Introduction: Some Ground Rules

I’d like to share some truths from scripture that my observations were filtered through. The intent here is not to tell you what to think or how to analyze scripture, it’s simply to give a brief description of my thought process throughout this journey.

Elohim Adonai – Creator, LORD, Master

First, who is God? In the beginning of the bible, in chapter 1 of Genesis, we’re introduced to Him as the Creator. Of everything. The heavens, the angelic host, the earth, everything in and on the earth, and humanity. There was nothing made that He Himself did not make. He created the linear time that we exist in, yet He is self-existent (as He told Moses in Exodus 3:14) and as such, is much bigger than the dimensions of space and time we’re familiar with.

Second, He alone is sovereign over all creation and scripture describes Him as all-powerful, all-present, and all knowing. In His omniscience, there’s nothing He doesn’t already know. Absolutely nothing. He is always right. It’s impossible for anyone or anything to blindside Him. As He is omnipotent, no one is stronger than Him. When He says a thing is going to happen, it does, 100% of the time. Absolutely no one can overrule Him or force Him to change His plans. Add to that, He’s everywhere all the time, including those difficult situations that each of us contend with. It is this God who has complete authority over everyone and everything, whether one acknowledges it and agrees with it or not (Isaiah 45:18). After all, which of us can say that in the beginning, we created the heavens and the earth and not be lying? None of us. Who He is as God is unchanged by anyone’s belief or disbelief. It’s this God Who is for you, Who is on your side.

Third, He is unconditionally loving, just, slow to anger, full of compassion, merciful, long-suffering, and quick to forgive. What we all need to bear in mind and hold on to is that this same omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God loves us beyond anything we can fully, humanly comprehend. He knew what He got with each of us before He ever brought us into existence, and He will never stop loving us. Nothing is a shock, surprise or revelation about us, good or bad, and fully aware of our shortcomings, He chose to create each of us anyway. The Lord gets us and He’s here for all of it.

We are Born on to a Battlefield

Yes, you read that correctly. All of us, whether we recognize it or not, were brought into this world during a spiritual battle that humanity got tricked into participating in when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:15). This battle will continue here on Earth until Jesus returns to rule and reign. Here’s why this matters: as you lean into the things the Lord has given you to do for Him, regardless of how small or large it may seem, you (and I) will encounter varying degrees of opposition. It’s not a matter of if but when, so don’t be surprised when it happens. The enemy doesn’t want those who are presently lost giving their lives to Jesus, nor does he want those that are weak in their faith to be strengthened, to be matured. Satan actively opposes Christ followers growing and becoming strong in the Lord. The enemy’s goal is to take as many people to hell with him as he can and he, along with his demons, are actively at work on that. However, those of us who do belong to Jesus are in his way. Simply by being saved and breathing, thanks to the Holy Spirit Who indwells us. Add to that, a believer who’s actively trying to grow in their relationship with Jesus and helping others as the Lord directs? That’s an imminent threat to the enemy’s domain and he fights back.

One last bit of information regarding our enemy: he can only do what God gives him permission to do, especially in the life of one who follows Jesus. That makes the enemy of our soul a useful tool in the hands of the Lord, to refine us, to grow us up, make us stronger and more useful in His name. For those people who choose to reject Jesus, sadly they have no such refuge for the evil that’s out there. That doesn’t mean that God isn’t in control – it simply means He won’t intrude in the life of that individual. God enters where He’s invited, not where He’s told to keep out.

Some Definitions

Let’s start with authority. What is authority? Simply put, authority is the right to tell someone else what to do and expect it to be done. Does everyone have this right? No, they do not. Pretty straightforward, right?

Next, what is an assignment from God? After examining the lives of several people in scripture, I came to the conclusion that it can be a vocation, specific task or set of tasks that benefit others, directly or indirectly, on behalf of the Lord. Pretty broad, isn’t it? When a person is obedient to Him and moves forward in what they understand would be right in His eyes, the result is usually God gets the credit and there’s a positive impact on the lives of others, whether people’s relationship with the Lord is initiated or strengthened, or their earthly lives are saved or improved, and so on. The assignment may be given directly to an individual from the Lord, like Jeremiah, or it may come through another person, the way King David was anointed by Samuel the prophet. Sometimes, folks don’t have either of those circumstances, they’re just living their lives, walking upright before Him when something interferes with their life. Those situations require trusting God through the adversity, showing others how to do the same. Job and Ruth could give us a master class on such an experience! Occasionally, the Lord uses dissatisfaction or distress about a situation to bring one into a new assignment. We see this with Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem.

