down to one evening - the night of the big performance, and it was show time!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "It's Show Time!"
All of our work, all of our experiences over all those months were to get us ready for the moment that really mattered - the real performance that would affect many people's lives. The practices with no audience watching helped us do it right when there was a large audience watching. It may be that you're in rehearsal right now. God is sending or allowing you to go through some things right now that really are your preparation for some important assignments ahead - which means what you're going through isn't random. It isn't meaningless. It has great meaning which you can't see now, but which many will see when it's "show time."
It happened to David. In our word for today from the Word of God, 1 Samuel 17, beginning with verse 34, young David is persuading the king that he can go out and defeat the enemy giant, Goliath, even though he is only a shepherd boy and all the professional soldiers have retreated. He says, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who has delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."
David had experienced God's power in battles he fought when no one was watching. What he learned there (because he did it right in practice) enabled him to win a decisive victory for the Lord when the nation was watching! I can't help but think of something Lisa Beamer said in an interview. After her husband, Todd, died trying to stop the hijackers of Flight 93 on September 11, Lisa was thrust into the national spotlight, where she winsomely represented her faith and her hope in Jesus Christ. She said, though, that it was her struggle with the death of her father years earlier that had prepared her for this larger moment, where she now impacted millions of lives.
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, whose life has included some very high highs and some very low lows, said, "Through the ups and downs of success, we become better people, and as better people, God can call us to bigger jobs." That may very well be what God is doing in your life right now. He is preparing you for bigger things; for opportunities to impact many lives. That's the reason for the things you're going through right now.
But now, in practice, where there aren't many people watching, when the load is heavy, and when the temptations are many, now is the time you must be faithful. You must be opening yourself up to God's working as you never have before. Or maybe it's "show time" right now; a major crunch time when it's your time to show what a mighty God you serve. May you hear the applause of heaven!