1 Samuel chapter 21 verses 2-6 (NIV)
David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.
This might seem like a strange passage to consider in my blog musings. However, hopefully those who follow the blog will bear with me. In this passage, the priest’s requirement in giving David the consecrated bread was that those who ate it had to be in a condition of holiness. David’s response was that his men were always in a condition of holiness, ready in God’s eyes for whatever battles they might face. If they hadn’t been so, the priest wouldn’t have released the bread.
What struck me from this passage was that as a follower of Christ, am I in a condition of readiness at any time willing to be used by God in whatever way He wants to use us? Or, do I only prepare my life to be ready at a time that is convenient to me. God expects me to be able to speak or act for Him at anytime, and not just on a Sunday. We never know when opportunity to speak for Jesus may be presented to us, and we don’t want to miss it. So let’s be in that state of readiness so that the Holy Spirit can use us as He needs to.
Dear Lord,
Help me to be in that state of readiness, willing to be an instrument in Your hands whenever You choose, and for Your glory. AMEN.