What does an assignment look like? As much as I would love to see a static checklist in scripture of how the Lord decided to invite someone into what He was doing, there isn’t one. Are there similarities with how the Lord has pulled people into His work? Certainly. However, from what I’ve observed in the text of scripture, He doesn’t provide a blueprint unless He’s telling one to build a physical structure or item, like an ark or tabernacle or temple. Details are on a strictly need to know basis, no matter how badly it might seem like those details would be helpful (for those of you who don’t really care about details, this will be no big deal for you). So if that’s you, buckle up buttercup. Trust His timing. Also, let’s be real: who in their right mind would really jump wholeheartedly into an assignment from the Lord if they knew all the pitfalls and difficulties that were included as part of the package? I don’t think there’d be many of us. The conclusion I came to on this was that He withholds information we think we need to know for our own good. He’ll be there through the hard times when we need Him to be, and our part is to trust Him and do what He says.

Another observation regarding assignments is that sometimes the Lord can have one in a support role in the life of another with a heavy assignment, as we see with Jethro coming alongside Moses, to not only take him in after he fled Egypt but also to give wise, practical counsel to him after leading the people out of Egypt, trying to shoulder the burden of governing over them on his own. Is a support type of assignment any less important than the one who’s given the big, highly visible responsibility? It’s not. As the analogy of the body of given to us by Paul in 1 Cor 12:12-27 reflects, each of us has a complimentary role to play in the body of Christ, not a competitive one.

As fantastic as it would be to sit down and have a cup of coffee with some of our heroes of scripture, and ask them what it was like to be trusted by the Lord with what He gave them to do, we can’t. However, we can look at their lives and glean some answers. One thing they all had in common at the time they were pulled into God’s work was that not one person was told to clean up their act or change their life before God set them to task. Not one. What He required of them was trust, enough to do what He said even though it might sound crazy (Noah building an ark when no one even knew what rain was) or be extremely difficult (Jesus going to the cross for us).

Who Gets an Assignment? The Parable of the Talents

The short answer: everyone! Even you. Yes, you. Over the years, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve heard “trust God” in a sermon, and to be fair, we should because God is trustworthy. But what does it look like when God decides to trust us with something? With some responsibility we never asked him for? God loves us all equally and doesn’t play favorites (Romans 2:11) however, He doesn’t trust us equally. Sometimes it seems that people confuse love with trust, yet the two are not synonymous and we can love those we don’t or shouldn’t trust.

Do we need to ask or beg God for an assignment or calling? How hard to we need to search for it, for our “purpose” in life? From what I saw in scripture, not one person begged Him or searched high and low to find out what their assignment was what their “purpose” for being created was. Not. ONE. When the time was right, the Lord moved forward and issued the invitation for each person to participate in His work. His timing was and is surgical, intentional and precise. I’m not sure about you, but that realization helped me by removing the fear that somehow I was missing God and what He wanted me to do with my life. If this is stressing you out today, please stop, calm down, and refocus that effort into simply trusting God to direct your steps and being obedient to Him, today. Jesus tells people to “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt 6:33-34). Yes, I understand that He was referring to food, clothing and so on however, the issue Jesus was addressing was worry, which is the opposite of trust. If He tells us to trust Him and not worry about Him providing the basics of life, perhaps we should listen when it comes to all areas of life?

