Great things

Met up with an old friend from university days today.  He and his wife had their first child last December, and it was very special indeed to see my buddy now a husband and a father, and to have him ask for prayer for wisdom and godliness as he leads this household over which the Lord in his grace has placed him.

We talked and chatted like the old days in Cambridge, mainly to do with different stuff we'd been reading or thinking over while walking with Jesus.  But the thing that stuck with me and directed my thoughts on the drive home was something my friend had said about doing "great things."

He hadn't gone back to collect his MA from Cambridge in person, partly because he didn't want to get into comparing post-graduation achievements with his contemporaries.  Many of them, he said, would no doubt have gone on to do "great things", but he felt his life and situation were comparatively unimpressive.

We decided that perhaps life often feels like that for Christians, who throw their all in with an unimpressive, crucified saviour who to the outside world looks anything but "great".  Praise God that one day he will be seen by all as the truly great king that he is. 

But I want my friend to know that the lot God has given him as head of a family IS "great".  In fact, as I look at him and his wife and son I feel probably not too dissimilar to him as he considers his former Cambridge buddies - a sense that MY life and situation are comparatively unimpressive. 

Which then reminded me of David and Solomon, and the "great thing" of building God's temple.  Solomon did it, achieved this "great thing", but within one chapter of 1 Kings falls dramatically out of the picture thanks to his ungodliness.  David, on the other hand, never got to do this "great thing" he so longed to do, but is commended for his desire to do it (1 Kings 8:18).

So, heeding the warning of Solomon's downfall, how right my friend is to seek prayer for godliness as he leads his family - as he lives in the light of achieving this "great thing" of heading a household by God's grace.  

And how advised I would be, looking to David's example and the divine commendation he received, to make my prayer one for a genuine, wholehearted desire to achieve "great things" for God's glory - even if such achievement is withheld from me my whole life by the only wise God.