Matthew 25:14-30 gives us the parable of the talents, a picture of the Lord giving out resources, of Him trusting His servants - us - differently. Here we see 3 servants given 3 different amounts of money, and opportunity to steward what they were given. Let’s take a moment to examine the situation and list some observations:

• we’re told the number of talents they were each given, by the Master

  • each servant had differing levels of ability

  • they were given what they could handle, based on their ability

  • nowhere does scripture record that one was expected to do more than they were capable of

• the servants didn’t ask for the amount they were given

• the talents (resources) were assigned by the Master

• the servants had agency over what they could do with those resources, how they stewarded them, without being micromanaged by the Master

• the servants had no say as to how much the other servants were given

• the audience, those who were listening to Jesus tell this story then, and us reading it today, aren’t given any information about

  • the age, gender, skill set, ancestry, marital status, net worth, IQ, reputation, personality type, physical appearance, number of children/grandchildren, or existing responsibilities, if any, of the servants

• two of the servants gave the Master a 100% return on His investment

  • these same two servants had an accurate perspective of the Master and what He had a right to ask them for

  • they showed no fear (terror) of Him and were excited at his return to show Him what they’d done in His name

• we’re not told how much time each servant spent with the Master or interacted with Him before, during or after He gave them their talents to steward

• it’s unknown how long each of the servants had worked for the Master before He gave them the talents

• the servants weren’t told when the Master would return, only that He would

• the one wicked servant walked in an inaccurate understanding of the Master and didn’t trust that he was capable of giving the Master a return on His investment

  • he didn’t trust the Master’s judgment of him

  • he was not excited about the Master’s return

  • he knew the Master expected a return on His investment yet he let his wrong view of Him determine what to do with his one talent (which was nothing)

  • he knew he could put the talent in the bank and get a return on the Master’s investment but was too lazy to do that

  • the Master still gave him a talent to invest even though He already knew the wicked servant would bury it and provide no return

  • he looked like he belonged to the Master, as one of His servants, but did not act like he truly belonged to the Master

• the two servants who gave the Master a return on His investment were praised

• the one wicked servant who buried his only talent was rejected and cast out from the Master’s presence

  • did this servant actually know and have a relationship with the Master or did he know Him in the same way the demons know Jesus and tremble?

  • the little he had was taken from him and given to the servant who gave the Master the ten talents upon His return

• the Master never specified how much or what type of return on investment He was looking for

• the servants didn’t discuss among themselves what the Master had given each of them or compare themselves to each other

  • two of them worked with what they had

  • we don’t read of any drama between the three of them or really, any interaction at all

Similar to the passage in Matthew is Luke 19:11-27. While this parable has wider application than just the minas, let’s begin listing some observations from this passage of scripture:

• the Master expected a return on His investment

  • at no point does He express concern about risk or voice any doubt about trusting His servants

• there are ten servants who are trusted with one mina each

• the Master did not set a minimum or maximum amount that each servant had to earn

• the servants were free to steward the mina as they saw fit without input from the Master (they weren’t micromanaged)

• the servants knew the Master would be gone but not for how long

• upon the Master’s return, all ten servants were called to give a report of how much they’d earned yet we only find out what happened with three of them

  • of those three, two of them earned ten and five times, respectively, on what they were given

  • these two servants were rewarded based on their success (authority over ten cities and five cities)

  • the third had no return on the Master’s investment at all, only the original mina he was given

  • no additional information was given about 7 of the servants who were given a mina

• the two servants who reported a return on the Master’s investment were praised

  • the Master praised the servant who returned five minas as much as the one who returned ten

  • they were given more authority/responsibility based on their returns

  • they were excited to report their results

  • they viewed the Master differently than the one servant who returned with only the one mina he was originally given

• the one servant who failed to give the Master a return on His investment was judged by his own words and called ‘worthless’ by Him

  • the one mina was taken away from the worthless servant and given to the trustworthy servant who returned ten minas

  • the worthless servant let fear (terror) and a wrong understanding of the Master’s character and authority determine what he would do with the mina (hide it)

  • as with the wicked servant in the parable of the talents in Matthew, the Master still gave him an opportunity knowing full well what the outcome would be

What Do I Do with This?

Let these parables confirm to you that God can indeed use you to do good work in His Name. It doesn’t matter what you look like, what your circumstances are or what your past is. Also, these passages can teach us some truths regarding the Lord’s expectations towards us and how our understanding of His character drives our actions. Here are some key points to consider:

• the Lord created each of us with abilities that suit our assignments (Ephesians 2:10)

• He determines what those talents/abilities/gifts are

• He does the assigning, not me or you or anyone else

  • we get to choose how the assignment is stewarded

• God has the authority and the right to expect and receive a return on His investment in us

  • the return we give Him doesn’t have to be as good or better than anyone else, only what we ourselves are capable of

  • whether or not one recognizes His authority does not diminish said authority, rights or any of His other attributes one bit

• one’s background, appearance, socioeconomic situation, marital status, etc. does not nullify their eligibility to be called by Him for the work He designed them to do

  • nor does it exempt one from saying “yes” to the assignment (as if saying “no” is always actually an option – it’s really not but more on that in a later chapter)

• trusting Him or lacking reverence for Him is an individual’s choice

  • does one claim to know Him yet view Him as harsh and cruel, in spite of Jesus having endured the cross to redeem “whosoever” and heal our relationship with God, or do they trust and obey Him for the exact same reason?

• He gives everyone equal opportunity to serve Him in some capacity (Luke 19:13)

• He expects a report, an accounting, of what each of us did with the resources He trusted us with

  • the Lord will reward us for our efforts, as individuals, whether the efforts had good results or bad

• at no point or time does the Lord expect us to compare ourselves to other believers or our calling to their calling (and NO, this is not permission to ignore Godly, scripturally defensible counsel, rather it’s a reminder that what He has for each of us, He has for each of us – be who He created you to be, not someone else)

  • similarly, the Lord Himself doesn’t compare one servant to another

• nowhere in either parable is the Lord micromanaging any of the servant’s decisions

• it’s our choice to be a poor steward or a trustworthy steward

• we need to trust the Lord’s assessment of us and not our own

  • He knows what He gets with us more than we ever will on this side of eternity

  • not one single, solitary thing about us is a shock or surprise to Him

• God won’t necessarily tell us the exact return on investment He expects from us

• He doesn’t set us up to fail in giving Him a return on what He’s entrusted to us

• assignments are given when He wants to give them, on His schedule and timetable, not when we think we’re ready or when we want them

In Matthew 25, the wicked servant recognized the Master’s authority over him but it seems like he disregarded, rejected or failed to believe the attributes of His character, acting as though the Master was unreasonable and unfair in His expectations. In Luke 19, not only does the wicked servant recognize the Master’s authority over him but is outright rebellious, rejecting it, and so are the citizens! Notice how their blindness towards His authority had zero impact in nullifying it or in diminishing the strength of it. Their refusal to submit to Him led to their destruction. It was their choice. I believe these people had an inaccurate understanding of how far their free will extended. God is the only One Who is sovereign and He is the one Who presents our choices to us. Our free will only allow us to select from those choices He gives us and is not to be confused with sovereignty.

When I take a step back and look at all of this, it strikes me that the assignments given to the people we see in scripture couldn’t be trusted to an individual like the wicked servant (in either parable). Why? The faithful servants show us with their behavior, their actions, that they trusted in God and His character. The actions and behavior of the wicked servant show me that they get God is real but refuse to see His true character. They reject Him, His authority over them and refuse to, at any point, surrender their life to Him.

Do You Still Wonder If He Can Use You?

I get it. There’s a lot to take in (and we’re just getting started). Nevertheless, scripture is clear that He trusts us all (including you) with something to do for Him, with some assignment or, more likely, multiple assignments. When He does, it’s up to us how we respond. Will we choose the agreeable way, similar to Jesus’ mother Mary, or will we pick the hard way, with the Lord having to twist our arm like He did with Jonah?

If one finally decides to step out into what they think the Lord is wanting them to do, even when it’s scary or doesn’t seem to make much sense, what does God trusting us actually look like? Is it all rainbows & lollipops or does it require more of and from us than we would imagine? Will one hate it? Love it? Something in the middle of those extremes? Let’s look at some myths – whether they’re outright lies from the devil or our own preconceived notions – and test their veracity in the light of scripture so we can stop believing wrong information, hold on to the truth we find there, and act on it. After all, when one goes to meet the Lord face to face, doesn’t one want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant.”?